Challenging Mountain Nature [Paperback]

Robert A. Stebbins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 24, 2005

Common belief has it that people go in for mountain sports expressly because they endanger life and limb of the participant, even at the individual's high level of competence to execute them. Challenging Mountain Nature reveals that, with rare exceptions, extreme sports are not at all risky in any major way; hobbyists in these fields are not, as a rule, suicidal. Nature-challenge activity involves surmounting barriers posed by the natural environment for deep fulfillment, and offers an exhilarating peak experience. Thus, this is not the language of risk, but rather it is the language of leisure and psychological flow. This book examines climber, kayaker, and snowboarder involvement in their core activities, as well as their preparation for them, the ways they relate them to uninvolved friends and relatives, and how they mold their own participation in them around personal and occupational obligations and other serious and casual leisure interests. The study also included extensive participant observation of low-, medium- and high-challenge participants in action (to the extent possible and safe for the researcher) as well as related activities.

Product Details

• Paperback: 156 pages
• Publisher: Detselig Enterprises (October 24, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1550592912
• ISBN-13: 978-1550592917
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,617,204 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #99 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Outdoor Recreation > Snowboarding

More About the Author

Robert A. Stebbins, FRSC, is Faculty Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Calgary. He received his Ph.D. in 1964 from the University of Minnesota. He has written over 225 articles and chapters and written or edited 39 books, including Between Work and Leisure (2004), Serious Leisure (2007), Personal Decisions in the Public Square (2009), and Leisure and Consumption (2009), and The Idea of Leisure (2011). Stebbins was elected Fellow of the Academy of Leisure Sciences (1996), Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (1999), Senior Fellow of the World Leisure Academy (2010), and Alumni Member, Phi Beta Kappa Society, Macalester College Chapter (2011). He has been studying work and leisure for over 45 years, with a particular interest in amateurs and professionals in art, sport, science, and entertainment.