Hanging Up the Rope - Paperback

by Paul Huebner (Author)

Veteran climber Paul Huebner takes you on spectacular climbing adventures in the Alps of Europe, the mountains of Alaska, the Colorado Rockies, Canada and the North Cascades, the volcanoes of Mexico and the Andes of Bolivia and Ecuador. He describes in vivid detail the many risks, mishaps and close calls he's experienced on his adventures, including witnessing the heart-pounding rescue of a terrified woman high on the Matterhorn after her partner had fallen to his death; the miraculous escape from a bombardment of falling rocks and lightning while leading a team of amateurs in the Canadian Rockies; and succumbing to altitude sickness and being greeted by a shotgun-toting night watchman in the Andes. Huebner enlightens you on the ever-present question of why climbers take the inconceivable risks and expose themselves to the incredible hazards, and he explains why he finally decided to hang up the rope.

Author Biography

Born in 1946, Paul Huebner has lived in Portage, Wisconsin his entire life. After working as a painter with his father, a two-year stint at the local Post Office, and numerous forays in the retail business, he graduated with a B. S. in Natural Resources from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1977. Paul was then a local county's first parks and solid waste manager before accepting a position as a hydrogeologist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. While working for the Department, he coauthored several technical publications on the site selection, design, construction, operation and monitoring of engineered solid waste landfills and much of the State's current solid waste landfill rules and regulations. He also led the Solid Waste Team for several years and was the Program's liaison with the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency before taking retirement in 2001. Paul became a recreational rock climber and mountaineer in 1985 at the age of 39. He's ascended peaks in the western United States, Canada, Europe, Mexico, Ecuador and Bolivia to a height of 21,205 feet.