The Alps & Meters Summer Library

Good books have been a staple of summer ever since we were kids. As alpine enthusiasts, summer allows us to catch up on our reading, satisfying our urge to learn about new places and helping to inspire our next adventure. 

We're introducing the Alps & Meters Library to help you stay connected to the mountains during the warmer months, including timeless coffee table books that are essentials for your home or chalet and action-packed magazines that temporarily transport us to the far-off places we long to experience.

FOR THE COFFEE TABLE

LIVING IN STYLE: MOUNTAIN CHALETS

This stylish volume takes us high into the exclusive world of mountain chalets. They are dream houses which offer a blend of majestic nature, traditional architecture, and individualistic design or sanctuaries from the over-scheduled and chaotic world below. Offering exclusive, upscale living, these refuges are located in the shadow of magnificent peaks. Expansive walls of glass open onto views of picturesque mountain landscapes. Inside are unique interiors composed of antiques, furs, and found items from nature, art, and design. Their interiors offer a welcoming and cozy space to relax or socialize after winter sports or alpine strolls. Most notable, perhaps, is the role landscape plays in the design of these dramatic dwellings. Set against hillside views and picturesque valleys, furniture, materials, and artwork take on new vitality-regardless of whether the style is rustic and traditional or altogether more sleek and modern. Yet, although varied in ambiance, all these chalets share an awareness of texture, scale, and light that creates a unifying sense of ease and grace. In this volume, Gisela Rich, a connoisseur of the sophisticated chalets of St. Moritz, offers a glimpse of worlds sure to enrich the reader's own sense of style.

THE STYLISH LIFE: SKIING

This dynamically-illustrated book features legendary ski racers like Jean-Claude Killy and Rudi Sailer as well as charismatic modern athletes like Lindsey Vonn and Bode Miller, while showcasing the breathtaking resort towns of St. Moritz, Kitzbühel, Chamonix, Aspen, Telluride, and others.

From its origins in China and Scandinavia, the sport of skiing has come a long way to attract daring athletes, tourists and locals on winter holiday, the chic and wealthy leisure class, and international royalty. On the technical side, pioneering innovators developed cutting-edge equipment that, over the years, has grown skiing to become a fiercely competitive spectator sport while, on the cultural side, the exciting and well-groomed stars of the ski world and jetsetter destinations have come to define a distinctive and popular global culture and aspirational lifestyle. The Stylish Life: Skiing is a nostalgic and spectacular journey through alpine history and beyond, including this singularly unique sport’s founders, superstars, influence on design and entertainment, and the evolution of its resorts, fashion, equipment, and much more.

Gabriella Le Breton has skied at some 130 resorts across the globe, jumping out of helicopters and skiing under the midnight sun. Amongst her many credits, she regularly contributes ski features to the Financial Times, The Daily Telegraph, Condé Nast Traveller, and Vanity Fair.

FOR YOUR SUMMER TRAVELS 

Tracking the Wild Coomba

The life of Doug Coombs inspired no shortage of adventures across the world, and Alps & Meters Alpinist Rob Cocuzzo set off on a journey to compile and tell those stories that made Doug a legend of the skiing community. Tracking the Wild Coomba is the result of Rob's years-long journey to follow in Doug's footsteps from Massachusetts to Jackson Hole to Alaska to the French Alps.  

PERIODICALS FOR YOUR BOOKSHELF

Gear Patrol issue Three

We'll be flipping through Issue Three more than a few times this summer: to take a few laps in the Nurbürgring in a vintage Porsche, dream of being behind the wheel of the Bugatti and get some tips on cooking our fly-fishing catch from a James Beard Award-winning chef. Few magazines are as robust and as well-rounded as Gear Patrol, and at 350+ pages, it will look great on a bookshelf for years to come.

Alpine Modern issue five

Issue Five is our favorite issue from the folks at Alpine Modern, with a beautiful lone muskox roaming the Norwegian planes on the cover. One of the last issues printed, it features Alpine Modern's customary unique storytelling and incomparable photography and is not to be missed for those who appreciate the untold stories of the mountains and modern, cutting-edge alpine architecture.