THE LEDGE:

AN ADVENTURE STORY OF FRIENDSHIP AND SURVIVAL ON MOUNT RAINIER

Available Nationwide, published by Ballantine Books/Random House

NPR reviews The Ledge

“And now, your winner for the annual John Krakauer Award for Scary Things That Happen On Mountains. This well-plotted survival tale about climbing partners and a deadly fall into a crevasse will certainly slake your 127 Hours craving, but it is a unique book on its own, avoiding the thumping cliches of the “rock climbing is dangerous” genre…With the help of award-winning Denver Post journalist Kevin Vaughan, Davidson transforms his horrific experience into a graceful, poised narrative that spares no gory detail but never feels mawkish. Davidson’s gruesome description of the fall will make you shiver, but the gratitude and hope he now embraces will make you melt.”–National Public Radio Click here to read the complete NPR review!

Mount Rainier

An iconic symbol of America, this giant volcano dominates the skyline — even from 90 miles away in Seattle, Washington. Each year about two million visitors walk it’s flanks and about 10,000 climbers cross its many glaciers in an effort to scale the 14,410-foot peak. About 60% of those climbers reach the top.

Jim Davidson and Mike Price, two friends and experienced climbing partners, summited Mount Rainier by the difficult Liberty Ridge route on June 21, 1992. As they descended the Emmons Glacier, without warning, a snowbridge collapsed beneath Jim’s feet and dropped him into a huge, hidden glacial crevasse.

As Jim plummeted, Mike tried to stop him but couldn’t. The two friends dropped 80 feet into the glacier and were buried by falling snow. Mike did not survive.

Buried in snow and trapped in the crevasse, Jim was alone. Devastated at the loss of his friend, Jim was surrounded by ice and fear. Jim had to climb the frozen, overhanging walls of the crevasse, or die trying.

About the Authors

Jim Davidson is a climber and inspirational speaker from Colorado. For more information, see About Jim. Kevin Vaughan is a staff writer at The Denver Post. Formerly with the Rocky Mountain News, he is an award-winning journalist and in 2008 was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize. For more information, see About Kevin.

Advance Praise for The Ledge

“This is a survival story, but it’s also a story of trust that explores a precarious situation in which men are literally bound to one another for survival. Though the narrative is highly personal, its implications reach much farther, offering a philosophical inquiry of how men react once the safety nets have been cut from beneath them.”–Kirkus Reviews ”

A modern Aristotelian tragedy.”–Publishers Weekly “Someone once said that for true value, “a book must be about more than it is about.” Jim Davidson’s The Ledge is. You can read it as a thrilling, chilling tale of adventure and death in the mountains, but it is, ultimately, about more than that.”–James M. Tabor, bestselling author of Blind Descent and The Deep Zone ”

Through spare, vivid and honest storytelling, The Ledge plunges readers into a dark, icy chasm from which escape seems impossible. Then it reveals the strength it takes to look up, and to start climbing.”–Jim Sheeler, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and author of the National Book Award finalist Final Salute “Few can imagine the terror of falling 80 feet into a bottomless abyss or the horror of losing a climbing partner in the process; even fewer could survive. Davidson not only survives, he lives to tell the tale and to honor his fallen friend. The Ledge is a stark and poignant reminder to all of us that climbing is a perilous passion.”– Jennifer Jordan, author The Last Man on the Mountain and Savage Summit “A deeply personal account of friendship, adventure, and epic tragedy, of struggling for life against the toughest of mountaineering odds imaginable.”—Mike Gauthier, author of Mount Rainier: A Climbing Guide