UKC

I've recently been on a bit of a climbing book reading binge.

What are the must reads out there? Biographies, technical books, loosely related books etc are all welcome.

My latest purchase is Mastermind by Jerry Moffat and crew. Any opinions on that are also welcome.

In reply to yh001:

The Tasker/Boardman omnibus.

In reply to yh001:

Eric Shipton, Bill Tilman, Jim Perrin’s book about Shipton & Tilman

In reply to yh001:

Andy KP's stuff is very readable if you've not tried it yet

In reply to yh001:

If any of these are of interest PM me.....

Tibets Secret Mountain - Chris Bonington and Charles Clarke, Paperback (PB)
Against the Wall - Simon Yates, PB
A slender Tread - Stepehen Venables, PB
This game of Ghosts - Joe Simpson, PB
Learing to Breathe - Andy Cave, PB
Dark Shadows Falling - Joe Simpson, PB
Life and Limb - Jamie Andrew - PB
Psychovertical, Andy Kirkpatrick, HB
Troll Wall, Tony Howard, HB
The flame of Adventure, Simon Yates, HB
The Beckonng Silence, Joe Simpson, HB
The Everest Years, Chris Bonington, PB
The White Spider, Heinrich Harrer, PB
Into Thin Air, John Krakauer, PB

In reply to yh001:

Tears of the Dawn - Jules Lines

In reply to yh001:

The Hungry Caterpillar.

A tale of lust, desire and finally metamorphosis to a higher state of existence.

In reply to yh001:

The Ascent of Rum Doodle

In reply to yh001:




I picked up a copy of Mastermind yesterday from the Foundry. Love the design aesthetic, and of course Jerry being Jerry. Apart from that I’ve only had time to read the articles at the back, which are excellent

In reply to yh001:


if: Into Thin Air, John Krakauer
then: The climb, Anatoli Boukreev (it's a mandatory requirement)

for a more not a climbing book of the I-did-this-then-I-did-that type:
Killing Dragons: The Conquest of the Alps, Fergus Fleming
(interesting easy read and quite funny in parts)

In reply to yh001:

Mt. Analogue by Rene Daumal

In reply to yh001:

The Villain by Jim Perrin

In reply to Myles:


Is there a digital version of that?

In reply to yh001:




I picked up a copy of Mastermind yesterday from the Foundry. Love the design aesthetic, and of course Jerry being Jerry. Apart from that I’ve only had time to read the articles at the back, which are excellent

In reply to DaveHK:

I've looked a few times but never found one.

In reply to yh001:

Fiva by Gordon Stainforth of this parish.

In reply to yh001:

Summits and Secrets by Kurt Diemberger
First Tigers: Early History of Rock Climbing in the Lake District by Alan Hankinson
Ben Nevis – Ken Crocket
Nothing So Simple As Climbing, GJF Dutton
Conquistadors of the Useless by Lionel Terray
Eiger: Wall of Death by Arthur Roth

In reply to yh001:

Punk in the gym is excellent.

AP Melbourne you owe me five quid.

Plus Dawes’s book is absolutely top.

In reply to yh001:

Beyond the Mountain by Steve House, and Kiss or Kill by Mark Twight are my go-to books if I need to get instantly and inexplicably psyched about suffering in the mountains.

The Games Climbers Play
Yes to Dance -Jim Perrin
The Hard Years - Joe Brown
This Game of Ghosts - Joe Simpson
The White Spider - Heinrich Harrer
The Totem Pole - Paul Pritchard
Mark Twight - Extreme Alpinism

In reply to Byronius Maximus:


That'd be my if-you-only-read-one-book-about-British-climbing pick, too. It'd be pretty essential even if it was just a complex and well-researched biography of Don Whillans, but it's also got glimpses into a whole series of historically important British climbing moments - the Rock and Ice, the Creagh Dhu, the "expedition circus", the 70s Llanberis scene - as well as glimpses of broader social history.

In reply to yh001:

One I come back to time and time again is Deborah/The Mountain of My Fear by David Roberts. Both brilliantly written and totally different. Deborah particularly I love - two guys in a tent beneath a wall going quietly mad. Poor David Roberts is now quite ill I think : (

In reply to yh001:

Being a bit of a book geek I've been trying to assemble a little list of just this.. https://oliverkeynesdotcodotuk.wordpress.com/2017/09/28/climbing-the-booksh...
No techy stuff here though, more the human side. There's some ace climbing books out there, many already mentioned above

In reply to pasbury:



Ha, nice one pasbury, cheers.
I'd love to read Perrin's The Villain myself and Jim was sent *two* review copies of mine to review for TGO magazine but obviously took childish offense when I mentioned him so he didn't bother - or return the books, or follow up emails.

In reply to yh001:

Nick Bullock's book.

For something different, Mark Twight's collection of writings is a favourite of mine.

In reply to AP Melbourne:

Perrin seems to be a contrary beast, I recommend you read The Villain anyway.

In reply to yh001:

Just recently finished the walter bonatti book, mountains of my life. Pretty amazing stuff and well worth a read.

In reply to alexm198:


Beyond the Mountain by Steve House, and Kiss or Kill by Mark Twight are my go-to books if I need to be reminded why I should accept my limits gracefully and not beat myself up about them.

In reply to Ollie Keynes:

Nice work. I dream of one day having time to write an article we can point to on UKC every time someone pops up and asks for book recommendations. There's loads that get regularly mentioned but lots of other gems we need to remember.

In reply to yh001:

Bernadette MacDonald freedom climbers
https://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/review.php?id=4468

Twight - kiss or kill

In reply to Robert Durran:

Seems like a good time to post this... http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/411854/1

In reply to yh001:

Has anyone suggested Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage By Herman Buhl yet, an awesome read.
Black Cliff by Jack Soper and High Peak by Eric Byne if you can find copies of either

In reply to yh001:

I thought "Last Blue Mountain" was the most harrowing and memorable expedition book I ever read.

In reply to yh001:

Nobody's mandated to read anything.

I'll give my usual shout out to 'Total Alpinism' by Rene Desmaison: an excellent and gripping book.

In reply to yh001:

Feeding the Rat by Al Alvarez, Deep Play by Paul Pritchard and Learning to Breathe by Andy Cave.

In reply to yh001:

Really enjoyed And Caves books, very well written (and he used the word slopston).

Not read his new one, but although ghost written Revelations really came over as if Jerry was telling the story in his own unique style.

I'm probably going to be slated for saying this, but I generally find Joe Simpsons writing style quite hard work.

I bought Into Thin Air by accident at Miami airport, desperate for something to read on the flight home. It is slow to get started but totally gripping once the story starts to flow.

In reply to yh001:

I don't feel mandated to read anything.
Or eat any food.
Or even do any particular climb.

In reply to yh001:

Surprised nobody has yet mentioned Let's Go Climbing by Colin Kirkus. Part of a series aimed at teenagers before wwll. Simply but so effectively written, by a leading activist of the time, and inspirational for me as a youngster.

In reply to Tom Valentine:


maybe consult your doctor?

In reply to Trythallj:

Kirkus’ book was actually published in 1941 during the war. It is the most joyful book about climbing imaginable. I treasure my copy. Interestingly, Kirkus’ party was the very first to visit Bosigran Count House after the opening of the hut. I should imagine that on walking down to the main cliff he would have seen the incredible potential. It’s such a shame that he never visited at the height of his powers. He would surely have added more than he did. He would certainly have been capable of this during the early thirties before the accident on the Ben. A great climber and a magical book.

James

In reply to james mann:

Hands of a climber by Steve Dean is a good biography of Colin Kirkus

In reply to Ollie Keynes:

That’s very true Ollie. Also Perrins’ Menlove. The life of Edwards always seems a dark counterpoint to the life of Kirkus. They were friends and contemporaries but had vastly different lives.

James

In reply to yh001:

Johnny Dawes ‘Full of myself’
Catherine Destivelle ‘Rock queen’

In reply to alx:




You have won the internet for the day, further posting is futile!

CB

In reply to james mann:

Sorry. Assumed it was prewar as Kirkus did not survive the war. Tail gunner in a ?Lancaster, lost over Germany. (THREAD DRIFT WARNING.) And David Davis has just told the eu that money is more important than unity and peace, effectively

In reply to yh001:

These are some of those that most inspired me in my early days:

The Hard Years - Joe Brown
Mountaineering in Scotland - Bill Murray
Rope Boy - Dennis Gray
I Chose to Climb - Chris Bonington
One Man's Mountains - Tom Patey
The White Spider - Heinrich Harrer
Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage - Herman Buhl
Conquistadors of the Useless - Lionel Terray
Starlight and Storm - Gaston Rebuffat
On The Heights - Walter Bonatti
Rock Climbers in Action in Snowdonia - Tony Smythe & John Cleare
The Black Cliff - Pete Crew, Jack Soper and Ken Wilson
and a bit later:
The Games Climbers Play - Ken Wilson
Hard Rock - Ken Wilson
50 Years of Alpinism - Ricardo Cassin

Thanks for the prompt to look 'em out - time to read 'em again maybe.

In reply to yh001:

My Desert Island Dozen would be:
Harold Drasdo's The Ordinary Route is a thoughtful take on various aspects of climbing
Another shout for Ralph Barker's The Last Blue Mountain if you want epics.
Patey's One Man's Mountains, brilliant, perceptive & often very funny
Ken Wilson's The Black Cliff (if you can find it) for an atmospheric history of Cloggy
Always a Little Further by Alistair Borthwick for the feel of Scottish climbing pre decent kit & transport
Perrin's On & Off The Rocks, he may be an often crotchety bugger but he's a superb writer (actually I found him fine on my one and only exchange with him)
Rob Collister's Over The Hills and Far Away for some genuinely adventurous expeditions
Will Mclewin's In Monte Viso's Horizon for Alpine ridges and some good advice
Trevor Jones & Geoff Milburn's Welsh Rock & Cumbrian Rock for some great stories
Dave Brown & Ian Mitchell's View From The Ridge for some more tales
Gordon Stainforth's Eyes to the Hills for the inspiring pics

In reply to Martin Bennett:

I'd second most of these in the post above (Harrer, Buhl, Terray and Rebuffat) but my favourite climbing book of all is Walter Bonatti's 'Mountains of my Life' - his account of soloing the Dru is mental. Also enjoyed Kurt Diemberger's books and Rene Desmaison's Total Alpinism it is worth a read.

Andy Cave and Steve House's books are the best of the modern stuff imo.

In reply to yh001:

Don't think anyone has specifically mentioned the obvious Touching the Void, Tasker.
Also Annapurna, Herzog. Gruelling description of frostbite and its, now outdated, treatment.
Robin Smith's article The Bat and the Wicked must be in some anthology.

In reply to Rob Parsons:

Ha, you beat me to it, word for word. Just yesterday I finished reading it for the second time, the first being about 30 years ago. Jesus. I still feel like I need a lie down. It hasn't lost anything in the intervening years.


I enjoyed 'My Life' by Anderl Heckmair. A likeable and straightforward man with an incredible story to tell, in mountaineering terms one of the great lives of the 20th century.

In reply to Removed UserStuart en Écosse:

Jim Perrin's collected essays is very very good, and also works as a (possibly depressing in some ways) whole. Many folk lost along the way I'm afraid.

In reply to oldie:


Possibly because it's not by Tasker? (Joe Simpson.)


Of the ones I can think of offhand, at least 'The Games Climbers Play' and the SMC's 'A Century of Scottish Mountaineering'.