mountaineering books

[Dru]

quote:

---

Originally posted by ScottP:

Isn't Vortex the name of David's boat?

---

Vortex is a thriller set in the North Cascades, loosely based on the Lodestar Lightning incident, two climbers find a crashed drug plane on Redoubt, smuggle out and sell the goods to the underworld, go on a spree with the proceeds then get hunted down by the original owners of the drugs... lots of mayhem ensues. Good descriptions of the 80's Valley and Squamish HardCore subcultures, and fictional ascents of Redoubt NE face, Salathe Wall, and ski touring are among the climbing related sequences.

With the $$ he made from the book he may have bought the boat?

[fern]

"Far, Far the Mountain Peak" John Masters, one of those epic 'waning years of the British Empire' The Far Pavilions style novels.

[Chongo]

"Chongo's Big Book of Wall Climbing: How to climb Big walls the Chongo Way." by Chongo Chuck Tucker with big wall pro Flavio diBongo. This interesting 300+page tome can be used for instruction or squashing ants around the campsite and cleverly straddles the borderline between fiction and non-fiction.

[CraigA]

I intend to read Annapurna and Savage Mountain when I'm done with my Stephen King kick. Went a couple of years without reading any of his books, now I'm trying to get caught up. The two "mountaineering" books I've read are Everest-West Ridge and Addicted to Danger. Both were good, but I liked Everest-West Ridge better.[ 03-06-2002: Message edited by: CraigA ]

[ 03-06-2002: Message edited by: CraigA ]

[Fairweather]

I'll second Dru's pick; "The Unknown Mountain" by the Mundays. Right up there with "Tales of a Western Mountaineer".

Also...Best Alaska climbing story, "Breaking Point" by Glenn Randall.

[wrench]

Third vote for "Touching the Void" by Joe Simpson. He doesn't blow you away with eloquence or anything, but the story is so incredible he doesn't have to. And it's a pretty quick read (about 200 pgs).

Re: the Everest '96 storm, "The Other Side of Everest" (published as "The Death Zone" in Europe I think) by British journalist Matt Dickinson is a lesser known book about the storm. It also is a quick read (notice a trend here?). Dickinson succeeds in kinda leaving the editorial out, and just describes a very colorful, vivid picture of what happened and his attempt at the summit.

[Honkeydong]

Greg Child is my favorite wordsmith.

Blind Corners by Geoff Tabin is a light, easy read.

The Book of Lies by the Burgess twins is a bit of a disappointment, considering the zany exploits they are so revered for. It left me feeling a bit flat; as though I "had to be there."

For the classic mountaineering saga, I'd have to cast my lot with The White Spider, with K2:The Savage Mountain a close second.

[mr._happy]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chongo:

"Chongo's Big Book of Wall Climbing: How to climb Big walls the Chongo Way." by Chongo Chuck Tucker with big wall pro Flavio diBongo. This interesting 300+page tome can be used for instruction or squashing ants around the campsite and cleverly straddles the borderline between fiction and non-fiction.

---

where does one find the famous chongo big book of wall climbing?

[DRB]

My friend Jim "Hemlock" Sedor always called

him Gaston RubberFat.

[cj001f]

quote:

---

Originally posted by DRB:

My friend Jim "Hemlock" Sedor always calledhim Gaston RubberFat.

---

One of the 60's/70's brits (Tom Patey?) called him Ghastly Rubberfeet. You ever taken a look through "On Rock, Ice & Snow" - aside from his perfect guides uniform, ALWAYS! he had a liking for unbelieveably tiring technique. Like instead of liebacking or jamming a crack - put both hands at chest level - pull apart! move feet up, repeat with hands. I don't think I could do that for more than 10'!

Carl

[mr._happy]

quote:

---

Originally posted by cj001f:

One of the 60's/70's brits (Tom Patey?) called him Ghastly Rubberfeet. You ever taken a look through "On Rock, Ice & Snow" - aside from his perfect guides uniform, ALWAYS! he had a liking for unbelieveably tiring technique. Like instead of liebacking or jamming a crack - put both hands at chest level - pull apart! move feet up, repeat with hands. I don't think I could do that for more than 10'!

Carl

---

sure, you could. just drink a fifth of bourbon and eat a bunch of GU and anything's possible.

[cj001f]

sure, you could. just drink a fifth of bourbon and eat a bunch of GU and anything's possible. [/QB]

True - true - but the last time I drank a 1/5th of bourbon, anything ended me up in the hospital

For a cool site

www.rebuffat.com

Of course how a dead guy can have a personal site is beyond me

Carl

[mr._happy]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Dru:[QB]

you gotta read it to find out. very 60's/70s. rene daumal was a leading figure in the post-surrealist movement, le grand jeu (The Big Game).QB]

---

so if i read this book, can i stop smoking the doobage? will it help me send v12 and climb a5?

roger, have you read harrer's the white spider? is vertical arena as good or better?

[snafflehound]

What a great topic. There's so many good books in this post! I'll just add;

"Summering in the sierra" by Muir

"Sacred Summuts" by Boardman

"The Games Climbers Play" a compilation of articles

and a couple of polar books;

"Alone" by Richard Byrd and

"The Last Place on Earth" by Roland Huntford

[Peter_Puget]

Not quite mountaineering but still a good read.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0933686005/avsearch-bkasin-20/104-9360876-7887149

[Alpine_Tom]

"Touching the Void" remains one of the most vivid and scary books I've ever read.

"In the Throne Room of the Mountain Gods", Galan Rowell's account of the first Wickwire expedition to K2, is well worth the read.

Goran Kropp is a whiny, self-righteous jerk.And a liar.

[ 03-06-2002: Message edited by: Alpine Tom ]

[jhamaker]

A good Coffee Table book:

Gaston Rebuffat

Mont Blanc to Everest (more poetic in the orig French)

[Richard_Pumpington]

How about The Boardman/Tasker Omnibus? Great books!Also, no one has mentioned any John Roskelley books.If any of you enjoy Greg Childs writing, you have togive Roskelley a try; he's written 3 books - 1)NandaDevi:the tragic expedition 2)Stories Off the Wall and3)Last Days(where he climbs Menlungste with Child)These guys write in a fashion that truly entertains(unlike some authors ie. Diemberger,Messner,etc..)

[Rodchester]

I am presently reading Five Miles High about the 1938 small team attempt on K2. I am half way and it is a good book.

For anyone that is a fan of the Tetons there is a book called "The Grand Conspiracy" by Bonney. This is basically a history book of climbing in the Tetons that also squarely takes on the calims of "first ascent" by Billy Owen. It is not a finger pointing type of accusation, but a very well researched and backed up agruement that the Grand was climbed far earlier by a team of two.

If you have climbed the dog route, "Owens-Spaulding," on the Grand you will like this book. Without knowledge of the Tetons the book may still be interesting, but with it you will truely understand the arguments of both sides. Every Teton fan should read this book.

[AJ]

It is hard to find, but I'd highly recommend "A Walk in the Sky" by Nick Clinch. Story of first ascent of Gasherbrum I. The only time an American party had a first ascent of an 8000m peak. It took him 20 years after writing it to finally get it published - he had to be goaded into it. Great story and he gives all the credit for the climb to others, especially Pete Shoening and Andy Kauffman. Probably the most humble book about a big first ascent out there. No accidents, no big fights just good planning and dealing with what the mountain threw them.

Oh, after reading "Touching the Void", "This Game of Ghosts", and "Dark Shadows Falling" I'm a little leery about climbing with anyone named Joe. (Also, I once met a guy who had attempted Ama Dablam in the mid-80's. They got weathered off and were drowning their sorrows in a bar in Katmandu. Some drunk Irish dudes started yelling so they went to check it out. When they got to that side of the bar they heard, "Oh my god, if it ain't Joe Simpson and ee's fallin' off o sometin' else!" I guess Joe had been on another ill fated attempt at a peak, fallen and broken his leg. He was recuperating at the bar, had gotten drunk and fallen off the barstool.) If you are a fan of his (kind of like watching flys going into the bug zapper), he has a new book coming out, "The Beckoning Silence" - here is the publisher's promo:

Since his epic battle for survival in the Andes, recounted in the bestselling Touching the Void, Joe Simpson has endured several further brushes with death and has suffered the loss of many climbing friends in accidents which call into question the exhilarating, death-defying activity to which he has devoted his whole life. Never more alive than when most at risk, he has come to see an attempt on the Eiger, with its hooded, mile-high North Face, as the culmination of his climbing career.In a narrative which takes the reader through extreme experiences from an avalanche in South America, ice-climbing in the Alps and Colorado and paragliding in Spain – before his final confrontation with the Eiger and two more deaths – Simpson reveals the inner truth of climbing, exploring both the power of the mind and the frailties of the body. The subject of his new book is the siren song of fear and his struggle to come to terms with it.

[mr._happy]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Richard Pumpington:

How about The Boardman/Tasker Omnibus? Great books!Also, no one has mentioned any John Roskelley books.If any of you enjoy Greg Childs writing, you have togive Roskelley a try; he's written 3 books - 1)NandaDevi:the tragic expedition 2)Stories Off the Wall and3)Last Days(where he climbs Menlungste with Child)These guys write in a fashion that truly entertains(unlike some authors ie. Diemberger,Messner,etc..)

---

agree wholeheartedly about the b-t omnibus. in fact, those are my top favorites, alone with bonington's annapurna south face and everest the hard way.

i've read nanda devi: the tragic expedition and for some reason didn't find it all that special.

i do like greg childs' writing, though.

[mr._happy]

quote:

---

Originally posted by AJ:

Oh, after reading "Touching the Void", "This Game of Ghosts", and "Dark Shadows Falling" I'm a little leery about climbing with anyone named Joe.

---

what if it's a hot little betty named jo?

[Nelly]

The Breach Wall: Kilimanjaro & the Conquest of Self by Rob Taylor.

It's Touching the Void 15 years before Joe Simpson even though of climbing! A great read, better than "Void"

For some reason Rob Taylor doesn't disclose his partners name - respect, curtesy, who knows. However, speculation has it that Henry Barber was his partner on that epic.

[Dru]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Nelly:

speculation has it that Henry Barber was his partner on that epic.

---

It definitely was Barber and the reason the name is not used is because the two now hate each other so much they will not speak to each other, is what I heard. Cause he left Taylor, went down the mtn, called for help, then took-off back to the States. Like "Oh, you're injured, well, Im not going to wait to see if you get better in the hospital cause I have lectures to give!"

Or so I read in Climbing Mag and a Bruce Fairley essay in a 1980's CAJ.

[Nelly]

Certainly understand why Rob hates Henry. However, I still don't get why he doesn't spill the beans. I mean, shit, if I was left for dead I'd sure as hell make sure the SOB's lecture/climbing career was left in ruins!

My guess is Rob Taylor is a class act and I couldn't rise to his level, climbing or otherwise.