Wild Adventures We Have Known

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This book is the true-life, adventure-love-story of Jolene and Willi Unsoeld, who meet and fall in love in the mountains and raise four children in the wilds of the Tetons and Nepal. They live a life that strives to stretch beyond all limitation – no matter the risk – even if the ultimate cost is death.

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Wild Adventures We Have Known is a book about fierce mountain climbing, fierce family intimacy and striving to positively impact the world.

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Fasten your seat belt and get ready for some wild adventures as we follow the trajectories of these two lives through the ‘40s, ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s. Experience outrageous climbing, natural childbirth and raising four rambunctious kids in the wilderness. Live life in Nepal in the ‘60s during the fledgling years in Peace Corps. Climb Everest with Willi, and become a citizen activist with Jolene. Learn what it takes to keep a marriage alive through separation and risk.

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Jolene and Willi shared their love of the mountains. But mountains were not enough for either of them. Mountain adventure provided a metaphor for the larger struggles they faced in life. They used mountain adventures to gain the strength they needed to carry on the real work of making a difference in the world.

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As Willi matures from mountain climber to outdoor educator (Outward Bound), to wilderness philosopher (The Evergreen State College), he inspires us to grow our own “Spiritual Values of Wilderness.”

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Jolene and Willi inspired generations of people whose lives they touched. This book carries their message forward into the future, exciting young people to cut loose and take their own risks in order to learn and grow and make the world a better place for the next generation.

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No matter the challenge, no matter how hard – risk is a necessity of life. It helps us to live life to the fullest – which is what living is all about. If we stumble and fall in the face of imminent dissolution, all we have to do is get back on our feet and begin again!

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We’ll live to that!