Book cover of Where the Mountain Casts Its Shadow: The Dark Side of Extreme Adventure

Book description

Drawing on interviews with many leading mountaineers or their survivors, Coffey goes beyond the typical climbing book to question the reasons why climbers risk their lives. The result is a powerful, affecting book that strips the romance from adventure and returns it to the human realm: the parents, spouses, children,…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

2 authors picked Where the Mountain Casts Its Shadow as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Mountaineering attracts people of lionlike courage. What of the people who wait for them at home? When Maria Coffey started dating a climber, she found herself part of an exclusive club…and she soon needed them more than ever after her partner was lost in an accident. As she struggles through her bereavement she examines the adventuring nature, and the bravery needed to make a life with such a person.

From Roz's list on high-altitude mountaineering.

All those who love adventure and mountains, as I do, are very aware of the risks. If you slip, you could fall and die. But who pays the price of these risks. It is often those who stay home with the children who pay the price of grief and suffer long-term traumas. Maria Coffey is the widow of an Everest climber and in her book, she interviews many other widows and children of deceased mountaineers and adventurers. It is written with honesty and brings home what the real risks of adventures are. This book is a must-read for everyone who…

From Tim's list on adventure, hiking, and survival.

If you love Where the Mountain Casts Its Shadow...

Book cover of These Blue Mountains

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas,

A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

Want books like Where the Mountain Casts Its Shadow?

Our community of 13,000+ authors has personally recommended 53 books like Where the Mountain Casts Its Shadow.

Browse books like Where the Mountain Casts Its Shadow

Book cover of Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home
Book cover of A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
Book cover of The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,395

readers submitted
so far, will you?

📚 If you like Where the Mountain Casts Its Shadow, you might also like...

Book cover of Need to Know: World War II and the Rise of American Intelligence

Need to Know by Nicholas Reynolds,

The authoritative but accessible history of the birth of modern American intelligence in World War II that treats not just one but all of the various disciplines: spies, codebreakers, saboteurs.

Told in a relatable style that focuses on actual people, it was a New Yorker "Best of 2022" selection and…

Book cover of Tsunami

Tsunami by LeeAnn Pickrell,

On the morning of December 26, 2004, an undersea earthquake struck off the coast of Sumatra in the Indian Ocean. The resulting tsunami killed an estimated 230,000 people across fourteen countries, from Indonesia to Sri Lanka to Thailand to the Maldives to India and all the way to East Africa.…

5 book lists we think you will like!