UKC

30% off biographies: ten titles to hunker down with this winter Deal Of The Month

© Vertebrate Publishing

Rather be curled up with a new book than watching Home Alone or It's a Wonderful Life for the umpteenth time this Christmas? To keep you entertained over the festive season we're offering 30% off these ten Vertebrate biographies, all of which have won a major international award. They'd make pretty descent Christmas presents too …

Enter code FESTIVEFAVOURITES at checkout for 30% off any of these titles.

One Day as a Tiger

Winner – Banff Mountain Book Competition Grand Prize, 2014
Winner – Banff Mountain Book Competition mountain history category, 2014

In the autumn of 1982, a single stone fell from high on the south face of Annapurna and struck Alex MacIntyre on the head, killing him instantly and robbing the climbing world of one of its greatest talents.

One Day As A Tiger, John Porter's revelatory and poignant memoir of his friend Alex MacIntyre, shows mountaineering at its extraordinary best and tragic worst – and draws an unforgettable picture of a dazzling, argumentative and exuberant legend.

Rock Athlete

Winner – Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature, 2010

Ron Fawcett is a natural-born climber. In 1969, while still at school in his native Yorkshire, he tied into a climbing rope for the first time and was instantly hooked. Ten years later, Fawcett was the most famous rock climber in Britain and among the best in the world.

He was also the first to style himself a professional rock climber, starring in the landmark television documentary Rock Athlete, and appearing on the covers of magazines around the world. But far from enjoying the fame, Fawcett found the pressures of the limelight too much to bear, and at the end of the 1980s he faded from view. Now, for the first time, he tells his extraordinary story, of how his love of nature and the outdoors developed into a passion for climbing that took him to the top – and almost consumed him.

Revelations

Winner – Banff Mountain Book Competition Grand Prize, 2009

When Jerry Moffatt burst onto the scene as a brash seventeen-year old, rock climbing had never seen anyone like him before. Fiercely ambitious, even as a boy Moffatt was focused on one thing: being the best in the world. This is the story of his meteoric rise to stardom, and how he overcame injury to stay at the top for over two decades. Top sport climber, brilliant competitor and a pioneer in the new game of bouldering, Moffatt's story is that of climbing itself in the last thirty years.

Cold Wars

Winner – Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature, 2012

In this brilliant sequel to his award-winning debut Psychovertical, mountaineering stand-up Andy Kirkpatrick has achieved his life's ambition to become one of the world's leading climbers. Pushing himself to new extremes, he embarks on his toughest climbs yet – on big walls in the Alps and Patagonia – in the depths of winter.

Kirkpatrick has more success, but the savagery and danger of these encounters comes at huge personal cost. Questioning his commitment to his chosen craft, Kirkpatrick is torn between family life and the dangerous path he has chosen.

Up and About

Winner – Kekoo Naoroji Book Award for Himalayan Literature, 2016

At dusk on 24 September 1975, Doug Scott and Dougal Haston became the first Britons to reach the summit of Everest as lead climbers on Chris Bonington's epic expedition to the mountain's immense south-west face.

As darkness fell, Scott and Haston scraped a small cave in the snow 100 metres below the summit and survived the highest bivouac ever – without bottled oxygen, sleeping bags and, as it turned out, frostbite. Scott and Haston returned home national heroes with their image splashed across the front pages. Scott went on to become one of Britain's greatest ever mountaineers, pioneering new climbs in the remotest corners of the globe.

My Father, Frank

Winner – Kekoo Naoroji Book Award for Himalayan Literature, 2015

Frank Smythe's mountaineering achievements in the decade before the Second World War became a part of climbing history. His intensive Alpine climbing, followed by two Himalayan expeditions – to Kangchenjunga in 1930 and success the following year on Kamet, the highest summit then reached – became the prelude to Everest. And in 1933 on that great mountain, climbing alone and without supplementary oxygen he got to within 820 feet of the top, a record height before efforts were resumed post-war and Everest was climbed in 1953. And as a superb Himalayan finale, in 1937 he returned to the Indian Garhwal to climb difficult peaks up to 24,000 feet in a rapid lightweight style.

Some fifty years after his death in 1949 one of his three sons, Tony, decided to write a full account of his father's life, an extraordinary story he believed was important historically and well worth telling. This book is the result.

Troll Wall

Winner – Trento Mountain Festival's ITAS 'Opere Prima' Award, 2013

Norway, 1965. A team of young climbers from the north of England camp at the bottom of the tallest vertical rock face in Europe – the Troll Wall. No one has dared attempt this gigantic challenge before. Some say it will never be climbed. This will be the adventure of a lifetime.

Troll Wall tells the gripping story of one of the most dramatic first ascents in British climbing history. Written days after their success, almost half a century ago, and newly rediscovered, Tony Howard's account is a fascinating insight into the challenges of climbing a big mountain wall.

Freedom Climbers

Winner – Kekoo Naoraji Book Award for Himalayan Literature, 2013
Winner – American Alpine Club Literary Prize, 2012;
Winner – Banff Mount Book Competition Grand Prize, 2011;
Winner – Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature, 2011

Freedom Climbers tells the story of the extraordinary Polish adventurers who emerged from under the blanket of oppression following the Second World War to become the world's leading Himalayan climbers. Although they lived in a war-ravaged landscape, with seemingly no hope of creating a meaningful life, these curious, motivated and skilled mountaineers built their own free-market economy under the very noses of their Communist bosses and climbed their way to liberation.

At a time when Polish citizens were locked behind the Iron Curtain, these intrepid explorers found a way to travel the world in search of extreme adventure – to Alaska, South America and Europe, but mostly to the highest and most inspiring mountains of the world.

Beyond the Mountain

Winner – Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature, 2009
Winner – Banff Mountain Book Competition Mountain Literature Award, 2012

Beyond the Mountain is the award-winning title from Steve House – arguably the world's leading high-altitude climber. Steve built his reputation on ascents throughout the Alps, Canada, Alaska, the Karakoram and the Himalaya that have expanded the possibilities of style, speed and difficulty. In 2005, Steve and fellow alpinist Vince Anderson pioneered a direct new route on the Rupal Face of 26,660-foot Nanga Parbat, which had never before been climbed in alpine style. It was the third ascent of the face and the achievement earned Steve and Vince the first Piolet d'Or (Golden Ice Axe) awarded to North Americans.

Deep Play

Winner – Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature, 1997

Paul Pritchard's Deep Play is a unique, stylish and timeless commentary reflecting the pressures and rewards of climbing some of the world's hardest and most challenging rock climbs. Pritchard started climbing in Lancashire before moving to join the vibrant Llanberis scene of the mid 1980s. Born with an adventurous soul, it was not long before Pritchard and his friends were planning exotic trips. In 1987, paired with Johnny Dawes, Pritchard made an epoch-making visit to Scotland's Sron Ulladale to free its famous aid route, The Scoop. Pritchard and Dawes, with no previous high altitude experience, then attempted the Catalan Pillar of Bhagirathi III in the Garwhal Himalaya in India, a precocious first expedition prematurely curtailed when Pritchard was hit by stonefall at the foot of the face. A penetrating view of the adventures and preoccupations of a contemporary player, Deep Play stands alone as a unique first-hand account of what many consider to be the last great era in British climbing.

Save 30% when you enter code FESTIVEFAVOURITES at checkout. Free delivery on all UK mainland orders. Offer ends Wednesday 21 December.





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