Soul of Wilderness: Mountain Journeys in Western BC and Alaska

Linda and I are fortunate to live near the western mountains of British Columbia, which contain some of the last wilderness areas in North America outside of the arctic. This is an area that supports grizzly bears and wolverines, where salmon run wild and the wolves and mountain goats roam through areas that have not changed since the arrival of Europeans to North America. This book is a look at those wilderness areas: their beauty, their essence, their soul.
--John Baldwin

In this modern world, where it is estimated that three quarters of the earth's ice-free land mass has been altered by humans, how many people have ever been somewhere they could truly experience pristine wilderness?

Few mountain ranges in the world are as wild or beautiful as BC and Alaska's Coast Mountains. From remote fjords to soaring summits, North America's westernmost mountains offer innumerable challenges and sublime delights. And yet they remain relatively unexplored.

Partners, co-authors and photographers John Baldwin and Linda Bily have ventured into the magical landscapes of the Coast Mountains. Travelling by foot and ski, their goal was simply to experience and document as much of these remote places as possible--to wander across the high meadows, ski from mountain tops and revel in the artful patterns of new-fallen snow. This stunning coffee-table book is sure to inspire readers to discover and connect with the intense beauty of this mountain wilderness.

John Baldwin grew up in Vancouver and became fascinated by the Coast Mountains that rise above the city. Over the past forty years he has completed numerous first ascents and pioneered many remote long ski traverses. He is the author of Mountains of the Coast (Harbour, 1999) and his award-winning photographs have appeared in numerous publications.

Linda Bily is a passionate skier, photographer and professional environmental engineer who fell in love with the big coastal glaciers of BC, Yukon and Alaska. She has completed over fifteen long ski mountaineering traverses. When not in the mountains, Bily lives with her partner John Baldwin in Vancouver, BC.