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Barry Blanchard’s The Calling is now available!

One of the most anticipated books of 2014, Barry Blanchard’s new book The Calling, is now available.

Blanchard is not only one of Canada’s most accomplished climbers, he is also one of the most colourfull characters in the sport.

In Canada, his first ascents include East Face of Fay, North Face of North Twin, Andromeda Strain, The Wild Thing, Infinite Patience on Emperor Face on Mount Robson, Striving for the Moon on Mount Temple and many more.

His much anticipated memoirs will include untold stories, wild adventures such as the Rupal Face and in the Alps and being treed by a grizzly bear in the Rockies.

The original title of the book was The Calling, a life lifted by mountains. After the book was ready for launch, it was clear to the publishers and to Blanchard that a better title would be The Calling, a life rocked by mountains.

A message on the name change from Patagonia Books:
“We did the original cover before we’d seen much of the manuscript. All we knew was Barry had been deterred from a hopeless life of delinquency and found his calling when he learned to rappel in the Canadian equivalent of the Boy Scouts. We also knew he was going to focus on the depth and significance of the relationships you form when you have to totally trust the person at the other end of the rope. But then the manuscript came in, and on top of all of that it had such a palpable vibe of the era during which Barry learned to climb that we knew we had to represent that as well. Although it gets to the same place, the first cover was much too quiet to represent the truth of Barry’s journey. Like snowboarders, who all listen to music during their Olympic runs, Barry’s story was incomplete without a head nod to the music.”

This is a must-read for any outdoor enthusiast, from armchair mountaineers and weekend backcountry hikers to cutting edge climbers.

You can find The Calling on Amazon here.

calling

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