CatsClaw Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 Touching the Void Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
selkirk Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 Will second "The White Spider" by harrer, but I'm a bit obsessed with the Eiger, "The Climb up to Hell" (famous rescue on the Eiger) Â "Ascent" biography of Willi Unsoeld (teton guide, FA west ridge of Everest with Hornbein, teacher, very cool inspiring book) Â "Feeding the Rat", Antonio Alvarez. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlamo Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 "Ascent of Rum Doodle" and Dave Robert's Moments of Doubt" as it was the first climbing book I read (over and over...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnGo Posted December 21, 2006 Share Posted December 21, 2006 A strong second to Savage Arena, by the late Joe Tasker. (IMHO, British writers generally have superior writing skills compared to us Yanks.) Â For nonfiction how-to, I am a new big fan of The Mountaineering Handbook, by Craig Connally. I see it as an opinionated, well researched and more advanced version of Freedom of the Hills. No, you will not agree with everything in it, but you sure will learn a few new cool tricks, I guarantee it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weekend_Climberz Posted December 21, 2006 Share Posted December 21, 2006 Touching the Void  If you liked these, then try "This Game of Ghosts", "The Beckoning Silence", and "Storms of Silence". Joey is a great writer and a very accident prone climber. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niyol Posted December 21, 2006 Share Posted December 21, 2006 Thanks for the suggestions for a newbie.  Into Thin Air by Krakauer Touch the Top of the World by Weinmeyer  If you absolutely have to read Krakauer's book then you kind of owe it to yourself to read "Climb High" by Lene Gammelgaard, "High Exposure" By David Breashears and "The Climb" by Anatoly Boukreev to perhaps get a little different perspective on Everest "96". After reading all four accounts I came away with the feeling that if I was ever on a climb that went bad I would seriously hope that Krakauer wasn't the one who was there to write about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dt_3pin Posted December 21, 2006 Share Posted December 21, 2006 IMHO, British writers generally have superior writing skills compared to us Yanks  Savage Arena is fantastic. The Burgess bros., on the other hand, can't write for shit. The Burgess Brothers Book of Lies is pretty craptacular. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cj001f Posted December 21, 2006 Share Posted December 21, 2006 Mont Analogue - R. Daumal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmncwrtr Posted December 22, 2006 Share Posted December 22, 2006 Any recommendations for a book(s) that focus on SAR? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niyol Posted December 22, 2006 Share Posted December 22, 2006 (edited) Glacier Travel and Crevasse Rescue by Andy Selters is pretty decent. Also Wilderness Search and Rescue by Tim Setnicka is excellent (if you can still find it... the one I have is from 1980) Edited December 22, 2006 by niyol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan_forester Posted December 22, 2006 Share Posted December 22, 2006 K2 the savage mountain, by houston & bates, is a heckuva book. Â I liked enduring patagonia also, can't remember the author Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sk Posted December 22, 2006 Share Posted December 22, 2006 My favorite book on climbing is  "How to Rock Climb"  by the god of all things rock climbable and my personal hugest crush in the whole universe... John Long  *sigh*  for reals he has written a bunch of stuff and everything i have read has his unique flavor of story telling and gritty sense of humor. LOVE HIM!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SFDukie Posted December 22, 2006 Share Posted December 22, 2006 Between a rock and a hard place-Aron Ralston Ok, so its about canyoneering, rather than mountaineering or climbing-but the guy's a climber-and he writes pretty well. Â Also on the written by, but not about list-rick ridgeway's "The Shadow of Kilimanjaro" and Krakauer's "Into the Wild" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gary_hehn Posted December 22, 2006 Share Posted December 22, 2006 (edited) Has anyone mentioned Angels Four by David Nott? Old school, trad, epic! One incident involved running out of gear to rappel with. They resorted to using shoe laces. At the bottom of one rappel they went to pull the rope and it broke right through the lace! When they finally completed their descent from the climb exhausted and starved, they lay on the bank of a river waiting to die. Edited December 22, 2006 by gary_hehn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gary_hehn Posted December 22, 2006 Share Posted December 22, 2006 Mountaineering First Aid - Jan D. Carline, Martha J. Lentz, Steven C. Macdonald  Self-Rescue - David J. Fasulo  Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain - Bruce Tremper ( I used to ski race with Bruce back in one of my previous lives, great guy ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprocket Posted December 22, 2006 Share Posted December 22, 2006 Anything by Greg Child. Thin Air is my favorite but Mixed Emotions is good too. In the Throne Room of the Gods by Galen Rowell. Great read about a failed attmept on K2 and what can go wrong on with personality conflicts on large expeditions. Two books by John Roskelly are good reads, Stories Off the Wall and Nanda Devi. He's somewhat contraversial but climbed some hard stuff and lived to tell about it. Mountains of My Life by Bonnati, frickin serious hardman. Sherman Exposed by John Sherman is funny, spoof on Twight is hilarious, and serious at times. Eiger Dreams by Krakauer has some good short stories. 30 Years of Climbing Magazine has a lot of good short stories. John Long is usually pretty funny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foraker Posted December 22, 2006 Share Posted December 22, 2006 Minus 148 by Art Davidson (only because it was the first climbing book I ever read as a lad back in AK in 70's) The Mountain of My Fear by David Roberts (also written a fine book on the Anasazi) K2, The Savage Mountain All the afore mentioned Joe Simpson books The Climb, Anatoly Boukreev Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sk Posted December 22, 2006 Share Posted December 22, 2006 The Climb, Anatoly Boukreev  that was a fantastic book. I read Into Thin Air as well and i was sorely and sadly disappointed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrogdortheBurninator Posted December 22, 2006 Share Posted December 22, 2006 Boukreev's book was may favorite of the bunch that I read too (krauauer, Boukreev, Gammelgard). I for one believed his story and think he was a real hero. Â Oddly, there aren't and climbing books I've read yet that I didn't enjoy (Gammelgards (sp?) was the worst so far). Â Some stand outs: Â The White Spider The Climb Up To Hell (Another Eiger bit) Brashear's Book Burgess Book of Lies Most of Simpson's stuff I've read Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TREETOAD Posted December 22, 2006 Share Posted December 22, 2006 Mountains of My Life by Walter Anything on the Eiger Risking Adventure by Jim Haberl Dark Shadows Falling by Joe Simpson Just started The Boys of Everest which is about Bonington,Haston,Whillans,etc, pretty interesting so far  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niyol Posted December 22, 2006 Share Posted December 22, 2006 Boukreev's book was may favorite of the bunch that I read too (krauauer, Boukreev, Gammelgard). I for one believed his story and think he was a real hero. Â Oddly, there aren't and climbing books I've read yet that I didn't enjoy (Gammelgards (sp?) was the worst so far). Â Some stand outs: Â The White Spider The Climb Up To Hell (Another Eiger bit) Brashear's Book Burgess Book of Lies Most of Simpson's stuff I've read I did think that Gammelgaard did a good job of supporting Boukreeves side of the story. I thought Krakauer tended to try to scapegoat Boukreeve in his "Thin Air" book. Most accounts that I have read support that Boukreeve was a hero on that climb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmncwrtr Posted December 23, 2006 Share Posted December 23, 2006 Thanks for the SAR-related book recommendations! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatsClaw Posted December 23, 2006 Share Posted December 23, 2006 There was an older classic I read about 15 years ago something like In the throne of the hall of the mountian king or something similar to that. Does that or similar name ring a bell for anyone. I do remember it was a moving book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joblo7 Posted December 23, 2006 Share Posted December 23, 2006 'master climber' (how to be a) by pat ament. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geek_the_Greek Posted December 25, 2006 Share Posted December 25, 2006 Seriously redundant thread. Still, my faves are two collections, ultra-classic articles, mostly from pre-1980s British and other Euro mags: Â Games Climbers Play Mirrors in the Cliffs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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