Climbing Books

what can be said about this book ?

I am lucky enough to have owned this since it was first published. It revolves around Bonningtons second big everest expedition, against the South West Face of Everest, which at that time had never been climbed.

In 72 he led a team to try to climb this face which failed due to high winds and the extreme cold. In 75 (This book) he returned with better equipment and started much earlier in the seasion.

This expedition was a true 'seige' climb, on a totally unclimbed route. Climbers would head up to the front for their three or four days, manage to lay a thousand feet of rope and then retreat back to base to recover.

The writing in this book must be Bonnington's best with a lot of real emotion. The book contains a huge amount of very good quality photos.

If you are interested in Everest in anyway then this is required reading...

I have a number of books on the Everest Region including Lonely Planets Trekking the Nepal Himalaya, Trailblazers Trekking the Everest Region and Berezuchas Trekking in Nepal. For details relating to route descriptions, photos, and practical info for the specific region I find this guide the best. It is very well written from its descriptions of the various main and side treks to the feel within the teahouse lodges. I have not been there yet so I cant verify the accuracy but Im very impressed. I have been posting to Lonely Planets Thorn Tree asking about various alternative trekking routes and have had some posters who had already been there say they didnt even know those options existed. The book is also smaller than some guides and the paper quality seems superior to the others. Its great to see some beautiful color photos. This guide clinched my decision to trek in the Everest Area. Hope this Helps!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you are an Everest fan (and I don't just mean a 1996 disaster groupie) this is a must have/ read! Even though it ends in the late 1980s, the information, photographs and insights are the best! Incredible climbers, many of whom are no longer with us, take you on their efforts on the mountain. After reading this book, I was better acquainted with the mountain and its topography than any other book that I have read (and I have read alot of them) and am acquainted with where current expeditions are in their search of the summit. If I was a library crook, the book would be mine. Instead, good karma and conscience ruling!, I have placed an order to find this out of print book with Amazon, drooling with anticipation until I can finally put this gem in my Everest library as the penultimate acquisition. Kind of like summiting and getting back to base camp!:)

This coffee-table book is full of gorgeous photos and contains a great deal of in-depth information, though obviously not including records from the past few years. It is at least as well-illustrated as Coburn's book (which I would also recommend)and seems to be written for a more knowledgeable audience. Overall, it's "the" classic large-format book on Everest.

An excellent insight to the early days when mountaineering was done the hard way with grit and determination rather than using lots of aids.
Very interesting background on the climbing of Everest for which the work of the 1951 reconnaissance expedition was vital.
Completed before his death but only published now.
Wrote Mountaineering in Scotland the definitive early guide and many other books during his lifetime

I sat down at 8:00 last evening and finished this book in 2 1/2 hours, it was so fascinating and exciting! Mo Anthoine is a wonderful man who cares more about friendship and fellowship on a climb than he does about conquering the mountain. This ethos makes him most admirable. But, Mo Anthoine is more than admirable. His climbing exploits are riveting. Moreover, as a movie climbing double, camera man, and stunt man for movies like *The Mission*, and as the inventor and producer of much climbing equipment, we see Anthoine as a kind of mountaineering Michaelangelo, a true Renaissance man. The book's title, *Feeding the Rat*, refers to a phrase Anthoine uses to describe the mixture of pleasure and fear and pain that is fed in the climber, a feeding he can't get enough of.

The book's author, A. Alvarez, writes beautifully, giving his readers a loving portrait of Mo Anthoine, a visceral sense of being on a variety of climbs, and much sound and accesible philosophical material to think about.

This is a great antidote to all the glamour and money in modern professional sport. A tale of hard men, in a neglected corner, who have done extraordinary things.

The joys of imagination and planning are many in Crandall and Crandall's thorough guide. Accompanied by clear how-to advice and beautiful color photographs, the book covers attractive supports, pruning, maintaining and propagating advice as well as how to use vines for space maximizing, camouflage, fruit, scent or just beauty.

Separated into chapters such as Hardy Vines, Annual Climbers, Climbing Roses, Ground Covers and Edible Fruits, the entries are packed with descriptive flowering and planting information as well as caveats and possible disease and insect problems. For less hardy vines there is advice for bringing them inside.

....for republishing these as one collection. I've been picking old copies printed in the 1930's up one at a time here and there over the years, but never managed to get them all. Now I'm satisfied! This puts together six of the best works by Francis Sydney Smythe. Frank Smythe was a well-known mountaineer of the 20's and 30's who did a number of first ascents in the Himalaya ("Kamet Conquored" is a great read) as well as being on the odd Everest expedition ("Camp 6").

All the books are well-written and an enthralling read. The style is still very accessible, unlike some books from the same period, and personally, I highly recommend this collection. Check out other reprinted collections from Mountaineers Books too - H W Tilman and Eric Shipton are likewise excellent writers from the same period.

Books contained within this volume are:
....(have to fill in the rest later...)

Kamet Conquored
Camp Six
The Valley of Flowers

This book brings together Frederick Chapin's Colorado mountaineering writings, including THE PEAKS ABOUT ESTES PARK, a 100-page study, along with shorter articles about his ascent of Pike's Peak and trips made to Sierra Blanca and the San Juans. Chapin was born in Indiana and grew up near Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas; he became wealthy in the pharmaceutical business in Hartford, Connecticut, which gave him the time and financial resources to pursue his hobby, mountaineering. Going first to Europe to climb Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn, he next went west to Colorado to tackle some of its highest peaks. He was one of the first to explore and write about the Mesa Verde cliff dwellings (not included here). Chapin was also a photographer, and the book includes many of his glass-plate photographs taken on various climbs.

Chapin was a careful observer, though not overly scientific. He describes what he sees in the field and not what might be envisioned in a geology text. His writing style is clear and down-to-earth; his use of understatement is particularly pleasing: "At the present time, with no particular route laid out, there is just enough sharp climbing on the peak [of Mt. Snaefell] to make the ascent interesting." The editing by James H. Pickering, especially his superbly annotated footnoting, is a major feature of the book. Anyone interested in mountain climbing or the look and feel of Colorado's high country in the 1880s will enjoy reading this book.