Gerry Roach Transcendent Summits Autobiography of Early Years

Gerry Roach Transcendent SummitsThe Chicago Tribune and Knight Ridder gives a rave review to Gerry Roach’s latest book “Transcendent Summits: One Climber’s Route to Self-Discovery.”

Roach was one of the first mountaineers to climb the seven summits, the highest peaks on the seven continents. He has climbed all 55 of Colorado’s recognized 14,000-foot peaks and was the first climber to ascend the 10 tallest mountains in North America (actually 13).

The book by Roach, 61, focuses on his climbs from 1950’s to 1964 when he stole away from home in the middle of the night to climb. The pictures in the book (some of which you can see in the sneak preview and search inside features of Amazon) show an incredibly young Gerry.

“I’ve been climbing for 50 years,” Roach said. “It’s a little scary. I’ve gone through generations of climbing partners. The spiritual aspects have kept me in the game so long.”

“In addition to the labor of love, there were ever-expanding views, and I paused to ponder,” he wrote. “The lower world fell away until it was no longer recognizable as a place of cities, cars, churches, bases, bombs, bands, boats, pets, plazas, paintings, or other people-made things. The human world diminished, and the land took over. What I looked down on was simply Earth – the land of sunrise, sunset, sky, air, rocks, roots, rain, soil, snow, clouds, couloirs, trees, lightning, thunder, volcanoes, mountains, shores, slabs, tides, water, sand ice, storms, rivers, avalanches, fog, forests, animals, people, and all things God made.”

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