Disasters, survival, humour, adventure, and stunning pics, all in one place ...
The nights are drawing in and before you can say ‘take in some slack’, we’ll be turning the clocks back. Alas, it’s too dark to nip down to Stanage after work without bunking off seriously early. So what do you do?
Well, the next best thing to climbing is reading about it, so we’ve pulled together all our climbing book reviews from the last few years into a single article of Himalayan magnitude – ahem, well, Scottish munro magnitude at least:-)
So here we are with part one of the guide to surviving autumn evenings. Part two is to follow next week, when we turn our attention to climbing films. Happy reading …
The Biographies
If you're new to mountaineering literature and you don’t yet know whether Mick Fowler works for the Inland Revenue or for the mountains (actually, he does both), then help is at hand. Who’s Who in British Climbing is ‘an addictive collection of climbing mini-biographies’, according to OM editor Jon Doran, and it should bring you up to speed.
For greater detail, longer socks, and less Gore-Tex fabric, there’s also a biography of Wainwright, whose footsteps most of us have followed, up hill, down dale, and through the odd Cumbrian bog too.
The Big Peaks
The North Face of the Eiger may not be one of the tallest peaks in the world, but it’s one of the most ominous, so Joe Simpson, of Touching the Void fame, approached it with trepidation. Can he get his head round the psychological shadow of the mountain, as well as getting his rock boots up the Difficult Crack? Find out in The Beckoning Silence.
Looking a bit further back in time, and much higher in altitude, Bonington’s Everest pulls together first-hand accounts of three major attempts on the world’s highest mountain and the OM verdict say it’s got some great photos too.
Personal Journeys
For a very physical sport – made up of rock, ice, and a distinct lack of oxygen – mountaineering isn’t short on metaphysical questions. After all, when was the last time you read a climbing book that didn’t contain a moment’s soul-searching, or some kind of attempt to answer the question ‘why’?
Stephen Venables considers why he was first drawn to the sport in Higher than the Eagle Soars, which takes in a mix of childhood dreams and Himalayan mountaintops. Meanwhile, Andy Cave only makes it from the pits to the mountains after a lot of careful thought, in his two books, Learning to Breathe and Thin White Line. Learning to Breathe is ‘an incredibly moving tale of light and darkness,’ says Jon.
If you need a larger-than-average dose of humour to help you swallow life-and-death questions, as well as real adventure, then Andy Kirkpatrick always has some to offer. His first literary effort, Psychovertical, won him plenty of plaudits, including the Boardman Tasker.
Or you can find out how life on the summits fits in with life in the tax office, in the company of the ‘mountaineers’ mountaineer’, Mick Fowler. Just beware that this is alpine territory, and you may end up on the edge of your seat or – more appropriate for the sport – On Thin Ice.
When It All Goes Pear-Shaped
Most climbing books involve an element of pear-shaped-ness, or at least the potential for it. But some epics are more, well, epic, than others. It doesn’t get much worse, for example, than having to cut off your hand to escape after a boulder falls and traps you. But that’s exactly what happened to Aron Ralston in Between a Rock and a Hard Place.
And if you have a taste for narrowly-averted disasters then don’t forget to visit, or re-visit, Joe Simpson’s classic, Touching the Void, which is reviewed in our top ten list of climbing books.
The Classics
Speaking of classics, there are plenty more in OM’s top ten list. It was written a few years ago, hence the update now, but books like The White Spider don’t go stale in a hurry. Read part one or part two for more inspiration.
Your Favourites
Have we missed one of your favourite mountaineering books? Then make your recommendations in the forum, or review a book for yourself in the books section of the product review system.
