UKC

Right

I'm really enjoying Cold Wars by Andy Kirkpatrick.

I really liked:
Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage - Hermann Buhl
Into Thin Air & Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer
The Climb - Anatoli Boukreev
The White Spider - Heinrich Harrer
Annapurna - Maurice Herzog
One Day as a Tiger - John Porter
and especially
Beyond the Mountain - Steve House

I didn't enjoy
Touching the Void - Joe Simpson
The Flame of Adventure - Simon Yates

Please recommend me well written books…classic mountaineering, new alpinism, or anything else insightful etc..

Cheers

In reply to buffalo606:

If you liked Beyond the Mountain, try Kiss or Kill by Mark Twight, or Echoes by Nick Bullock, they're both excellent.

In reply to David Gainor:

Cheers David, will try both. Yeah I like how Steve edited his chapters into very concise stories - skipping out any boring padding that other writers might leave in.

In reply to buffalo606:

Mountain Days and Bothy Nights - Dave Brown and Ian Mitchell

In reply to buffalo606:
Both Mick Fowler & Andy Cave have each written a couple of books & I thought all were good. If you want 'classic', Lionel Terray's 'Les Conquérants de l'inutile' (or 'Conquistadors of the Useless' in English) is a must. Yet to read Doug Scott's recently published 'Up and about' but should be good, as is his 'Shishapangma' (co written with Alex MacIntyre). Climbing rather than alpinism, but Deep Play by Paul Pritchard is very good

In reply to buffalo606:
Conquistadors of the useless- Lionel Terray

edit: beat me to it.

In reply to buffalo606:

Disliking Void is not really permitted

In reply to buffalo606:
Here is a preview of a good book! Sorry not climbing....
youtube.com/watch?v=J5gabgggnQw&

In reply to buffalo606: Just got a book from Doug Scott - Up and About, looks good, but then I am old and it is relevant to me.

In reply to buffalo606:

Life on the edge, Eric jones

In reply to Tom Last:


'There's mair tae it than trudging up and doon daft wet hills.'

Also: Jim Perrin seems to divide opinion a bit, but I thought that The Villain and Shipton and Tilman were both fantastic.

In reply to buffalo606:

A short walk in the Hindu Kush-Eric Newby
The Everest Lhotse Adventure-Albert Egger(Tran Hugh Merrick) 1957

If you wanted a different look at the Nanga Parbat original ascent, there is an account by the expedition leader which I enjoyed.(I cannot find my copy of it at the moment)

I found "Into the Wild" did not hold my interest. I just thought that the main character was just strange.

Try reading the FS Smythe expedition accounts for a different view of the world and then read "The Ascent of Rum Doodle"-W.E.Bowman

In reply to buffalo606:

Not climbing but The Worst Journey In The World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard about Scott's South Pole expedition is an adventure/travel classic

In reply to buffalo606:

My favourite mountaineering book, that I have read recently, is 'In some last place', by Sandy Allan. An account of his ascent of Nanga Parbat via the Mazeno Ridge.

In reply to buffalo606:

Shackleton's South is the best survival / adventure book I've read. Free on Kindle too.

Wally

In reply to buffalo606:

Feeding the Rat by Al Alvarez.

In reply to r0b:


Isn't it just! Think you've suffered?? Tune into A C-G and his mates. Heartbreaking when he finds Scott. And then back to Europe in time for World War I.

Mick

In reply to Doug:


I've been very disappointed with 'Up and about' - it rambles a lot, and takes a very long time to get interesting.

Sandy Allan's 'In some lost place', about the epic on the Mazeno Ridge of Nanga Parbat, is terrific.
Walter Bonatti's 'Mountains of my life' is a classic
for an alternative take on the first ascent of Annapurna, David Roberts' 'True Summit's is a revealing read.
and for a last one, Bernadette McDonald's biography of Charlie Houston 'Brotherhood of the Rope'

In reply to buffalo606:

The Ascent of Rum Doodle.

In reply to tony:


It certainly is a revealing read - in more ways than one! If I recall correctly, we're something like 140+ pages in before Roberts declares a 'personal interest'. He should have declared it on page 1.

Consequently, for me, there's a distinct question mark against the 'True' in 'True Summit'. And, after so much diligent research and questioning and agonising, that's a pity.

Mick

In reply to buffalo606:

Not climbing related.....but Barrow's Boys by Fergus Fleming is the best adventure story i've ever read. Particularly now that they've found one of the ships. Amazing story.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/hunt-for-the-arctic-ghost-ship

In reply to Mick Ward:


I reread the book a few weeks ago and I agree - there is a point where you think -'hang on ...'


The 'True' is always going to be debatable - there will be as many true versions as there are protagonists, and the passage of time now makes it impossible to know what's really 'true'. But to me the most interesting element was the divergence between Herzog's versions (even he changed his mind in his different accounts), and the accounts found and told elsewhere. What was most shocking to me was the cavalier treatment of Lachenal's diaries.

At the very least, the picture painted in Herzog's 'Annapurna' is very different to the picture that might have been painted if the others had been allowed to publish their own accounts.

In reply to tony:


Agreed. Your heart goes out to Lachenal. Put in an untenable position on the mountain. Then having to deal with the bitter aftermath. Then his diaries...

Seemingly a fantastic climber and an honourable man, who did the right thing and paid a dreadful price for it.

We're definitely in Roberts' debt for delving behind 'Annapurna'.

Mick

In reply to buffalo606:

Climbers by M. John Harrison is an interesting read - although it's a novel.

I'll also third The Worst Journey in the World - powerfully atmospheric and filled with startling imagery, and although we all know the ending you'll still have a lump in your throat when you read Garrard's description. All those who snipe at Scott should read this book for another view.

In reply to buffalo606:
I found FS Smythe's writing quite interesting, especially A Mountaineering Holiday.
Whymper's, Scrambles in the Alps is still a great read.

In reply to buffalo606:

My life, Anderl Heckmair

In reply to buffalo606:

Nanga parbat pilgrimage - Herman buhl
Freedom climbers - Bernadette MacDonald

In reply to buffalo606:

As an antidote to the teutonic 'White Spider'…try 'The Climb up to Hell' by Jack Olsen. Refresh your mind a little.

In reply to buffalo606:

Oh, forgot to say: Tom Patey - One Man's Mountains.

In reply to hokkyokusei:


That should, of course, be "In some lost place".

In reply to buffalo606:

Another vote for Feeding the Rat by Al Avarez.
Superb

In reply to hokkyokusei:


And a superb book.

In reply to Babika: totally agree. One of the greatest.

In reply to buffalo606:

Another David Roberts book: Deborah, mountain of my fear.

If you can find one, Rene Desmaison's Total Alpinism (an english translation of two books originally written in his native french) is one that everyone should read. I've posted about it before on here, but this is a rare case where repetition is worth it; it tells a more gruelling story of hard climbs and horrendous epics than pretty much anything I can think of, and tells it well. Think Touching the Void but much, much worse. His tussles with the Chamonix establishment are outlined too, all written with a huge bag of chips on his shoulders. He must have been the hardest bastard ever to tie into a rope, and by all accounts a gentleman too. Not easy to find though.

No-one has mentioned our Gordon's Fiva yet. It's a must.

John Roskelly's Last Days is a forgotten classic. Roskelly was a slightly controversial figure at the time but his writing is superb and he comes over as a solid and thoughtful guy.

I really liked Andy Cave's Learning to Breathe and Nick Bullock's Echoes.

I'll third Heckmair's My Life.

I'm waiting on autobiog's of Andy Parkin, Stevie Haston and Fred Beckey...

In reply to Removed User:


That's the most gripping climbing book I've ever read.

In reply to buffalo606:

Seconded A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush- hilarious.

And you must read Savage Arena (Tasker)- get the 4 volume omnibus edition.

Shipton/Tilman obviously

You could even try Fiva by our very own Mr Stainforth...

In reply to Removed User:


John Roskelly also wrote "Nanda Devi, The Tragic Expedition", about Willi Onsoeld's expedition to Nanda Devi in which Unsoeld's daughter died. It's a pretty heartbreaking account, not least because Onsoeld comes across as a bit of a dick, and if he'd acted differently, his daughter might have lived.

And on the subject of Willi Onsoeld, Tom Hornbein's "Everest, the West ridge' is a good read if you can find it.

One thing that has struck me reading a number of accounts of American expeditions in the 60s and 70s is just how fractious they were, and how the climbers seemed to be very poor at communicating with each other.