Project Type Archives

Summit Archaeology

Summit Archaeology: The Epic of Prehistoric Ascents in the High Mountains of the World

Summit Archaeology is chapter one in the history of world mountaineering. This is a history that has remained unwritten to the present day.

Today it is commonly accepted without further discussion that our great activity of ascending mountains began scientifically and sportively only a couple of centuries before our time.

These notions should be abandoned forever.

Summit Archaeology proves that thousands of years earlier prehistoric peoples had ascended at least 380 mountains across five continents. These peoples braved ice, snow, altitude, weather, and distances without proper garments and footgear. To mountaineers the world over, these beings were our true forerunners.

Summit Archaeology is mainly an inventory. The book seeks to list the hundreds of mountain peaks that ancients bravely ascended thousands of years ago—an era in the history of humankind that has received little mention, let alone a detailed listing.

Book Details

  • Print length: 160
  • Weight: 9.3 ounces
  • Dimensions: 5.5 X 0.38 X 8.5 inches

Hardcover: $34.95 available at independent bookstores and Amazon.

Paperback: $19.95 available at independent bookstores and Amazon.

The Author

Evelio A. Echevarria, 1926-2020, was born in Santiago, Chile. He taught Spanish and Latin-American literature at Colorado State University in Fort Collins for 32 years, retiring in 1994 as professor emeritus. He performed mountaineering along the Andes and the Rocky Mountains for some 65 years and researched both ranges, chronicling their known-and unknown-activities from ancient times to present. His own sportive activities included exploratory mountaineering, climbing over 375 mountains, with 101 documented first ascents in the Andes Mountain range.

It was when he began to chronicle ascents on Chilean mountain peaks that he came upon the then wholly unknown peak ascents by the Andean Indians of the past, a topic that caught his interest. Over the years he expanded his research on this peculiar combination of mountaineering and archaeology until it finally reached what this present work attempts to cover: the very “Chapter One” of the history of world mountaineering, in which the ancient peoples appear as the protagonists of an unrecorded epic. Such is the purpose of this unusual book.

Contents:

  • Preface
  • Introduction
  • A Survey of Prehistoric Ascents in the Mountains of the World
    • Europe
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Australia
    • Americas
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
  • Appendix 1: Basic Terminology of Summit Archaeology
  • Append 2: Statistics
  • The Author

Half Dome

Half Dome: The History of Yosemite’s Iconic Mountain

Half Dome: The History of Yosemite’s Iconic Mountain traces this granite monolith’s story through the ages, from 500 million years ago to the present day. Learn about Half Dome’s fiery beginnings. Discover its unique summit ecology. Hear the origin story that the Native Americans knew. Feel the exhilaration of the first humans to climb its steep faces. Read the tragic tales of death that have befallen many on this dome. Tune in to the management of a mountain that belongs to all. Finally, find inspiration from the beauty that our planet holds.This book is an excellent resource for anyone visiting Yosemite, hikers and climbers who wish to reach the summit, lovers of mountains, and readers of history. Included are several maps of the area, numerous historical photos and drawings, a timeline of Half Dome, and an index.

Book Details:

  • Print Length: 174 pages
  • Weight: 9 ounces
  • Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.4 x 8 inches

Paperback: $13.95 available at most independent bookstores and Amazon.
eBook: $9.95 available at Amazon.
Wholesale: Wholesale copies for booksellers are available through Ingram or direct.

Contents:

  1. Geological History
  2. Ecological History
  3. Native American History
  4. European Sightings and Naming a Mountain
  5. First Attempts to Scale the Dome
  6. First Ascents
  7. The Cables
  8. First Technical Rock Climb
  9. The Regular Northwest Face
  10. The South Face
  11. Managing a Mountain
  12. A Dangerous Mountain
  13. Half Dome Today

The Author:

Joe Reidhead lives in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains. An avid outdoorsman and mountain climber, Reidhead worked in Yosemite’s wilderness for several years and was fortunate to live beneath Half Dome’s shadow during that time.

The Andes

The Andes: The Complete History of Mountaineering in High South America

The history of climbing in the Andes has more unanswered questions than that of any other mountain range in the world. This climbing history began in the late Stone Age and covers a span of more than 15,000 years. The Andes is a climbing history that spans the ages, documenting the ascents of thousands of adventurous souls of all epochs: from unknown cavemen, hunters, Indians, grave-diggers, and miners to explorers, scientists, surveyors, artists, and, of course, modern sportive climbers!

With a wealth of over 800 pages, 290 illustrations and 60 maps, The Andes: The Complete History of Mountaineering in High South America is unparalleled in its breadth and bravely faces these unanswered questions.

The Andes is the most detailed and complete history ever written about the range. The book also includes a list of over 3,000 first ascents in the range—an unparalleled resource for any mountaineer.

Reviews:
The American Alpine Journal

andes
  • Print Length: 840 pages
  • Weight: 5.7 lbs
  • Dimensions: 8.5 x 2.3 x 11 inches

eBook: $19.99 available at Amazon and Apple iBookstore.

Paperback: $64.95 available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, the Book Depository, and on order at most independent bookstores.

Note on eBook: The iBook version is an enhanced eBook and we consider it the best value and the best format for enjoying this book. That said, it only works on the iPad and Apple computers.

Note for international buyers: The iBook and Kindle versions are available internationally. Purchasing one of these versions will have significant savings in shipping costs. The paperback is also available through some retailers outside the United States, including Amazon UK and Amazon EU, but we cannot control the retail price on these copies, and they could have a list price more than the recommended U.S. $64.95. If you have an issue, please contact us.

We publish memoirs and family history books.
As a personal historian, we design personal history books.

My Life under Totalitarianism

My Life under Totalitarianism: 1941-1991
The Unusual Career of an Electronics Engineer

Starič describes his life from 1941 until 1991. First his country Slovenia—then the northwestern part of Yugoslavia—was occupied by the Italians, Germans and Hungarians. They divided the country among themselves and the Italians occupied the southern part of Slovenia along with the capital Ljubljana (where the author lived). The author vividly describes the circumstances in the Italian concentration camp where he was incarcerated, as well as life under German occupation after the Kingdom of Italy capitulated in 1943. At the end of war in 1945, the fascist and Nazi terror was replaced by communist totalitarianism in the style of the Soviet Union.

During World War II the communists began killing not only the occupiers, but also their Slovenian political opponents. In the first months after the war, extensive mass killings took place throughout Yugoslavia, mostly in Slovenia.

The graves of the victims were top secret until 1991, when Slovenia became an independent country and abandoned communist totalitarianism. Since then about 620 mass graves with at least 100,000 victims have been discovered, all cruelly murdered. However, in the 24 years since Slovene independence, not a single culprit has been sentenced or punished thus far for the mass killings and repression

Peter Starič was born on September 2, 1924 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, where he completed all of his studies. He graduated in electronics engineering in 1961 and obtained his PhD in 1991.

After his retirement in 1994, he and his co-author Erik Margan completed the professional book Wideband Amplifiers, which was published by Springer/Kluwer Press in 2005 and reprinted in 2007.

In 2007, Starič published the Slovenian popular-science book “Atomska bomba” (Atomic bomb). Dr. Starič is the author of numerous popular-science articles, book reviews, and articles befitting his eclectic interests.

My Life
  • Print Length: 470 pages
  • Weight: 11.4 ounces
  • Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.6 x 8.5 inches

Hardcover: $31.95 available at Amazon, the Barnes & Noble, and on order at most independent bookstores.

Paperback: $21.95 available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and on order at most independent bookstores.

eBook: $8.99 at Amazon.

Downward Bound

Downward Bound: A Mad! Guide to Rock Climbing

Downward Bound is Warren Harding’s offbeat and inventive climbing classic. Harding gives readers an introduction to climbing and recounts his first ascents of the Nose and the Wall of the Early Morning Light on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley. The introduction to rock climbing and big walls is farcical. The tales of his ascents are vivid. And throughout he strives to return some of the fun to climbing through humorous storytelling of the climbing culture of the 60s and 70s.

Downward Bound is a testament to the rebellious and magnetic Batso.

“Why do people climb? How the hell do I know? Answers to this perennial question range from Mallory’s rather facetious (I think) ‘Because it’s there’ to (again) Mallory’s enigmatic ‘If you ask the question, there can be no answer.’ Personally, I dig another version of Mallory’s statement. Like, ‘We climb because it’s there and we’re mad!’ How else could you explain freezing your ass off, battling heat and thirst, scaring yourself to death just to get up some rock face or mountain peak. Rock climbing is especially questionable in this respect. In basic mountain climbing the object is to reach the summit by any or the easiest route possible. In rock climbing it’s not really necessary to reach a summit; the game seems to amount to finding the most difficult ways of getting nowhere.”

Downward Bound
  • Print Length: 220 pages
  • Weight: 11.4 ounces
  • Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.6 x 8.5 inches

Hardcover: $29.95 available at Amazon, the Book Depository, and on order at most independent bookstores.

Paperback: $16.95 available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and on order at most independent bookstores.

Saint Vincent Seminary

Saint Vincent Seminary from Its Origins to the Present

Saint Vincent Seminary is the oldest major seminary in the United States operated by Benedictine monks. Canonically established in 1855 by Pope Pius IX, the Seminary’s roots lie much farther back in time. With the new millennium, the Seminary enters its third century: during that time it has given the Church more than forty bishops and abbots, both in America and in Europe. Also among its alumni are musicians and historians, labor priests and biblical scholars. This history traces the growth of the Seminary from its origins in Bavaria to its activities today, while keeping in view the wider field of Christendom.

Daniel J. Heisey is an alumnus of Dickinson College, where he studied classics, and Saint Vincent Seminary where he studied theology. He has also pursued medieval studies at the University of Cambridge. He is a Benedictine monk of Saint Vincent Archabbey, where he is known as Brother Bruno.

seminary history

  • Print Length: 174 pages

eBook: $8.99 available at Amazon.