UKC

I'm very happy to say that Constable Robinson have just rung me to say that they are reprinting my Cuillin book at last (about the 7th reprint now, I think). It should be in the shops in 2-3 weeks. I'm really glad because it's been out of print since mid-December, and Cordee (the main climbing book distributors) told me in early February that they had a big list of back orders. Also, quite a few people on RT have asked me about it.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Good. One of my favourite picture books.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:
That's a shame, I've got 2 copies and was looking forward to its becoming a much-sought-after collector's item before selling one and retiring on the proceeds.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Excellent news! I shall get an order in.

P.S. What's the best direction to tackle the traverse of the book from? Front to back, or back to front? Which are the hardest chapters that I ought to be forewarned about? What's the approximate reading age and how many bivvies am I likely to need before I finish it?

In reply to Clauso:

Definitely tackle the book from the front! It's designed to be read in sequence, building up to the traverse of the Main Ridge. Hardest chapter intellectually is probably where I talk about Sorley Maclean's poetry. Approx reading age 9 to 99; several bivvies or bevvies or bottles of wine will probably be required.

In reply to Clauso:

Look here jacko, you have all thosew bloody owls that you can fit with mini cameras to find the route for you, All you need to do is place food for them at strategic places on the ridge then follow them as they stop to eat.

Anyway, I heard your reading age had gone up two years since posting on here so you should be able to cope with something a bit harder than Janet and john now.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth: Glad to hear it Gordon, it's one of my favourite mountain books

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

A brilliant book, one of the best in my collection.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth: Cool, I can buy my own and not deprive me mate of his.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

We need more of your books Gordon, what happened to the Himalayan one that you were going to do?

Agreed with everyone, this book and your others are up there with all the classics.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth: An excellent book. You must be quite pleased with it and the reputation it has received.

Euge

In reply to DougG: Yep it's up there with cold climbs as my two favourite coffee table books, books you can just pick up and dream with.

In reply to Iain Ridgway:

Have you got The High Mountains of The Alps by Dumler and Burkhardt? That's another cracker.

In reply to Simon Caldwell: And my copy got signed at the Owl and Cragrat party!

8^(

Not that I'd sell it, as I'm using it to confirm my landscape photography needs to move up a notch or two!

TTG (You don't work at Direct Line do you???)

In reply to DougG: No, my collection is very highlands biased.

In reply to Iain Ridgway:

Well in that case I'd reccommend

Highland Wilderness by Colin Prior
The Magic of Wester Ross & Skye by Martin Moran and Clarrie Pashley

In reply to DougG: Cheers I'll have a look.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth: When I did a solo traverse of The Cuillin, I took a photocopy of your guide to the traverse (from the end of the book). Came in very handy.

PS I also cut out the photo of you on The Bad Step....whenever I felt my nerve and resolve wavering, I just looked at the photo...your indomitable will, your naked (well, half-naked) athleticism, your steely gaze gave me fresh vigour

In reply to DougG:

I've been away from RT this afternoon/evening, so am now very heartened to see all these wonderful comments.

In reply to Marc C:

Do I detect a note of sarcasm Marc?

In reply to newhey:

Too expensive to do. No publisher seemed to able to commit themselves. I'm just not really well known enough in the publishing world internationally it seems. Also, these type of big mountaineering coffee-table books have been going thru a v bad time recently. They are definitely v much out of vogue.

I have had another big project ('outside Britain') with a publisher who was initially enthusiastic for over 6 months now, but they're still scratching their heads it seems.

In reply to Euge:

Yes, it is really very satisfying to produce something that has such a huge public response - for over 10 yrs now. I still get emails from all over the place, quite regularly. Certainly my most successful book project, and I've had two relative flops which made me NO money at all! It really is such a rollercoaster ride, working in this way. My previous most satisfying job was working with Mr Kubrick on The Shining and creating the music score. Nothing has equalled these two experiences, and things are quite difficult and frustrating at the moment, esp with an american publisher who told me 23 MONTHS ago that they wanted to buy my sci-fi novel, and they still haven't decided.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

That is a damn shame, they are a bit daft if they dont see the market for these types of things. At least they are reprinting the old stuff so everyone can get hold of a copy. Not sure whether it is linked, but the second hand price of some of the old Poucher books have plummeted. I recently picked up a first edition of the Magic of Skye for a tenner on EBay!! I always saw your books at the latest in a great tradition of British mountaineering books (Smythe, Poucher, etc). I do hope this is not the end of an era. Colin Prior does take a good snap, but ultimately they are landscape shots and not an integral part of climbing history.

In reply to newhey:

Yes, what is he on about? Hey, Mark?

The strange thing about that picture was that a) I never intended to be in it, but the hoped-for performers never turned up, b) I was in an incredibly bad mood because I had just wrecked the self-timer on my new Fuji camera. Fortunately I still had the Blad with me, though I could not take the much wider angled shot I had originally conceived. It was also extremely difficult with the Hasselblad v precariously poised on a tripod on the steep slabs of the bad step, 40 ft above the sea - and the timer only giving me about 7-8 seconds. It was just pot luck really. I did it about 10 times to make sure. Dashing down the slabs and then coming up again as nonchalantly as possible (despite my bad mood!) with very little idea exactly when the shutter would fire.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Referring to your post in response to Marc, above: Do I detect a note of sarcasm Marc?

In reply to Gordon Stainforth: Just being nosy here, but its interesting learning how these things come about,

But did you get the money to do such a book, then go off and take all the pictures, or do you appraoch the publishers with a portfolio of pictures and text to be included?

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

if it wasnt for your cuillin book and eyes to the hills i may not have started climbing/mountaineering - thank you

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

The photos of Marc you have uploaded are quite scarey.

In reply to Iain Ridgway:


No, you can't have a whole book like that in a very advanced stage, unless perhaps you're a v well to do aristocrat. In the real world you get a (quite) good advance, if they think you're good enough - it really would have been impossible otherwise for me, because you really need a few thousand quid up front unless you have lots of money of your own (anyway, self publishing is mostly daft because you'll never get your book adequately distributed).

I got the Cuillin book on the strength of the huge success of ETTH, even though Constable really were initially very reluctant. Somehow I managed to persuade them that they were wrong, and then prove that they were wrong (they wanted a much more feeble, general thing on the whole isle of Skye)

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:
(they wanted a much more feeble, general thing on the whole isle of Skye)

...well thank heavens you prevailed. It is a superb book. The stunning photo of Loch Coruisk at dawn captures it perfectly. The book inspired me to my first proper climbing adventure on Sron na Ciche - and when the run out was getting longer and longer on Arrow Route I had to think hard and remember your words about uncertainty and composure. thanks for that !

In reply to Gordon Stainforth: You should know by now that my sarcasm is meant affectionately! Gordon, it's a wonderful book - not just the pictures, but your philosophical musings and Sorley Maclean's ghostly incantatory poetry. AND your guide at the end DID help me.

In reply to Marc C:

Oh well, that's a relief! Never quite sure of your sarcasm (tangled up as it seems to be in an interest in nudism!)

In reply to Marc C:

BTW, I'm sure I've told you - Sorley was a really fabulous guy, and I'm really glad I got to meet him about 18 months before he died. A really really great, calm, erudite, eloquent guy.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth/Marc C:

Don't know if Scottish Folk Music is your thing, but Capercaillie set Sorley MacLean's poem Am Mur Gorm (The Blue Rampart - about The Cuillin) to music on their album Beautiful Wasteland.

Any excuse to hear Karen Matheson's voice...

http://www.capercaillie.co.uk/discography/releases/wasteland/

In reply to Marc C:
Sorley Maclean's ghostly incantatory poetry.

Dear Marc

Now that is a first, a poet you mentioned that I have read.

Norrie

In reply to Norrie Muir: Well, Norrie, one day I too may record a 'first'...a route of yours that I have climbed

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

I have a great idea for another book and wait for it.... here is the title


Blackstone Edge - Great Mountain Ridge of Littleborough


I know at least 2 people who might buy a copy.

Simon

In reply to DougG: Thanks. Will check it out. I do love Scottish folk music - particularly harp music and the female voice.

In reply to newhey: Harrummph. Well you'll have to pay extra for a signed copy 2 copies, you say?! Maybe if I include some 'tasteful' photos of myself, sales would improve ?

In reply to Marc C:

Only if you let Gordon take the pictures and wrote some prose to go with it.

In reply to DougG:

It's at times like these I think thank God for RT! No i've never heard about this recording ... will urgently try to obtain.

In reply to newhey:

Mr newhey ... your identity is perhaps being revealed. Not sure yet.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Gordon, we have met once at a talk you did in Littleborough about 6 years ago. I am sure you dont remember me.

Nothing more mysterious Im afraid.

In reply to Marc C:

Dear Marc

Also on the Dreaming Sea album, Sorley does a reading of his own poem "Calbharaigh".

Norrie

In reply to newhey:

OK, sorry, thinking of someone else. And now struggling a bit to remember which Littleborough that can be. I'm sure I've never spoken in the Lincolnshire one, and that i had not been to the Lancashire one until I teamed up with Marc on TOTC. But maybe my memory is just appalling.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Looking back in my spreadsheet of lectures I see that i DID indeed speak for the World Wildlife Fund at Littleborough ("near Rochdale") in March 1999 on my Peak book, and my notes say the audience was 'c.75'. I wish my memory was better, and hope that you're not too offended that I can't remember the precise occasion. The trouble with promoting a new book is that you travel all over the country and it does all tend to blur together in retrospect.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Just check if you spoke to Lumbutts soroptomists society before Marc or Jude haul you over the coals for forgetting.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth: Much as I love your books, tell us about Kubrick.

In reply to Stormmagnet:

I gosh, I spend half my life it seems talking about Kubrick (mostly on alt.movies.kubrick - well, partic after his death up to about a year ago). Have also been interviewed by several biographers who've used my reflections in their books. Also wrote a letter to the Guardian when he died. Certainly the most interesting character (I mean as a character) I have ever met in my life - bar none. He was really multifaceted, like several different people rolled into one. I was fortunate to get on with him extremely well, and was really overwhelmed with emotion when I heard of his rather premature death.

Actually, best thing I can do is show you the complete letter I wrote to the Guardian (13 Mar 1999) - fortunately saved on my computer:


As someone who was fortunate enough to work closely with Stanley Kubrick on The Shining (as an assistant editor: my main contribution being the laying of the music tracks for the film), I was delighted to read Candia McWilliam’s very accurate portrayal of him in Saturday’s Guardian. It came as a refreshing change after all the nonsense that has been written about him since his death. He was not remotely arrogant; indeed he was a quiet, almost shy man, by turns gentle and forbidding, often humourous and rarely angry. Exasperated would perhaps be a better description, because the two things that he would not tolerate were slipshod work or double-speak (i.e bullshit) of any kind, with which the film industry is of course rife!

He was certainly a task master, but also with himself. In the cutting room he would often change a single cut dozens of times before he was completely satisfied, and even then he might return to it a few days later to have another look. He was infinitely patient and meticulous, and would never take any short cuts. He was like a whole lot of personalities rolled into one, multi-faceted and fascinating. To call someone unique is of course a cliché (because we all are!) but he was utterly unlike anybody else I have ever met.

I will particularly remember the day I said farewell to him (after finishing working with his daughter, Vivian, on her documentary Making the Shining), and the warm and generous words of encouragement he gave me.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth: Thanks Gordon.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth: And Marc...
Dig out the Peatbog Fairies, a newer Skye band. They are available through Amazon. Some amazing good stuff.
The piper is the son of the owner of Dunvegan Hotel. I met the keyboard player working as receptionist at Glenbrittle campsite. Odd, as he'd been on the main stage at Cambridge Folk Festival not 4 days before...
I seem to remember dropping Mellowosity on Marc's stereo at the party?

Tim

In reply to O Mighty Tim: Yes. Tim, I remember it well. One minute everyone was bopping to Barbie Girl, the next minute your Peatbog Fairies had cleared the dancefloor quicker than an anthrax outbreak....thankfully, I quickly got everyone bopping again with my Didgeridoo solo!

In reply to Simon Caldwell:

Well now they're worthless I'll give you a fiver and take one of your hands....?!