BEN PIERCE Bozeman Daily Chronicle | Posted: Saturday, October 8, 2005 12:00 am
BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) - As a boy growing up near Rochester, N.Y., Thomas Turiano collected ski area maps and dreamed of carving lines down the great mountains of the West.
When he first arrived in Jackson Hole, Wyo., on a family vacation in 1980 his eyes were wide with fascination and utter awe at the mountain landscape that surrounded him. Deep down a feeling began to grow in Turiano, a feeling that would draw him back to the West and far into the mountain backcountry.
In 1985 he left home and arrived in Wyoming a very green 18-year-old with a desire to become a ski instructor at Jackson Hole, the tremendous pull of the mountains already taking hold on his life.
Nearly two decades later, Turiano's love of mountains and alpine adventure culminated with the publication of "Select Peaks Of Greater Yellowstone: A Mountaineering History & Guide."
"I was a tiny insignificant speck in a vast wilderness, yet the wind and sun on my face and the cold in my limbs lent substance to my existence," Turiano wrote of his early excursions into the alpine country.
Offering far more than the driving directions and route-finding information found in many alpine guidebooks, Select Peaks is a testament to Turiano's passion for the mountains. His exhaustive research details information on 107 peaks in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem.
The book explores the evolution of the Greater Yellowstone mountaineer from the earliest American Indians to the fur trappers and prospectors who explored the Absaroka, Teton and Wind River ranges long before heli-skiing and heated gondolas descended on the region.
Each of the 13 mountain ranges explored in Select Peaks is detailed with interesting information on first ascents, naming of peaks and other facts including geological history and wildlife.
"Knowledge of where you live is so enriching," Turiano said. "Natural history is true knowledge."
Turiano intertwines his beliefs on the importance of conservation with inspirational anecdotes from his experiences exploring the mountains. The combination makes the book an enjoyable read for everyone from the armchair mountaineer to the active climber.
The feeling of freedom Turiano found on the tops of peaks gave him a release which he came to love, and later rely on.
"I had to make sure that I was in control," he said. "Once I was out there, my decisions and skills where very important in keeping me alive. For me that is a very important feeling to have, the feeling of self-reliance."
Turiano's desire to write the book grew from his love of wild places, but it also came at a price. Writing the book would expose some of Greater Yellowstone's lesser known peaks and the prospect the book could have detrimental effects on the land was an idea Turiano grappled with as he wrote.
"Mount Cowen was one of those special places that was really hard to put in the book," Turiano said. "I was concerned the book would make the area overwhelmed with rock climbers. I hope other information about the environment is paid attention to and the area is treated with respect."
The response to Turiano's efforts has not gone unnoticed.
Select Peaks has quickly become recognized as the most thorough volume ever recorded on the subject of the peaks of Greater Yellowstone. It recently received honors as winner of the 2005 Mountains and Plains Booksellers Association Regional Reference Award.
"I think the thing that people really don't expect to see is all the history in the book," Chris Naumann, part owner of Barrel Mountaineering said. "It really sets itself apart and puts it into a category of literary history. The combination of practical and historical information is a unique combination."
For Turiano, the book is a small piece in the larger puzzle of Greater Yellowstone. With his writing he hopes to inspire others to explore the region and enjoy its finest peaks while respecting their fragile beauty.
"What the book has done is attempted to take an inventory of what man has accomplished," Turiano said. "From here we'll move forward and see where mountaineering and Greater Yellowstone take us."