UKC

For me it has to Jim Perrin's Menlove but then again Bonatti's two books are great reads as well. What do UKC people think ??
PS. Apologies if this thread been before !

In reply to Allan McDonald (Gwydyr MC):

I very much enjoyed Lionel Terray's Conquistadors of the Useless.

I'll look out for Menlove, I've heard it recommended before.

In reply to nikkormat:

Oh and I meant to say Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage

In reply to nikkormat:

>Lionel Terray's Conquistadors of the Useless.

Definitely the best-named climbing biography, bar none.

jcm

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

Yes, but it's rather a flowery translation. Literally it would have been "Conquerors", rather than "Conquistadors".

Either way, a magnificent book.

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

The original French work was entitled Conquerants de l'Inutile. Conquistadors was the work of the translator, Geoff Sutton.

In reply to John2:

Les Conquérants, in fact.

In reply to Allan McDonald (Gwydyr MC):

Is there a Bonatti biography? I know about 'The mountains of my life', which is an autobiography, and as you say, is a great read. A good biography, with decent contributions from people who knew and climbed with him, would be great, but we may be too late.

In reply to tony:

He wrote a lot of books, but I think the first two 'My Mountains' and 'The Great Days' are maybe the ones the OP is referring to. I met Bonatti at the Leeds Mountain Literature Festival back in about 2001, he was promoting 'the mountains of my life' he said that the English translations of his works were poor prior to that book, I am not sure how true that is I am certainly not qualified to comment.

I have not seen anything from Luca lately there is someone who writes well and knew the man.

In reply to The New NickB:


I think that'll be translation I have, bought in the States in 2002, by Robert Marshall, with whom he did seem to have struck a good relationship.


I was trying to think of someone who could do the job justice, and you're right, Luca would be very well-placed to do it.

In reply to Allan McDonald (Gwydyr MC):

Menlove and The Villain, both by Jim Perrin are mine.

In reply to Allan McDonald (Gwydyr MC): I thoroughly enjoyed the Al Rouse book, even if it isnt quite a biography.

In reply to BenTiffin:
On the subject of not quite biographies I very much enjoyed "Feeding the rat". Unlike most climbing books it actually makes Mo Anthoine seem like someone I would want to meet.

In reply to Allan McDonald (Gwydyr MC):

On the Auto-Biography front I would go for;
1). My life as a Mountaineer - heckmair
2). Book of Lies - Burgess Twins
3). On the Heights - Bonatti

On the true Biography front there are not many to chose from but Regions of the Heart (about Alison Hargreaves) by Douglas and Rose (of this parish) is very good.

In reply to Allan McDonald (Gwydyr MC):

I read biography of Henry Barber by Chip Lee. Having read the book I now dislike the man in a way that surprises me. I knew little about Barber before reading the book but he came across as a complete arrogant tosser. I think Barber helped in the writing of the book to!

In reply to Jim Walton:

Reading Regions of the Heart at the moment. about 3/4 of the way through. Very good as you say. A thorough biography covering her life in detail, the personal as well as the climbing.