Book Review - Life Lived Wild - Adventures at the Edge of the Map
Caption for the photo above: On the summit of K2, September 1978, the first American ascent and the first ascent without supplemental oxygen. Credit: John Roskelley
Disclosure: I was provided with a digital copy of the book in the hope that I would review it on my blog. What follows is my honest review. All photos are from the book.
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Life Lived Wild - Adventures at the Edge of the Map, by Rick Ridgeway
“I know about this. He was there?” I read on, “Wait, he was there, too?”
Who is Rick Ridgeway, and why haven’t I heard of him before?
At the first American summit of K2, the story of which I saw as a play in 1991, he was there.
In 180 Degrees South, an excellent documentary about how adventure is tied to conservation, off-camera, he was there.
At the ill-fated kayak trip with Doug Tompkins, he was there.
“Day twenty-five of our foot traverse across the Chang Tang Plateau, northwest Tibet, when for each of those days calories out had exceeded calories in. That’s me on the left and Conrad Anker, widely known as one of the world’s strongest climbers, flat on his back.” Credit: Jimmy Chin
As I eagerly turned the pages on this book, I was not only inspired by the adventures in it, I was also moved by the pure heart of the author.
Rick contemplates the idea of travel and adventure as a transformation.
Jim Donini (left) and Doug Tompkins celebrate the only sunny day on the entire sea kayak and climbing adventure in the southern fjords of Chile. Credit: Rick Ridgeway
Some of the events in the book gave him no choice but to be changed by them, such as the deaths of two close friends. But other adventures did not end in tragedy, but still had an profound effect on him.
One way of traveling is to go to a popular viewpoint, take a picture and go home. The other way is to allow the journey to change you.
It’s often not easy. You have to allow yourself to be open to changing from a trip. You have to agree with yourself to come back different. Listen to and see the people you meet.
When someone offers you their revered cultural food, you accept and enjoy it. When someone shows you their difficulties, you listen. When an animal treks across the plains, you attempt to understand why they make the journey. When the sky opens up and gives you all it’s got, you hunker down and watch where the water flows and how it affects the plants around you.
It takes effort, for sure, as well as the bravery to be vulnerable, but the result is rewarding.
I’ve read plenty of adventure books, but this one had the most heart yet. Rick is honest with how his feelings change toward certain ideas as he ages.
He frames his adventures with the strong relationship with his wife and how it evolved over the years.
“Jennifer and me on safari in East Africa, three years after we married.” Credit: Rick Ridgeway
He describes guiding the surviving daughter of his friend, who perished in an avalanche, to the place in Tibet, high in the mountains, where he was laid to rest.
“After we tied prayer flags between two glacier wands, I placed the final stone on Jonathan’s grave” Credit: Edgar Boyles
He notes with poignancy the final big summit with his group of friends, called the Do Boys.
“Doug Tompkins, me, and Yvon Chouinard (l to r) on the summit of a previously unclimbed and unnamed peak in what in 2008 was still the future Patagonia National Park, in southern Chile. At first, we christened the peak Cerro Geezer, but Doug later had the Chilean government name it Cerro Kristina to honor Kris Tompkins, the force behind the final creation of the park.” Credit: Jimmy Chin
He describes how his adventures became less about the sport, turning into more about saving the places where he did the sport. His adventures had a new focus on conservation.
With real-life characters such as Yvon Chouinard, Doug Tompkins, Tom Brokaw, Conrad Anker, and Jimmy Chin, and locations such as Borneo, Antarctica, and K2, it was hard to put the book down.
Ultimately, it’s a book about the spirit of adventure and how it can change you and how you look at the world. I highly recommend it.
“Jib Ellison takes a self-portrait of the Do Boys crossing Lago General Carrera.” Credit: Jib Ellison
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