In this sweeping, riveting, sometimes raucous, always brutally honest Alaskan epic, Mike Gordon

between the strenuous ups-and-downs of climbing the highest peak on each continent

fights the ghosts of his childhood, survives the rough-and-tumble atmosphere of the bar business in the Last Frontier and struggles, often at long odds, to keep the woman he loves. If you’ve ever had moments of self-doubt, found yourself addicted to drugs, wondered how to overcome low self-esteem or whether you could do the seemingly impossible to overcome them all, by the end of this book you’ll want to stand on a chair and shout out loud.

Learning the Ropes takes the reader on a wild ride from the Old South through Wild West Alaska by way of blatant racial discrimination, crazy motorcycle gangs, Russian revolution, dizzying heights and the underbelly of Spenard.