Pacific Northwest

Jim Whittaker was the first American to summit Everest in 1963. His memoir covers that climb and a life spent at the intersection of mountaineering, business, and politics. Whittaker ran REI and organized the first American-Chinese expedition to K2.

Floyd Schmoe's account of a year spent at Mount Rainier's Paradise Inn in the 1920s, reissued with an introduction by Gail Storey. A quiet, observational book about living inside a mountain landscape through all four seasons.

Ira Spring's memoir of a lifetime spent photographing the Pacific Northwest mountains. Spring was the most prolific outdoor photographer in Washington state history, and his images defined what the Cascades looked like in the American imagination.

Following the success of the Lewis and Clark expedition, President Thomas Jefferson shifted his focus from exploration to the most American of American pursuits—making money. Enter millionaire John Jacob Astor and his wildly ambitious scheme to create a global trade network, using Lewis and Clark’s newly established route as a primary artery of commerce. Astoria is the tale of this often-overlooked chapter in American history, one with no shortage of adventure, egos, and wild uncharted landscapes.

Set in the Pacific Northwest, Before the Wind is a deeply funny fictional account of a lovably maddening family that communicates best through sailing. (Wes Anderson, please option the film rights.) There’s a loudmouth dad—Where’s the wind? No! Those waves are old news!—a try-to-fix-everything middle son, a precocious daughter who can out-sail nearly everyone, and a grandpa who dreams in boat design schemata. Dysfunctional, maybe, but boy can the Johannssens race. If boating is in your DNA, you might recognize yourself here. If you don’t know a thing about boating, you’ll learn a lot—about sailing legends like Joshua Slocum, insight into the siren song of racing, and things to consider before buying that “free” boat in your neighbor’s backyard. Ultimately, the story reminds us adventure is often the best therapy, and that it’s wildly rewarding to trust some of life’s decisions to the wind.

Steve House's memoir of becoming one of the best alpine climbers of his generation. The ascent of Nanga Parbat's Rupal Face — alpine style, in a single push — is the centerpiece. House writes about the physical and psychological cost of climbing at the highest level.

Fred Beckey's account of climbing in the most rugged mountains in the lower 48. Beckey was the most prolific first-ascensionist in American history, and the North Cascades were his home range. Technical, obsessive, and irreplaceable.

Kerouac's novel drawn from his time as a fire lookout on Desolation Peak in the North Cascades and his subsequent travels. Rawer than Dharma Bums, and haunted by the solitude of the mountaintop. The lookout chapters are among the best things he wrote.

Robert Roper's biography of Willi Unsoeld — the man who traversed Everest via the West Ridge, named his daughter after the mountain, and died on Mount Rainier. A life lived at the edge of every possible boundary.

“I love the cold. I love the struggle, the realness, the ridiculousness, and the tenderness of it. Rescue missions are not actually work, not a career; money, power, and prestige mean nothing out here.” Set in the wild, craggy peaks of Washington’s Cascades, Found is a deeply drawn memoir about volunteer mountain search and rescue. There are epics and gory injuries, yes, yet this story burns brightest when describing the motley volunteer community: individuals united by their will to abandon cozy beds at 2 a.m., risking real jobs and angry families, not to mention their lives. With 20 years of experience in picking up bloody boots and hauling fully loaded litters down scree fields, Loewen is an SAR rarity as a young mom. A wry sense of humor—body bag for a birthday present, anyone?—spliced with compassion creates an achingly true picture, scene after scene, of the raw grace we find in the outdoors.

Linda Gill's memoir of living and climbing in the Pacific Northwest. A quiet book about the mountains of Washington and the life built around them.

Lou Whittaker guided on Mount Rainier for decades and led expeditions to K2 and Kangchenjunga. His memoir is the story of a life spent in the Pacific Northwest mountains — practical, unpretentious, and grounded in the daily work of keeping people alive above treeline.

Leif Whittaker's account of climbing Everest while reckoning with the legacy of his father Jim, the first American to summit. A son's story about following — and not following — in a famous father's footsteps.

Kelly Brenner's guide to the natural world hiding in urban environments — the ecology of cities, from sidewalk mosses to peregrine falcons nesting on skyscrapers.

What it's actually like to work as a climbing ranger on Mount Rainier — rescues, body recoveries, crevasse falls, and the strange normalcy of living on a glacier. Unglamorous and gripping.

Portrait of the Stehekin Valley in the North Cascades — a community accessible only by boat, foot, or floatplane. A place that exists outside the normal American timeline.

An anthology of writing about the northern half of the PCT — the essays, fiction, and natural history tied to the trail's Oregon and Washington sections.

A comic novel about a young fly-fishing obsessive in the Pacific Northwest who retreats to a cabin on an Oregon river and discovers that catching fish isn't the same as understanding them. The funniest serious fishing novel ever written.

Freeman Dyson designs starships at Princeton; his son George builds a kayak and lives in a treehouse in British Columbia. A book about two kinds of exploration — one into space, one into the wild — and the father-son rift between them.

A 4,000-mile human-powered journey from the Pacific Northwest to the Arctic, by bike, ski, foot, and packraft. Van Hemert is a biologist, and the journey is also an act of attention to the ecosystems she crosses.

The Oregon Desert Trail on foot — sagebrush, ranches, and the rural communities of the high desert. A walk through a landscape most Americans have only seen from a car.