winter sports

Peter Stark speaks warmly of the 'carnivorous' North in his introductory essay, "A Life Built on Snow." The 'life' he refers to is his own. His grandfather was a skater and iceboater, he and his mother and father were (and are) skiers. His whole family belonged to the winter. All the way through this book, wintery thrills overtake fear--the thrill flying four hundred feet down a ski jump; the thrill of stomping a ski into the snow at the top of a slope, then watching the resulting avalanche take out the whole hill; the thrill of hunting narwhal off Greenland's icy shore.

The author drives to Greenland in the sense that he arrives in a two-engine Cessna Skymaster after puddle-jumping across the bleak terrain of Baffin Island, dodging through flocks of lesser auks along the way.

First though, his essays take us ski jumping in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, sliding for glory down Lake Placid's Olympic luge course, through a run down Aspen's World Cub downhill course, and down Mount Hood. There's a sense that the author only really comes alive during these icy adventures, when all his senses are focused on the moment.

Luckily for us, he is able to share that aliveness with his readers. He puts us in touch with something beyond our immediate selves--I'll call it the spirit of the North for lack of a better term.

Between adventures, there are long, interesting riffs on different types of ice and snow, a short history of Iceland, and a discussion on building the perfect sea kayak (among other Northerly subjects).

Peter Stark is a contributor to "Outside," "Smithsonian," and "New Yorker" magazines. His latest book is "Last Breath: Cautionary Tales from the Limits of Human Endurance." He is also the editor of an anthology of writing about the Arctic, "Ring of Ice." He typifies a rugged new breed of 'hands-on' journalists, and "Driving to Greenland" should appeal to both armchair adventurers and to those few among us who actually long to live in the heart of winter.

This book was pure fun! Peter Stark who has written on winter sports for Outside magazine, has penned some interesting and informative essays on his lifelong fascination with snow, the Arctic and winter sports. The author packed up a 1974 Volkswagon minibus and set out to drive to Greenland. Full of fun escapades and musings on that wonderful fluffy, white stuff-snow.

Excellent book!

I found the author's elegant yet down-to-earth style to make for very comfortable reading. The stories (there are several) are well-told.

I do have a small complaint, however. I think the author would do well to add more detail and then split this book into several books. Take the first chapter, for example. Definitely fascinating but I found myself saying, "Oh. That's all there is." when I reached Chapter 2.

Complaints about story length aside, I still highly recommend this book. If you're a fan of Tim Cahill, you'll definitely see some similarities.