To save the environment, we first need to connect with it. That’s the premise behind Contact: Mountain Climbing and Environmental Thinking ($24.95, nvbooks.nevada.edu), a collection of 23 essays written by prominent climbers on their transcendent experiences in wild places, including: Chris McNamara’s 1998 girdle traverse of El Cap; Mike Libecki’s solo adventures in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica; and John Muir’s ascent of Mount Ritter, in the Sierras. Contact, whether for its gripping accounts of alpine feats or its philosophical insights, does not fail to make a lasting impression.