Canyons and Ice
280 pages, 7 x 9
110 color plates, 3 maps
Paperback
Release Date:15 Mar 2013
ISBN:9781467509343
Canyons and Ice
The Wilderness Travels of Dick Griffith
University of Alaska Press, Ember Press
Solo travel today is anything but solitary, with the familiar glow of technology and nearly sentient gear as common companions. But for decades one especially daring traveler has set off into the wilderness with little more than a sense of adventure. Dick Griffith is an Alaska legend who made his name with a string of fearless fea: rafting down the Green and Colorado Rivers, skiing solo across the icy Northwest Passage, and being the first nonnative to drop into the treacherous Barranca Del Cobre in Mexico.
The first full biography of Griffith, Canyons and Ice offers a rare look at the man behind the soaring achievements and occasionally death-defying moments. Both a grand tale of adventure and a reflection on what motivates a man to traverse some of the most remote places on earth, it will set fire to readers’ adventurous spirits.
The first full biography of Griffith, Canyons and Ice offers a rare look at the man behind the soaring achievements and occasionally death-defying moments. Both a grand tale of adventure and a reflection on what motivates a man to traverse some of the most remote places on earth, it will set fire to readers’ adventurous spirits.
Stoical, utterly self-reliant, and attracted by challenges of immense scale, Griffith brings to mind heroic figures of an earlier, less craven era—stalwart individuals like Shackleton, Amundsen, Nansen, and Stefansson who explored some of the least hospitable places on earth without benefit of GPS, Gore-Tex, or the possibility of rescue . . . As this gripping and inspiring book explains, Griffith is simply ‘afflicted’ with an irresistible inclination to attempt what others say can’t be done.
Dick Griffith has lived the sort of big, wild life that most cardboard-cutout adventures of today only dream of living. He has engaged the wilderness in his own way on his own terms without ever once pandering to sponsors. He has undertaken adventures hard to believe, and survived every one of them. The result is a life so awe inspiring you may not believe this book is true. But every damn word is as real as the north-country dangers that have killed lesser men.
At a time when few river canyons had been traversed in the 1950s, [Dick] had the temerity to venture into the wild and unknown Barranca del Cobre in Mexico without even a proper topographic map. His ingenuity was amazing. . . . He sought no recognition for his achievement—in fact, few knew of the accomplishments until the past few years.
In Griffth's wake have come many other adventurers seeking to explore the country's wild places. . . . But no one, it seems, has yet amassed the number of treks—both solo or with a companion or two—that Griffith has.
[Griffith] has traversed unexplored canyons in a packraft and has skied solo across thousands of kilometres of the Arctic. All of it without sponsors. All vividly documented in his journals. And now for you and me to read about in this fine book.
Kaylene Johnson is the author of five books and numerous articles about Alaska and the people who live there. She lives in Eagle River, Alaska.
Prologue
Maps
Maps
1. Drylander
2. Launch
3. Isabelle
4. Standdown
5. Canyons and Character
6. Barranca del Cobre
7. In the Land of Foot Runners
8. Call of the Arctic
9. The Raven Years
10. Landscape of Anguish
11. Rabies
12. Outlaw
13. Meandering a Great Emptiness
14. As Far as Thought Can Reach
15. Walking Among Legends
16. One Thousand Miles
17. The Last One
Epilogue
A Note from Dick Griffith
Acknowledgments
