UKC

Just wondering what people would rate as the best ten books on Climbing they've ever read ! Not talking just about liteary merit but also inspirational reads .

For what it's worth here's mine :-

1. The Great Days / On the Heights - Walter Bonatti
2. Mountaineering in Scotland - W H Murray
3. Always a Little Further - Alastair Borthwick
4. Touching the Void - Joe Simpson
5. Nanda Devi - Eric Shipton
6. Welsh Rock - Geoff Milburn / Trevor Jones
7. The Black Cliff - Ken Wilson et al
8. Lets Go Climbing - Colin Kirkus
9. Five Miles High - Houston & Bates
10. Scrambles in the Alps - Edward Whymper

If I had to go on a Desert Island these are the books I would want with me (about climbing anyway).

What do you rate as the best climbing book(s) you've ever read !

In reply to Allan McDonald: Do you really think the 10 best books are all in English ? (& 9 British)

I'd argue Les Conquérants de l'inutile (Lionel Terray ) was as good as any of those you listed

In reply to Doug:



Yes but it's the 10 best you have read, most Brits can't read anything but English.

In reply to Anonymous: The Power of Climbing & A Life in the Vertical: Wolfgang Gullich Biography

In reply to Allan McDonald:

Lord of The Rings...I wonder where can you buy those elven ropes?

In reply to Anonymous: but Terray's book, along with many others are available in English translations

In reply to Doug:

Fair point.

In reply to Allan McDonald:

No 1 is a great book.

But how can you have a 10 best list without Hard Rock in it ?

In reply to Allan McDonald: My two faves not on your list are 'Upon that Mountain' by Shipton and 'Savage Arena' by Joe Tasker
Rob

In reply to Allan McDonald:

I like The Climb by Anatoli Boukreev, and Ultimate High by Goran Kropp. Both very inspirational.

I don't think I've read enough climbing books to have a top 10 - have probably only read about 15-20!

Am not overly keen on Joe Simpson. Touching the Void is seminal, sure, but I find his style of writing a little samey.

In reply to Allan McDonald:

Deep Play by Paul Pritchard

He writes about the scene that grew up on the 'government climbing grant' eloquently and persuasively. It's personal, moving, and IMO the writing is good in itself - as opposed to the climbing books which are interesting mostly because the content is.

In reply to Allan McDonald: Last year's joint Boardman Tasker winners were both excellent as well - Jim Perrin's The Villain and Andy Cave's Learning To Breathe.

And what about Heinrich Harrer's The White Spider, a truly seminal mountaineering tome? Or Starlight And Storm by Gaston Rebuffat?

In terms of Joe Simpson, I agree with previous posters, but actually preferred This Game Of Ghosts to Touching the Void.

In reply to Allan McDonald:

One Man's Mountains
Philosophy of Risk
Jock Nimlin Biography
Life and Limb
Undiscovered Scotland
Deep Play
Annapurna (Herzog)
White Spider
Tight Rope

These may not be the best books, but they're the ones that left their mark when I read them.

In reply to Allan McDonald:

In no particular order (and only today's list!!!):

1) Conquistadors of the Useless (Terray)
2) Starlight and Storms (Rebuffat)
2) Feeding the Rat (Alvarez)
4) The Villian (Perrin)
5) Annapurna (Herzog)
6) White Spider (Harrer)
7) Killing Dragons (Flemming)
8) Scrambles amongst the Alps (Whymper)
9) One Man's Mountains (Patey)
10) My Climbs in the Alps and the Caucasus (Mummery)

In reply to The Bantam: has anyone read 'Rock and roll mountains' by Graham forbes??

About walking and climbing in scotland, and his life in band prior to finding mountains. cool read though.

In reply to Allan McDonald:

I've not reead many but would put learning to breathe above Touching the void. That may be because I found the mining stuff relevant and interesting too though

In reply to Allan McDonald:
Great list...all of them huge influences on me.
How about The last Blue Mountain, The White Spider and maybe something by John Long?

In reply to Allan McDonald:

3. Always a Little Further - Alastair Borthwick

Great choice!

In reply to Queequeg:

I dossed in the Arrochar Caves, and other howfs and did the walks in Skye before I read the book.

In reply to Norrie Muir:

I hope you managed the walk in Skye with less drama than he did that first time.

Lovely book, really conjures up the enjoyment of the hills.

100 greatest climbs in the mont blanc massif?

In reply to Allan McDonald:

My 3 favourites would have to be in no particular order:

Nanga Parbat Pilgrammage-H Buhl
The Kurt Diemberger Omnibus (The Endless Knot et al)
& The Boardman/Tasker Omnibus.

All gripping & inspiring books!

In reply to Norrie Muir:

Along with 'Mountain Days and Bothy Nights',It made me want to get more aquainted with Scottish Hills instead of just visiting the usual haunts.

I'm finding out slowly

In reply to joe_alexander:

I kinda excluded the likes of this and Hard Rock etc as they are beautiful tombs (and the most looked at amongst my books) but not really book books.

That made little sense. Sorry.

In reply to Allan McDonald:

In no particular order:

Chouinard: Climbing Ice
Desmaison: Total Alpinism
Simpson: Touching the Void
Murray: Mountaineering in Scotland
Moran: Scotland’s Winter Mountains
Alvarez: Feeding the Rat
Perrin: On and Off the Rocks
Askwith: Feet in the Clouds
Patey: One Man’s Mountains
Pritchard: Deep Play

In reply to Allan McDonald:

1. Mountaineering in Scotland - WH Murray
2. Starlight and Storm - Gaston Rebuffat
3. Beyond Adventure - Colin Mortlock
4. Kiss or Kill - Mark Twight
5. Feeding the Rat - Al Alvarez
6. The Climbing Essays - Jim Perrin
7. My Life - Andreas Heckmair
8. High Endeavour - Jimmy Cruickshank
9. I Chose to Climb - Chris Bonington
10. Eiger Dreams - John Krakauer

John.

Diemberger: Summits and Secrets

In reply to srnet:

And all though it's not strictly a climbing book surely you have to have The SAS Survival Handbook by Lofty Wiseman. Pure survival gold!

In reply to Allan McDonald: Nice to see people still read the old books......

The White Spider and Conquistadors are good books granted as are the Boardman Tasker ones but perhaps I should have made it best eleven books as omitted Jock Nimlin Boig which was a fantastic read.

In reply to Allan McDonald:

Desmaison's "Total Alpinism" is always on any of my lists

and of course "Rumdoodle"

In reply to Allan McDonald: most of mine have been covered except I Chose to Climb..Bonington super read ..

In reply to Allan McDonald:

I should have made it best eleven books as omitted Jock Nimlin Boig which was a fantastic read.

I've not read that book, but I did meet Jock and he was good value at telling a story.

In reply to Allan McDonald:
Conquistadors of the Useless by Lionel Terray

In reply to Allan McDonald:

My top ten would be:

1. Scrambles amongst the Alps - Edward Whymper
2. My Climbs in the Alps and Caucasus - Alfred Frederick Mummery
3. I Chose to Climb - Chris Bonington
4. On Snow and Rock - Gaston Rebuffat
5. The White Spider - Heinrich Harrer
6. The Shining Mountain - Peter Boardman
7. The Mountains of My Life - Walter Bonatti
8. Annapurna - Maurice Herzog
9. The Villain - Jim Perrin
10. One Man's Mountains - Tom Patey

lol, that rubbish. perrin cannea write to save himself, he is rather good at footnotes though....

Andy Cave's book is 10 times better.

In reply to Allan McDonald:
1. Mirella Tenderini - Gary Hemming, beatnik of the Alps
2. Sidney Wignal - Spy on the roof of the world
3. Roger Tissot - Mont Blanc
4. Jon Krakauer - Into the wild
Rest to follow after I put some thought into it!

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:

Tom, I would have put Andy Cave's great book in the top 10 if I felt it deserved it. It would definitely be in the top 20, however.

(PS. You seem to have a few writing problems yourself. 'Cannea'?? Sounds like somewhere in the west of Ireland.)

In reply to Gordon Stainforth: why do you think perrins jiberish, which isn't even a personal account is so much better.

extreme rock and cold climbs would be in there for me.

so would life and limb.

great gallery by the way.

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide: Just to be a bit controversial (and who am I to criticise !) but I was quite disappointed by the Villain as I was hoping it would be as incisive as Menlove. Mr Perrin did not mention much of Whillans feelings over the death of his Father for example however as a 'historical' piece it is good to have a wealth of Whillans stories in print at last.
Andy Cave's book was very good too and certainly a top twentier !!!

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:


What rot.

In reply to Allan McDonald:
anyone got the new sport climbing book that was new our b4 xmas.... any gud ?

In reply to Allan McDonald: I hope you don't mind a rambling contribution to this thread from across the Atlantic. As a very long-time climber, and even longer-time devotee of climbing literature, I thought this would be an easy and fun topic, but found that limiting myself to 10 of my personal "best" reads was quite a chore---too much climbing reading!!!! Anyway it seems obvious that most people's choices would be largely influenced by when they caught the climbing "bug", as much of their early reading would be the most "inspirational" to them, while a later book, though perhaps "better" in quality, might not have quite the same inspirational "punch" as the earlier one. So, I'm a Yank who first got involved in climbing in the early '60s, and that is the context for my choices. Also, I'm excluding guidebooks, though in reality, guides for favorite areas are the ones that are most thumbed, most used, most cursed, most dreamed over, and the most inspirational to most of us. Anyway, my list. Starting in the '60s there were few climbing books available and the ones that most impacted my peer group--and remain favorites today--were the classics of alpine struggles: 1.THE WHITE SPIDER by Harrer, 2. STARLIGHT AND STORM by Rebuffat(I don't really like his writing style but the book was a total insipation to a young mind) 3. LONELY CHALLENGE by Bhul--THE book for many of us. The slightly later books by or about Alpine greats just didn't have quite the impact for me, though Conquistadors of the Useless by Terray is one I could easily include. However one book by the next generation of alpinists definitely makes my list;4. SUMMITS AND SECRETS by Diemberger contains some of the very best writing about the sport that I've ever read; several of the chapters stand on their own as perceptive and inspirational writing. In my early years(and since for that matter) I climbed with a number of Brits, and so had heard much of the oral history, especially of the exploits of the Rock and Ice and their contemporaries, so I eagerly read the books that began to appear about that era. My personal favorite is 5. ROPE BOY by Gray--I think Dennis is an excellent story-teller, and his perspective as a participant but not central character gave him an excellent perspective from which to write. Also from that period, 6. ONE MAN'S MOUNTAINS by Patey was not written as a book but is instead a posthumous collection of writings--but what writings!!! and still a favorite. While on collections of writings 7. THE GAMES CLIMBERS PLAY, Wilson ed., is to my mind the very best of the many climbing anthologies. Photo/essay books are not necessarily "reading" but they are both common in our sport and definitely inspirational when done well. In this category my choice is 8. ROCK CLIMBERS IN ACTION IN SNOWDONIA by Cleare, maybe the more current color compilations have more visual clout, but Cleare's black and white compositions are classic and the writing(including the captions) is under-rated. In the same photo-heavy context, and coming perilously close to being guidebooks, are the big "tick-list" books. While there are many of these that are excellent, my personal choice for inspirational value is the original, 9. THE MONT BLANC MASSIF-THE 100 FINEST ROUTES by Rebuffat. I'm not particularly attracted to Greater Ranges expeditionary climbing or even reading about such climbs but one epic account does make my list.10. THE LAST BLUE MOUNTAIN by Barker is a well-written, totally gripping account of a near unbelieveable epic, to me it beats out--just--Simpson's Touching the Void. Nope, no entrys from North American, though a few do make the "also-rans". I've ranted on for a while, but obviously this is a subject near and dear to me.

In reply to Removed UserAlan Rubin:

It's just next to the hash (I think you call it "pound") key.

Has a bent arrow on it.

Makes the posts pretty and readable.



Interesting stuff though - thanks for that, I might be off to Waterstones in a bit thoroughly inspired...

In reply to Allan McDonald:

I started 'The Black Cliff' last night because someone recommended it on this thread. Thanks! It's been on the shelf for years, and I'd never realised how good it would be.

In reply to Kinley: Damn, how could I forget to include The Black Cliff on my list!!!But then, if I do include it, what do I remove? Thats why this topic has been so "hard" for me.

In reply to Allan McDonald: Storms of silence - Joe Simpson