Book Review: Summit by George Band
Sub-titled 150 Years of the Alpine Club, Summit is pretty much a comprehensive illustrated history of British mountaineering from the 1850s through to the present day.
Posted: 20 October 2006
by Jon
Book Review: Summit - 150 Years Of The Alpine Club by George
Band
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Price:
£25.00
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Publisher: Collins - ISBN:
0-00-720364-0
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Briefly:
Illustrated hardback chronicling the history of the Alpine
Club which was founded in 1857 and was the world's first
mountaineering club.
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The Alpine Club was the world's first mountaineering club and is 150
years old in 2007. This book is simply an illustrated procession
through its remarkable  history
from its founding in the 1850s through to up to the minute events
like Alan Hinkes' completion of his Challenge 8000 ascents of all 14
of the world's 8,000-metre peaks.
In between, Band covers pretty much the story of British
mountaineering, though he's deliberately has left out much of the
Everest detail - he was the youngest climber on the 1953 expedition
and also summited Kangchenjunga with Joe Brown - since he's covered
it in an earlier book.
And it's all beautifully done with a lovely balance of very
readable prose mixed in with contemporary photographs that really set
the tone and place the story in context. It's a long way from being
just a coffee table book at one extreme, or a dry, wordy history at
the other.
From Whimper, via Whillans, Scott and Bonington to Cave, Fowler
and countless others , everything's placed in context and you can dip
in and out as you choose or simply browse through the hundreds of
images, many of them stunning.
Overall a fantastic introduction to British and world
mountaineering history and a fascinating way of joining the dots
between the bits you know already and the ones you're less aware of.
It would make a great present for anyone with an interest in
mountaineering history.
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