The Edge of Never

In the early minutes of Steep, the documentary on the evolution of big mountain skiing, one of the starring ski mountaineers says "If I'm not skiing for five days, I start to dream about skiing." I admit I'm a lot like that and my summer reading list usually contains a good amount of books about skiing or about 8000 meter mountain climbing adventures.

This summer I will be telling you about some really good ski books that I am reading now, have read, and plan to read. Some are how-to-ski books and I'll also include some new and some older, and some classic DVDs I've found where the basic skills and techniques presented are forever fundamental to skiing. I also have a few biographies of famous skiers and skiing pioneers that look to be good reads.

In a different genre, I'll be pointing you to a couple of off the beaten track ski travel books. The traveling is actually skiing around some extreme nooks and crannies, like the cliffs, chutes and couloirs of Mont Blanc and Squaw Valley.

Pack up your lounge chair, a picnic basket and dig your ski boot free feet into some hot sand, just like I'm doing in this recent photo taken at St. Pete Beach in Florida.
If you look closely, you'll see I am reading The Edge of Never by William A. Kerig. This book is about 15 year old Kye Petersen heading, under the tutelage of ski mountaineers, to ski the very same extremely steep couloir above Chamonix that claimed the life of his famous father, Trevor Petersen.

If you like to read about the lure of big mountain skiing and masters of these mountains including Anselme Baud, Stephane Dan and Glenn Plake - in a serious role and displaying a mentoring side of him you rarely see up close - you will love the book.

Here is more about The Edge of Never, which I guarantee will keep you on the edge of your beach chair. After you start the book don't be sending me a ton of emails asking when the movie is coming out - Bill Kerig says we should be seeing it this Fall.

If you can't wait for the movie read it again, that's what I'm doing in the photo!

More: The Edge of Never _{Photo Copyright Mike Doyle}