UKC

I'm looking for a few climbing related books to get stuck into over the holiday period.

Over the last few years so I've read The Hard Years, Psychovertical, Jerry Moffat's and Ron Fawcett's autobiographies, and Perrin's biography of Whillans, and enjoyed them all.

Can the collective UKC hive-mind recommend me some more? Perhaps some of the older classics that I've missed? Or newer stuff that I've not seen yet?

In reply to Alun:

What about some the alpine classics such as Rebuffat's Étoiles et tempêtes/Starlight and Storm or Terray's Les Conquérants de l'inutile/Conquistadors of the Useless ? both have good English translations.

In reply to Alun:

quite obvious, but surely must-reads:

* The White Spider
* Touching the Void

In reply to Alun:

Savage Arena by Joe Tasker is my fave.

In reply to Alun:

If you're inclined towards mountaineering and not just out and out climbing, I'll recommend Wade Davis' Into The Silence; read it last year and really enjoyed it.

In reply to Alun:

Treat yourself to the 'Boardman Tasker Omnibus'. Some of the finest mountaineering literature ever written. Also look out for 'The Beckoning Silence' by Joe Simpson.

Here's my list: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/6078800?shelf=climbing-mountaineering

In reply to Alun:

Tears of the Dawn (Jules Lines autobiography) picked it up in Tiso's a few days ago and struggled to put it back down, will hopefully get it as an xmas present! I also found Fiva by Gordon Stainforth (of this parish) and Nick Bullocks autobiography, Echoes very good. I often struggle to read books start to finish but found both of the above very hard to put down!

In reply to Nick Barnard:

I'm not against mountaineering books, and I've read Touching the Void and the White Spider already, but one thing that doesn't appeal to me is that they seem to deal frequently with death and the consequences of it. This is perfectly understandable, but it's not something that appeals greatly to me.

In reply to Alun:

That's understandable, maybe give Into The Silence a miss, it's a bit heavy going!

In reply to Alun:

Scrambles in the Alps by Whymper. Proper oldskool hardcore mountain climbing!

In reply to Alun:

I'll state the obvious...
Peak Rock

Also, Black Cliff is a great read.

In reply to Alun:

The Ascent of Rum Doodle, WE Bowman,

Essential reading to fend off Christmas lassitude

In reply to Alun:

If you enjoyed the Moffatt and Fawcett autobiographies, you'd probably enjoy Johnny Dawes' Full of Myself as well.

In reply to Alun:

Really enjoyed Harriet Tuckey's "Everest : The First Ascent", which won the Boardman-Tasker prize this year. Some of the politics and skulduggery behind the Everest campaign you might not have heard before, and a bit of iconoclasm to boot.

In reply to Alun:
Deep Play by Paul Pritch, which is my personal fave. Totem Pole is also very good and a bit different. I found Whympers Scrambles in the Alps surprisingly readable. There's that new Julian Lines one although I've not read it.

And I feel like there's one other I really want to mention but can't think of right now. I'll check the bookshelf when I get home...

In reply to Calder:
An eclectic mix:

Tears of the Dawn
Beyond the Mountain
Always a Little Further
Kiss or Kill
Deep Play
The White Spider
Touching the Void
The Last Blue Mountain
Learning to Breathe
One Man's Mountains

In reply to Alun:

Bonatti's mountains of my life and Herzog's Annapurna.

Total classics.

I don't think you mentioned Andy Kirkpatrick's Cold Wars, I enjoyed it as much as Psychovertical. In fact both rather funnier than the classics above!

In reply to Alun:

K2: the price of conquest. Lino Lacedelli

In reply to Alun:

Four against Everest by Woodrow Wilson Sayre - a well told story of 4 amateurs making a secret attempt on Everest. The ultimate "lets give it a go" adventure.

Also often recommended on here is No picnic on Mount Kenya by Felice Benuzzi about Italian prisoners of war who break out with the single objective of climbing Mt Kenya which overlooks their POW camp.
Both excellent and classic reads in my view.

In reply to Alun:

Many thanks to you all for the suggestions!

In reply to Toerag:



Made me cry.

In reply to BusyLizzie:

One Man's Mountains - Tom Patey
Savage Arena - Joe Tasker
Feeding the Rat - Al Alvarez
White Spider - Heinrich Harrer

In reply to Alun:

Fiva by Gordon Stainforth.

In reply to Alun:

Bells Scottish Climbs.
The complete Doctor stories.
Climb to the lost world.
Call out.

In reply to Alun:

If you've got access to Kindle books, Jagged Red Line is probably one of the best stories I've ever read let alone mountaineering books!

In reply to Alun:

Adventures in Mind, by Heather Dawe. Fell runner and climber, delves in to a host of climbing literature.

Games Climbers Play- collection of essays from climbers in the 60's and 70's, interesting contexts!

Dream of White Horses, by Ed Drummond. Gosh...

In reply to Alun:
agree, Bonatti - inspirational - the Ueli Steck of his time
Andy Cave - I`m from a similar background
Fiva & the books of Boardman or Tasker & are well worth a read.
I enjoyed Andy Greig`s 1st book.
Chris Bonnington `I chose to climb` made me appreciate just what he had acheived.

In reply to John Alcock:



A great selection!

In reply to Alun:

Burgess book of lies - it's hilarious !

Addicted to Danger by Jim Wickwire
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Addicted-Danger-Affirming-Life-Death/dp/0671019910/...

Sheer Will: the life and climbs of Michael Groom
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sheer-Will-Michael-Groom/dp/0091841410

In reply to chris fox:
I second the Boardman/Tasker omnibus recommendation.

Not yet mentioned:

Mountaineering in Scotland by W H Murray
HW Tilman and/or Eric Shipton anthologies.

All great reads.