Top 100 Climbing Adventure Books!

[Plaidman]

Started this thread on ST.

We are at 71 books. Here is the list.

 

The White Spider - Heinrich Harrer

The Stone Masters - California Rock Climbers in the 70's - Long and Fidelman

The Mountains of My Life - Walter Bonatti

Savage Arena - Joe Tasker

The Magnificent Mountain Women - Janet Robertson

Mountain of My Fear - David Roberts

Escape Routes - David Roberts

Chomolungma Sings The Blues - Ed Douglas

Pushing The Limits - Chic Scott

The Hard Years - Joe Brown

One Man's Mountain - Tom Patey

Minus 148 Degrees: The First Winter Ascent of Mount McKinley - Art Davidson

Touching the Void - Joe Simpson

Conquistadors of the Useless - Lionel Terray

Into Thin Air - Jon Krakauer

Caverns Measureless to Man - Sheck Exley

Deep Play - Paul Pritchard

The Totem Pole - Paul Pritchard

On the Ridge Between Life and Death: A Climbing Life Reexamined - David Roberts

Ways to the Sky - Andy Selters

Kiss or Kill: Confessions of a Serial Climber - Mark Twight

Starlight and Storm - Gaston Rebuffat

Annapurna - Maurice Herzog

Rock Jocks, Wall Rats, and Hang Dogs - John Long

Everest Kangshung Face - Stephen Venables

Eiger Obsession - John Harlin III

K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain - Ed Viesturs

Killing Dragons - Fergus Fleming

Escape from Khatmandu - Kim Stanley Robinson

Gorilla Monsoon - John Long

Downward Bound - Warren Harding

K2 The Savage Mountain - Houston & Bates

50 Years of Alpinism - Ricardo Cassin

The Stones Of Silence - George Schaller

The Games Climbers Play - Ken Wilson (Editor)

Into The Unknown - Susan Schwartz

A Fine Kind Of Madness Guy and Laura Waterman

Solo Faces - James Salter

Gervasuttis Climbs - Giusti Gervasutti

Enduring Patagonia - Gregory Crouch

Close Calls - by John Long

Eiger Dreams - Jon Krakauer

Climbing Adventures - A Climbers Passion - Jim Bridwell

The Black Cliff - Soper, Crew, and Wilson

In High Places - Dougal Haston

Everest The Hard Way - Chris Bonington

Everest: The West Ridge - Tom Hornbein

The Ascent of Rum Doodle - W.E. Bowman

No Shortcuts to the Top - Ed Viesturs

On Belay: The Life of Legendary Mountaineer Paul Petzodt - Raye C. Ringholz

Climbing Free - Lynn Hill

The Burgess Book of Lies - Adrian and Alan Burgess

The Climb Up To Hell - Jack Olsen

No Way Down - Live and Death on K2 - Graham Bowley

Ascent of the Matterhorn - Edward Whymper.

Men and the Matterhorn - Gaston Rebuffat.

Tiger of the Snows Tenzing Norgay - Liesl Clark

Stories of a young climber : an autobiography - Pat Ament

We Aspired: The Last Innocent Americans - Pete Sinclair

Deborah - David Roberts

Lighting Out - Daniel Duane

Looking for Mo - Daniel Duane

Beyond the Mountain - Steve House

Ways to the Sky: A Historical Guide to North American Mountaineering - Andy Selters

Feeding the Rat - Al Alvarez

No Picnic on Mount Kenya - Felice Benuzzi

Royal Robbins: Spirit of the Age - Pat Ament

John Gill: Master of Rock - Pat Ament

Camp 4: Recollections of a Yosemite Rockclimber - Steve Roper

The Eiger Sanction - Trevanian

THE VILLAIN: A Portrait of Don Whillans - James Perrin

The Vertical World of Yosemite - Galen Rowell

 

[j_b]

Welzenbach's climbs, David Roberts

Moments of Doubt, David Roberts

The Ascent of Nanda Devi, Bill Tillman

Upon that mountain, Eric Shipton

Scrambles Among the alps, Edward Whymper

Sacred Summits, Peter Boardman

Beyond the Vertical, Layton Kor

[Peter McCorkell]

John Muir's writings are excellent. The account of his 1875 epic on Mt. Shasta in which he spent the night rolling back and forth in the fumaroles is incredible:

http://www.yosemite.ca.us/john_muir_writings/snow_storm_on_mount_shasta/

 

I believe it's also found in The Wild Muir, a collection of his short stories.

[Hugh Conway]

mount analogue, daumal

[Choada_Boy]

The Last Blue Mountain

[Plaidman]

My list is too long now. Here it is. 123 books long. Now we need to rank them.

 

 

The White Spider - Heinrich Harrer

The Stone Masters - California Rock Climbers in the 70's - Long and Fidelman

The Mountains of My Life - Walter Bonatti

Savage Arena - Joe Tasker

The Magnificent Mountain Women - Janet Robertson

Mountain of My Fear - David Roberts

Escape Routes - David Roberts

Chomolungma Sings The Blues - Ed Douglas

Pushing The Limits - Chic Scott

The Hard Years - Joe Brown

One Man's Mountain - Tom Patey

Minus 148 Degrees: The First Winter Ascent of Mount McKinley - Art Davidson

Touching the Void - Joe Simpson

Conquistadors of the Useless - Lionel Terray

Into Thin Air - Jon Krakauer

Caverns Measureless to Man - Sheck Exley

Deep Play - Paul Pritchard

The Totem Pole - Paul Pritchard

On the Ridge Between Life and Death: A Climbing Life Reexamined - David Roberts

Ways to the Sky - Andy Selters

Kiss or Kill: Confessions of a Serial Climber - Mark Twight

Starlight and Storm - Gaston Rebuffat

Annapurna - Maurice Herzog

Rock Jocks, Wall Rats, and Hang Dogs - John Long

Everest Kangshung Face - Stephen Venables

Eiger Obsession - John Harlin III

K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain - Ed Viesturs

Killing Dragons - Fergus Fleming

Escape from Khatmandu - Kim Stanley Robinson

Gorilla Monsoon - John Long

Downward Bound - Warren Harding

K2 The Savage Mountain - Houston & Bates

50 Years of Alpinism - Ricardo Cassin

The Stones Of Silence - George Schaller

The Games Climbers Play - Ken Wilson (Editor)

Into The Unknown - Susan Schwartz

A Fine Kind Of Madness Guy and Laura Waterman

Solo Faces - James Salter

Gervasuttis Climbs - Giusti Gervasutti

Enduring Patagonia - Gregory Crouch

Close Calls - by John Long

Eiger Dreams - Jon Krakauer

Climbing Adventures - A Climbers Passion - Jim Bridwell

The Black Cliff - Soper, Crew, and Wilson

In High Places - Dougal Haston

Everest The Hard Way - Chris Bonington

Everest: The West Ridge - Tom Hornbein

The Ascent of Rum Doodle - W.E. Bowman

No Shortcuts to the Top - Ed Viesturs

On Belay: The Life of Legendary Mountaineer Paul Petzodt - Raye C. Ringholz

Climbing Free - Lynn Hill

The Burgess Book of Lies - Adrian and Alan Burgess

The Climb Up To Hell - Jack Olsen

No Way Down - Live and Death on K2 - Graham Bowley

Ascent of the Matterhorn - Edward Whymper.

Men and the Matterhorn - Gaston Rebuffat.

Tiger of the Snows Tenzing Norgay - Liesl Clark

Stories of a young climber : an autobiography - Pat Ament

We Aspired: The Last Innocent Americans - Pete Sinclair

Deborah - David Roberts

Lighting Out - Daniel Duane

Looking for Mo - Daniel Duane

Beyond the Mountain - Steve House

Ways to the Sky: A Historical Guide to North American Mountaineering - Andy Selters

Feeding the Rat - Al Alvarez

No Picnic on Mount Kenya - Felice Benuzzi

Royal Robbins: Spirit of the Age - Pat Ament

John Gill: Master of Rock - Pat Ament

Camp 4: Recollections of a Yosemite Rockclimber - Steve Roper

The Eiger Sanction - Trevanian

THE VILLAIN: A Portrait of Don Whillans - James Perrin

The Vertical World of Yosemite - Galen Rowell

Wizards of Rock: A History of Free Climbing in America - Pat Ament

The Naked Mountain - Reinhold Messner/Tim Carruthers

The Seventh Grade - Reinhold Messner

Mountaineering In Scotland - WH Murray

Snow in the Kingdom - Ed Webster

No Tigers In The Hindu Kush - Philip Trantor

The Loneliest Mountain - Lincoln Hall

The High Lonesome- John Long

Fall of the Phantom Lord- Andrew Todhunter

The Six Mountain Travel Books- Eric Shipton

Endurance - Alfred Lansing

A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush - Eric Newby

Against the Wall - Simon Yates

The Flame of Adventure - Simon Yates

An Eye at the Top of the World - Pete Takeda

Breaking Point: Challenge on Alaska's Mt. Hunter - Glenn Randall

Eiger Direct - Peter Gillman/Dougal Haston

Everest: The Testing Place - John B. West

Everest: The Unclimbed Ridge - Chris Bonington /Charles Clarke

High Conquest - James Ramsey Ullman

In High Places - Dougal Haston

Kingdon of Adventure: Everest - James Ramsey Ullman

Land of the Snow Lion - Elaine Brook

Last Days - John Roskelley

On Mountains and Mountaineers - Mike Vause

Orogenic Zones - Terry Gifford/Rosie Smith

Over the Edge - Greg Child

Red Peak - Malcom Slesse

Sacred Summits - Peter Boardman

Seven Summits - Bass/Wells/Ridgeway

Solo Nanga Parbat - Reinhold Messner

Stories Off The Wall - John Roskelley

Storm & Sorrow in the High Pamirs - Robert Craig

The Conquest of Everst - Sir John Hunt

The Great Days - Walter Bonatti

The Guiding Spirit - Kauffman/Putman

The Last Place on Earth - Roland Huntford

The Shining Mountain - Peter Boardman

Thin Air - Greg Child

To the Top of Denali - Bill Sherwonit

A Sunny Day in the Himalaya - Peter Hilary

A Hard Day’s Summer - Alison Hargreaves

A Test of Will - Warren McDonald

Addicted to Danger - Jim Wickwire/Dorothy Bullitt

Alan Rouse: A Mountaineers Life - Geoff Birtles

At the Sharp End - Paul Nunn

Between Heaven and Earth - Gaston Rebuffat

Blind Corners - Geoff Tabin

Climb to the Lost World - Hamish MacInnes

Climbing Everest - Pat Ament

Creagh Dhu Climber - John Cunningham/Jeff Connor

 

Edited December 15, 2010 by Plaidman

[Murph]

Jesus,from a nOobs perspective,thatsa lotta lit for me to get through.....and i`m starting Alpineism at 47 !!.

Well,at least i`ve started with two,K2 Viesturs and Eiger by Krakauer...actually three,Trevanians Eiger was most excellent,a great read.

Great list....

[ivan]

reading too much in any genre makes a bore of a man

 

everything i need to know about HardKore alpinism i can learn right here

 

terray's conquistadors is my fav of the bunch...

[Ilovecheese]

Into thin air, -148, Touching the void, addicted to danger, kiss or kill, no shortcuts to the top are the ones that have been important to me as a climber- mostly for vastly different reasons. Some I read and relate to- others I read as a cautionary tale.

[kukuzka1]

Oh my god, mr kukuzcka is flippin in his grave! my vertical world by jerzy. not one epic but many. the hardest sob ever![hope i didnt miss it above if so nevermind]

[Off_White]

I'd throw the recent Desert Towers by Crusher Bartlett into the mix, full of tales and history, some quite gripping, as well as lots of historical articles re-printed.

[johndavidjr]

Lynn Hill is practically illiterate. I strongly suspect there are others on the list.

 

Why isn't Beckey's "Challenge of the North Cascades" on the list? He's a good writer.

 

Also, "Feeding the Rat" by Al Alvarez. a Brit climber who is much better known as a genuine high-end literati and critic.

[Coldfinger]

Don't forget:

 

Kongur, Chris Bonington

Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage, Herman Buhl

Shishapangma, Scott & MacIntyre

 

and how the hell did we forget this beaut:

 

White Limbo, Hall

[campwire]

May be I missed them on the list, but a couple of my favorites:

 

Nanda Devi, John Roskelly

K2 The Last Step, Rick Ridgeway

I Chose to Climb, Chris Bonnington

A Women's Place is on top, Arlene Blum

[Plaidman]

Now that we have a list of 129 we will need to refine it to 100 books.

The way this will work is kinda like Survivor. 5 votes and a book comes off the list. OFF THE ISLAND! To add a new book to the list only takes 3 votes. I didn't add all the books on Jello's list of his library. My wife says her book must stay on the list and is immune to vote off. I disagree even though Magnificent Mountain Women is a good book from an historical perspective. So to appease her it will take 6 votes to vote this book off the island. IT's OUTTA MY HANDS NOW! Let the voting begin!

 

Here is the list:

 

The White Spider - Heinrich Harrer

The Stone Masters - California Rock Climbers in the 70's - Long and Fidelman

The Mountains of My Life - Walter Bonatti

Savage Arena - Joe Tasker

The Magnificent Mountain Women - Janet Robertson

Mountain of My Fear - David Roberts

Escape Routes - David Roberts

Chomolungma Sings The Blues - Ed Douglas

Pushing The Limits - Chic Scott

The Hard Years - Joe Brown

One Man's Mountain - Tom Patey

Minus 148 Degrees: The First Winter Ascent of Mount McKinley - Art Davidson

Touching the Void - Joe Simpson

Conquistadors of the Useless - Lionel Terray

Into Thin Air - Jon Krakauer

Caverns Measureless to Man - Sheck Exley

Deep Play - Paul Pritchard

The Totem Pole - Paul Pritchard

On the Ridge Between Life and Death: A Climbing Life Reexamined - David Roberts

Ways to the Sky - Andy Selters

Kiss or Kill: Confessions of a Serial Climber - Mark Twight

Starlight and Storm - Gaston Rebuffat

Annapurna - Maurice Herzog

Rock Jocks, Wall Rats, and Hang Dogs - John Long

Everest Kangshung Face - Stephen Venables

Eiger Obsession - John Harlin III

K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain - Ed Viesturs

Killing Dragons - Fergus Fleming

Escape from Khatmandu - Kim Stanley Robinson

Gorilla Monsoon - John Long

Downward Bound - Warren Harding

K2 The Savage Mountain - Houston & Bates

50 Years of Alpinism - Ricardo Cassin

The Stones Of Silence - George Schaller

The Games Climbers Play - Ken Wilson (Editor)

Into The Unknown - Susan Schwartz

A Fine Kind Of Madness Guy and Laura Waterman

Solo Faces - James Salter

Gervasuttis Climbs - Giusti Gervasutti

Enduring Patagonia - Gregory Crouch

Close Calls - by John Long

Eiger Dreams - Jon Krakauer

Climbing Adventures - A Climbers Passion - Jim Bridwell

The Black Cliff - Soper, Crew, and Wilson

In High Places - Dougal Haston

Everest The Hard Way - Chris Bonington

Everest: The West Ridge - Tom Hornbein

The Ascent of Rum Doodle - W.E. Bowman

No Shortcuts to the Top - Ed Viesturs

On Belay: The Life of Legendary Mountaineer Paul Petzodt - Raye C. Ringholz

Climbing Free - Lynn Hill

The Burgess Book of Lies - Adrian and Alan Burgess

The Climb Up To Hell - Jack Olsen

No Way Down - Live and Death on K2 - Graham Bowley

Ascent of the Matterhorn - Edward Whymper.

Men and the Matterhorn - Gaston Rebuffat.

Tiger of the Snows Tenzing Norgay - Liesl Clark

Stories of a young climber : an autobiography - Pat Ament

We Aspired: The Last Innocent Americans - Pete Sinclair

Deborah - David Roberts

Lighting Out - Daniel Duane

Looking for Mo - Daniel Duane

Beyond the Mountain - Steve House

Ways to the Sky: A Historical Guide to North American Mountaineering - Andy Selters

Feeding the Rat - Al Alvarez

No Picnic on Mount Kenya - Felice Benuzzi

Royal Robbins: Spirit of the Age - Pat Ament

John Gill: Master of Rock - Pat Ament

Camp 4: Recollections of a Yosemite Rockclimber - Steve Roper

The Eiger Sanction - Trevanian

THE VILLAIN: A Portrait of Don Whillans - James Perrin

The Vertical World of Yosemite - Galen Rowell

Wizards of Rock: A History of Free Climbing in America - Pat Ament

The Naked Mountain - Reinhold Messner/Tim Carruthers

The Seventh Grade - Reinhold Messner

Mountaineering In Scotland - WH Murray

Snow in the Kingdom - Ed Webster

No Tigers In The Hindu Kush - Philip Trantor

The Loneliest Mountain - Lincoln Hall

The High Lonesome- John Long

Fall of the Phantom Lord- Andrew Todhunter

The Six Mountain Travel Books- Eric Shipton

Endurance - Alfred Lansing

A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush - Eric Newby

The Breach - Rob Taylor

Against the Wall - Simon Yates

The Flame of Adventure - Simon Yates

An Eye at the Top of the World - Pete Takeda

Breaking Point: Challenge on Alaska's Mt. Hunter - Glenn Randall

Eiger Direct - Peter Gillman/Dougal Haston

Everest: The Testing Place - John B. West

Everest: The Unclimbed Ridge - Chris Bonington /Charles Clarke

High Conquest - James Ramsey Ullman

In High Places - Dougal Haston

Kingdon of Adventure: Everest - James Ramsey Ullman

Land of the Snow Lion - Elaine Brook

Last Days - John Roskelley

On Mountains and Mountaineers - Mike Vause

Orogenic Zones - Terry Gifford/Rosie Smith

Over the Edge - Greg Child

Red Peak - Malcom Slesse

Sacred Summits - Peter Boardman

Seven Summits - Bass/Wells/Ridgeway

Solo Nanga Parbat - Reinhold Messner

Stories Off The Wall - John Roskelley

Storm & Sorrow in the High Pamirs - Robert Craig

The Conquest of Everst - Sir John Hunt

The Great Days - Walter Bonatti

The Guiding Spirit - Kauffman/Putman

The Last Place on Earth - Roland Huntford

The Shining Mountain - Peter Boardman

Thin Air - Greg Child

To the Top of Denali - Bill Sherwonit

A Sunny Day in the Himalaya - Peter Hilary

A Hard Day’s Summer - Alison Hargreaves

A Test of Will - Warren McDonald

Addicted to Danger - Jim Wickwire/Dorothy Bullitt

Alan Rouse: A Mountaineers Life - Geoff Birtles

At the Sharp End - Paul Nunn

Between Heaven and Earth - Gaston Rebuffat

Blind Corners - Geoff Tabin

Climb to the Lost World - Hamish MacInnes

Climbing Everest - Pat Ament

Creagh Dhu Climber - John Cunningham/Jeff Connor

Nothing so Simple as Climbing - G.F. Dutton

Baron von Mabel's Backpacking - Sheridan Anderson

The Ridiculous Mountains - G.F. Dutton

Flammes de Pierre - Anne Sauvy

The Game of Mountain and Chance - Anne Sauvy

 

 

 

 

How could I have miss these great books?

 

Do I get to vote. Hmmmm .... Yes. I get to vote.

One vote for Challenge of the North Cascades

 

Challenge of the North Cascades - Fred Beckey

My Vertical World - Jerzy Kukuczka

Desert Towers - Crusher Bartlett

Kongur - Chris Bonington

Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage - Herman Buhl

Shishapangma - Scott & MacIntyre

White Limbo - Lincoln Hall

Nanda Devi - John Roskelly

K2 The Last Step - Rick Ridgeway

I Chose to Climb - Chris Bonnington

A Women's Place is on top - Arlene Blum

K2 The Last Step - Rick Ridgeway

[jhamaker]

I'm looking for a copy of "Les Concourants de l'Inutile" by Lionel Tierry to buy or borrow.

[johndavidjr]

Just personally, the most interesting book on mountaineering I've ever read was an Edwardian-era "how to" text called "Mountaincraft" by Geoffrey Winthrop Young.

 

I guess it's not an "adventure book" per se.

 

As for above list I'd be surprised if I've read ten percent of them...

 

 

[Plaidman]

I think I have read about a 1/3 of them. Maybe I should climb more?

[ConorB]

i gotta say keep "to the top of denali". if at least only for the sourdough expedition. there are some other really fine stories in that book to but that one stands out as one of the amazing climbing adventures in north american climbing history.

[kukuzka1]

#1-my vertical world/jerzy kukuzcka #2-crossing zion/keith johnson #3-touching the void/joe simpson #4-the climb up to hell/jack olson #5-the seventh grade/reinhold messner

[johndavidjr]

Young instructs that "all climbers should smoke [tobacco]" because this "suppresses thirst and unnecessary talking."

 

He also warned against treating guides as equals because one mustn't forget their inferior class....& he offered many other charming ideas...

[Plaidman]

Young instructs that "all climbers should smoke [tobacco]" because this "suppresses thirst and unnecessary talking."

 

He also warned against treating guides as equals because one mustn't forget their inferior class....& he offered many other charming ideas...

 

Which book title?

[genepires]

"Mountaincraft" by Geoffrey Winthrop Young

[johndavidjr]

I emailed the "Mountaineers" publishing arm about 7-9 years ago and suggested they publish "Mountaincraft" in facsimile edition.

 

Young is significant figure in Brit mtnring history...& wrote major work that relates slightly to early "Freedom of Hills" editions. (see index etc. of early editions.)

 

Is marginally viable idea for a publisher.........ought to be done.

The facsimile edition..... Before books die economically speaking.......

 

I cherish a fascimile edition of the 1918(similar era American) 1200-page "Camping and Woodcraft" by Horace Kephart......Despite damage by my dogs.........and catching on fire by candle light in various restaurants & etc......Kephart is somewhat better writer than Young.......quotes Shakespeare & etc...but is more a bullsh*tter than Young.

 

Entertaiing & even enlightening stuff.

[olyclimber]

.....looks like Oakley Press has made a facsimile in 2008...most likely available at Walmart or some similar outlet....words and pictures should be functionally equivalent to the original dated text....