Patagonia Book Life Lived Wild

According to his calculations, Rick Ridgeway has spent over five years of his life sleeping in a tent: "small tents pitched in the most remote corners of the world." Whether at high altitude or at sea level, with his family, those years have taught him, he writes, "to distinguish between what is important and what is insignificant." Some of his adventures have been widely covered: the first American ascent of K2; the first crossing of Borneo; the first walk across a part of Tibet so remote that no foreigner had been there before. Despite the grandeur of these exploits, Rick has always remained alert to the quieter surprises, like those butterflies encountered over 7,000 metres up on K2 or the fleeting shapes of wild hokkis in Tibet. What stands out most in Life Lived Wild are his relationships with fellow travellers, such as Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, Doug Tompkins, founder of The North Face, and filmmaker Jimmy Chin. Some of them do not make the return journey. Rick treats them all with genuinely heartfelt tenderness. It is through their commitments to protecting the wild places they shared that he discovered his own.