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Old 09-26-2024, 04:17 PM   #40
MoneyGuy
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A Test of Will
This book is a gripping tale of one man’s survival in the wilderness. The book - A Test of Will - is the 12th I’ve read this year. I acquired this fascinating book at a conference I attended years ago, where author Warren Macdonald spoke.

On the night of April 9, 1997, Warren Macdonald took his final steps as a "complete" man. A fit and experienced hiker, Macdonald had set out with companion Geert van Keulen, a Dutch traveller Warren had met only the day before, to make the grueling climb to the top of Australia’s spectacular Mount Bowen. They lost their way after a full day on the trail and pitched camp beside a narrow creek. Shortly after dusk, as Macdonald scrambled up an embankment away in the darkness, he was horrified to hear a loud crack. A moment later he was lying in the creek bed, both his legs pinned by a giant boulder.

What had begun as a two-day adventure had turned into a nightmare. Try as they might, the two men could not budge the massive piece of granite. They realized that Macdonald’s new friend would have to hike out at dawn and make a perilous descent— for help - a journey of at least eight hours—.

A gifted storyteller, Macdonald captures the terror of spending two days alone in the wilderness, but he also writes eloquently about his life both before and after the accident. Both of his legs had to be amputated at the thigh.

An Australian native, Macdonald lives in Vancouver and works as an environmentalist, explorer, mountain climber, motivational speaker, and writer.

Ten months after his accident, Warren climbed Tasmania's Cradle Mountain using a modified wheelchair and the seat of his pants. In 2003 he became the first double above-knee amputee to reach the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa's tallest peak, while using specialty climbing prostheses. More recently Warren climbed El Capitan in the U.S. Sierra Nevada and the Weeping Wall in Alberta, Canada.

Macdonald told his story on Discovery Channel's program I Shouldn't Be Alive. The episode is titled Trapped Under a Boulder.
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