David Smart
Rocky Mountain Books RMB
Hardcover 248 Pages July 30, 2019
5 x 8.5 inches
9781771603232
Paul Preuss: Lord of the Abyss Life and Death at the Birth of Free-Climbing
By publisher:
Alex Honnold, the first and only person to free solo El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, has thought about Preuss’ untimely and surprising death and imagined it to have likely been “the worst four seconds” of Preuss’ life.
Although he died at only 27 years old, modern climbing may never have developed the ethical, existential core that it has today if not for Preuss’s bold style. Even the most trenchant traditionalists remain unsure about whether to add him to their pantheon or dismiss him as at worst a lunatic or at best an indelicate subject better left ignored.
Smart’s biography is the first English language volume to be published and is certain to bring the remarkable story of Paul Preuss to a whole new generation of climbers.