Latest in our range of prospective Christmas gifts is Mick
Fowler's well-reviewed autobiography, On Thin Ice.
It's
the second book that the legendary climbing tax man has written. Like
Andy Cave, who's Learning To Breathe we reviewed recently, Fowler is
more a climber's climber than a quasi-celebrity. In fact he was
actually voted 'The Mountaineers' Mountaineer' in a 1989 poll in the
Observer, which tells you something.
The extraordinary thing about Fowler is that he combines a career
as one of the world's leading climbers with a full-time career high
up in the Inland Revenue. Chatting with him at a recent shop opening
in Manchester, he told us that far from limiting his climbing, his
career actually sharpened his appetite and kept him fresh in a way
that he doubted would be the case were he a full-time mountaineer,
though he confessed that limited holiday time sometimes pushed his
acclimatisation schedules harder than he'd like...
On Thin Ice is dry, self-effacing saunter through some of Fowler's
expeditions, from Jordan to the Himalaya taking in a roll call of
climbing partners which includes some of the biggest names in
mountaineering: Taweche in Nepal with Pat Littlejohn, Payne, Murphy,
Sustad, Perkins and Cave on Changabang and Simon Yates in Peru.
As you might expect it's a climbers' book, though there's the odd
snippet of more general interest. In Peru with Yates, for example, he
reveals that Simon actually sold the Void pen-knife to pay for food
on the walk out and there's an interesting description of the ground
Simpson crawled over as 'just about the most difficult walking
country imaginable. Even upright on two legs I was having trouble,
the thought of crawling, dragging a broken leg behind me, did not
bear contemplation'.
Anyway, welll worth a read if you like climbing and want to know
more about Fowler's varied mountaineering exploits. It's always very
readable, occasionally gently self mocking and will leave you, if
anything, with even more respect for Fowler's achivements. As for the
'torture tube' bivvy on Taweche, er, no thanks...
On Thin Ice is published by Baton Wicks at £18.99
philip newing
