Our Top Ten Mountain Books - Part One

In a nutshell Two young British climbers bite off more than they can chew climbing a remote Andean peak. On the descent from the summit, Joe falls and breaks his leg, his partner lowers him into the teeth of a storm and, convinced he has no option, cuts the rope sending Joe falling into a huge crevasse where he's left for dead. Joe somehow escapes from the crevasse and crawls down a glacier for three days haunted by a crap Bony M single.

Why's it great? The story is unbelievable in itself, but Simpson is an incredibly vivid writer with an incredible talent for conveying the inner workings of his mind and the physical sensations of his extraordinary escape. Despite knowing that he must survive, the book somehow maintains an extraordinary tension. Almost impossible to put down and a good book to scare non-climbers witless.

In a nutshell We've cheated by including all four books by Boardman and Tasker in one volume. The pair were two of the most talented young British climbers of their generation and part of the first wave of climbers to attempt Himalayan routes alpine style. These four books cover their climbing careers up to the point where they disappeared, still in their 20s, on Everest's North East Ridge in 1982.

Why's it great? The books collectively cover one of the great periods of Himalayan climbing and the shift in emphasis from Bonington's expeditions - Boardman calls the SW Face Expedition to Everest 'the last great colonial experience' - to alpine style trips like the pair's desperate ascent of Changabang. They're not 'just' expedition books though, both are very honest, readable, dry, funny and eye-opening accounts of real people doing extraordinary things. One for climbers.

In a nutshell Brutally honest punk American climber Mark Twight's collected magazine article writings in a single volume together with retrospective musings on each article. From barking mad psycho ice climbing through to barking mad psycho Himalayan death trips and enough introspective self destruction to last most people a lifetime.

Why's it great? Massive honest, incredibly powerful, obsessed and introspective, Twight seems to have assembled the brooding dark side of climbing and eaten it all. It's car crash reading that needs to be consumed in small bites in case it becomes overwhelming. Most climbers will recognise some of their basic, obsessive traits magnified, oh, tenfold or so, in Twight and it's the identification as well as the shocked observation that makes this a great read. The same author's 'Extreme Alpinism' is the best mountaineering 'textbook' we've seen as well.

In a nutshell Brilliant young Austrian climber Heinrich Harrer describes his first ascent of the Eiger Nordwand as part of a four-man team in 1938 as well as the often tragic previous attempts on the fearsome route.

Why's it great? It's a book that first describes the dark and, let's be honest, horrific, early history of the Eiger wall, then somehow pulls you into the focussed, lonely extremes of Harrer's first ascent. It would be easy for it to be uncompromisingly grim, yet for all the deaths and tragedy, Harrer still manages to convey his joy in the process of climbing and the qualities it brings out in men. A total classic.

In a nutshell Pre-war Scottish climber scrapes and cuts his way up some of the classic Scottish winter routes wearing a kapok flying suit for warmth and in the company of a succession of like-minded mountaineers. Famously written from memory on scraps of paper in a WW2 PoW camp after Murray was captured in the western desert.

Why's it great? Still perfectly encapsulates the feeling of Scottish winter climbing along with an inspirational love for the hills made all the more poignant by the knowledge that it was written in captivity. Blessed with our advanced front point crampons and reverse-pick axes, all we can do is marvel at the toughness of these men cutting steps laboriously up sheer gullies. For a perfect winter day we suggest climbing a classic Bill Murray route then reading the original ascent description and marvelling at it. For a perfect winter day's reading we just suggest this book. It makes you want to be in Scotland.

Discuss this story

Jim Chalmers

I have just found Jon's lists from a year ago where he lists his personal 10 best outdoors books. All of them are about climbing. Now that's fair enough. Maybe the greeatest mountain experiences are on technical routes.

But this site and forum is mostly about mountain walking, and not one of Jon's books is about that.

What are the walking books that folk have enjoyed most, or have influenced them?

My personal all time favourite is Hamish's Mountain Walk, but there are lots of others.

Posted: 07/12/2005 at 20:50

Mal Mawr

John Hillaby's "A Journey Through Britain".
I found that this highly readable, dare I say digestible, book re-inspired me to get off my backside and out walking.

Posted: 07/12/2005 at 21:56

Mal Mawr

Not a mountain book but hey.........we all have to start somewhere.

Posted: 07/12/2005 at 22:01

Talkback: Our Top Ten Mountain Books - Part One

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