Soul of Yosemite: Portraits Of Light And Stone (Falconguides) - Softcover

"Ed Cooper's vision, photographic skill, and knowledge of our scenic resources are unsurpassed." -Fred Beckey, mountaineering author and unofficial world-record holder for first ascents "Cooper's mountain photos are so sharp you can almost feel the granite and the crunch of snow under your crampons."-Karen Sykes, Seattle Post-Intelligencer "It won't be hard to immerse yourself in the beauty of the celebrated park with the stunning photographs found in Cooper's collection." -Sierra magazine "This remarkable pictorial travelogue is the next best thing to actually being in the park.... In fact, all of the views in this collection are breathtaking and prove, once again, that Cooper is one of our most gifted contemporary photographers." -Tucson Citizen

Celebrate one of America's most iconic natural wonders with this stunning and singular photographic feast. Legendary mountaineer and award-winning photographer Ed Cooper captures the soul of Yosemite National Park in an entirely new way, zeroing in on its breathtaking peaks, ranges, and rocks. With beautiful full-color photographs throughout, this one-of-a-kind pictorial travelogue guides visitors to the park's great landforms. It is organized in the order that a visitor arriving for the first time in Yosemite Valley would see the natural wonders of the park, which draws 3.7 million visitors annually. Set to be a treasured keepsake for anyone with a love of the mountains and a passion for this magnificent region, Soul of Yosemite is quite simply a distillation of the most glorious views this magnificent mountain range has to offer. From the author's introductionMy first view of Yosemite Valley was short, taking perhaps two hours. I arrived in the valley in one of the many clunker cars I owned then, during a spring break from college. The time was March, it was raining lightly, and only the lower parts of the great rock formations were visible. I had heard of climber Warren Harding's attempt to ascend the Nose of El Capitan, but he was not on the rock as far as I could see. . . . The year was 1958. . . . Harding finished his climb of the Nose, along with Wayne Merry and George Whitmore, in November 1958. It was not until four years later that I returned to Yosemite Valley, first to climb, then to enter into a romance with recording images of one of the most fantastic places on this planet.