Stories Off the Wall

He has lost toes to frostbite, suffered pulmonary edema, survived avalanches and icy bivouacs. Roskelley, one of America's premier mountaineers, recounts his experiences on the high peaks and his transition from teenage exploits to middle-age prudence. He offers stirring tales of adventure: a dramatic rescue on Denali (Mt. McKinley), an impulse climb on the North Face of the Eiger, tackling a frozen waterfall in Canada's Banff National park. Roskelley claims three 8000-meter peaks; he was the first American to reach the summit of 27,000-foot Mahalu in Nepal. He attended the ill-fated 1974 International Climbers Camp in the Russian Pamirs, an expedition beset by an earthquake and avalanches, during which one of his companions and nine women climbers died. To select a climbing partner, Roskelley uses the ``shoelace test''--if the person's shoelaces don't stay tied, he won't tie onto a rope with him or her. His adventures provide peak reading. (Nov.)