The Ragged Mountain Press Guide to Outdoor Sports: Skills and Knowledge for the Whole Outdoors - Softcover

The encyclopedia is "resource central" for beginning or rusty outdoorspeople. Complete professional guidance on choosing an outdoor pursuit, getting started, mastering beginning-to-intermediate skills, and figuring out where to do it is offered by these experts, with contributions from the authors of Ragged Mountain Press's most popular titles. Part One introduces nine outdoor sports, describing each in enough depth to launch the reader into a lifetime pursuit. Augmenting the basic skills are expert tips for those ready to move to the next level, plus suggestions for further reading. General outdoor skills such as map and compass reading, precautions for extreme environments, camp cooking, and "no trace" wilderness adventuring are covered in Part Two, Part Three is a series of informative appendices with details on common gear repairs, trail recipes, outdoor clothing, and lists of organizations, and other sources of information. Outdoor sports covered include: dayhiking; backpacking; mountain biking; sea kayaking; canoeing; whitewater paddling; cross-country skiing; rock and ice climbing; mountaineering. Each chapter includes a "starter kit" and add-on gear list with suggestions for cost-cutting, the activity's suitability for kids of various ages, a dreamer's menu of the sport's top five destinations, and notes on the extremes explored by the sport's most ardent enthusiasts.