Aware of the Mountain

About the Book

Aware of the Mountain traces the author's climbing experience, with its difficulties and its inspiration, and indicates ways that mountaineering and yoga together can be used to better understand life. Yoga is shown to be a tool for increasing awareness of ego which is pivotal in changing personality. Otherwise, climbing can become an end in itself, unimportant to the development of relationships and personal philosophy.

Mountain climbing, (as all of life), can be viewed as a process, as compared to purely goal orientation, allowing the climber to absorb more from the action and assessment, less from achieving the objective of a climb.

A mountain trip is a compressed learning experience; in the crucible of fear and fatigue, self-concepts, personality, and emotions are all tested. Each climb is like a different life experience. The author's adventures are often influenced by the local cultures in Nepal, India, and Greece. And in the peaks of western Canada and the United States the climbers he admired or otherwise provided lessons for a searching mind.

About the Author

With thirty years experience in mountaineering, Gil Parker has had myriad adventures and many rope partners. He met leading-edge climbers and weekend alpinists while he was Vice-President of the Alpine Club of Canada, 1976-1980.

What makes his assessment more unusual is his knowledge of yoga. While studying at the Yasodhara Ashram in south-east British Columbia (where he received his Teacher's Certificate) he was struck by the similarity of the personal challenges faced in climbing and in the yogic life, how one could provide analogies for the other.

An engineer by training, he has become a successful writer, dealing with international travel, climbing, conservation and the social aspects of business and technology.

As well as the Alpine Club of Canada, Gil Parker has held executive positions in the World Federalists of Canada, the Solar Energy Society and the Victoria School of Writing. The Rotary Club awarded him a Paul Harris Fellowship for introducing Rotary to eastern Russia. He is an Honorary Citizen of the City of Victoria.

Visit Gil's website at www3.telus.net/ascent