classic climbing books

Mountaineering has a fascinating history that is well worth discovering. Not only will reading these books increase your respect and understanding of the hills and the men who first climbed them, but many are classics in their own right. Here, I have included only a few of the very best books on the continuing history of the sport. If you have a favourite that you want to review, or if you disagree with my reviews or selection, then please contact me at offwidth@jeremythomson.co.uk.

Annapurna - Maurice Herzog

A rip-roaring epic chronicling the first — successful — attempt to climb an 8000m peak. When the inexperienced Herzog led Terray, Lachenal, Rebuffat and others into Nepal they were amongst the first ever western visitors, there were no maps and even the peak itself — Annapurna — was a subject of myth. Many people didn't even believe that it existed, let alone knew where it was. This didn't stop Herzog opening up swathes of new country in his successful search. The climb itself was remarkable, pioneering the first use of lightweight tents and sleeping bags. Without the benefit of crampons or functional ropes, and with no idea of the effects of altitude, the party overcame torment to finally put two men on the summit. Their problems didn't end there though, as a disasterous descent nearly claimed their lives through hypothermia and frostbite. Herzog then had to endure months of trekking through unknown jungle while his hands and feet rotted away, delirious from infection. He finally dictated this book to his brother while recovering in hospital.

Not the most honest and accurate account of events (try reading Lachenal's journals for the other side of the story), but nevertheless a beautifully written, gung-ho adventure representing a milestone in mountaineering and a great read.

Annapurna by Maurice Herzog, 1954. Latest edition (with introduction by Joe Simpson), 257 pages, March 1997, Pimlico. ISBN 0712673938. £8 at amazon.co.uk £9 at bol.com.

Scrambles amongst the Alps - Edward Whymper

Edward Whymper was an artist and illustrator who was sent to draw the French and Swiss Alps in 1860, and while he was there accidently invented alpine mountaineering. This is a splendid folio of his sketches, theories and 'scrambles' (there is a thick vein of understatement throughout) from his initial forays up the Mer de Glace to the infamous first ascent of the Matterhorn. Guzzling wine and chomping on legs of mutton as he climbed, Whymper's strength and ability is as remarkable as his utter disregard for personal risk. He once walked from Briancon to Grenoble overnight — a journey of over 60 miles through the highest alps that still takes four hours by train today.

Sometimes climbing alone, sometimes with Michel Cros, he soon forgot his work and concentrated on opening many new passes and ascending new peaks in the meantime, just for the hell of it. His first ascents include the Ecrins, Mont Dolent, Aiguille de la Trelatete, Grand Cornier, the west summit of the Grandes Jorasses and the Aiguille Verte. His real goal though was always the famous Matterhorn, which he personally surveyed for several seasons before opting to attempt the 'impossibly steep' Zermatt face. Whymper's usual companion, his tent-bearing hunchback could not join them as he had "reached a critical stage in his cheese-making process." If you don't know the story of the ensuing ascent, then I'm not going to spoil it for you here.

Interspersed throughout the book are Whymper's sometimes eccentric theories — how to deal with les cretins des alpes; why mountains are the same shape as the pebbles they shed; how glaciers are not responsible for erosion and so on. All in all it is a fascinating book that makes you yern for a bygone age before lycra, ski-lifts and GPS when all one needed was a tweed jacket, a stout stick and a generous flask of wine and the sky was the limit.

Scrambles Among the Alps by Edward Whymper, 1871. Latest edition 512 pages, July 1996, Dover Publications. ISBN 0486289729. £14 at amazon.co.uk.

Touching the Void - Joe Simpson

Touching the void is the contemporary climbing epic. In terms of literary worth it can't complete with the likes of Annapurna, but in terms of compulsive reading it wins every time. Most people I know who have read it, myself included, did so in one go, and so you should. Touching the Void is essentially a harrowing lesson in just how badly things can go wrong without quite killing you. Simpson and Yates' troubles started when Joe broke a leg just after summiting a climb in the remote Peruvian Andes. To most climbers in a remote region in a light-weight team, a broken leg means death. But Joe has none of it, embarking on a four day nightmare and stumbling from disaster to disaster. I lost count of the number of times Joe was utterly doomed, and yet still he went on. He finally made it back to camp just as Yates was leaving, having given him up for dead days before.

Not a book for the squeemish, nor for worrying parents. Otherwise highly recommended as a true epic, famous moral dillema and a cautionary tale.

Touching the Void by Joe Simpson. Latest edition 207 pages, 1 January 1998, Vintage. ISBN: 0099771012. £6.40 at amazon.co.uk, £5.60 from bol.com.

Seven Years in Tibet - Heinrich Harrer

More of a travelogue than a mountaineering book, Seven Years in Tibet describes in beautiful detail Harrer's repeated escapes from and Indian P.O.W. camp with the mad idea of absconding via Tibet, at that time a closed country and almost unseen by Europeans. Not that Harrer's climbing credentials can be doubted; he made the first successful ascent of the north face of the Eiger just to prove himself a worthy member of a himalyan expedition (detailed in The White Spider).

When Harrer and pals finally make it across the border, penniless and hungry, a harsh and unwelcoming reception awaited them. But making the most of their own novelty and by spinning a few yarns, they gradually penetrated further into Tibet and finally gained the trust of officials in Lhasa. Harrer's evocative prose and imagery give a vivid impression of life in this unique country, all the more piquant since China's invasion and subsequent destruction of the Tibetan way of life.

The book details a crucial period in Tibet's history from the beginning of WWII to the Chinese invasion, a period in which it was grabbed from tradition and flung head first in to the modern world — partly through the knowledge and engineering skill of Harrer and Aufschneiter themselves, and partly through the rest of the world increasingly penetrating the consciousness of this remote and mysterious kingdom.

An absoutely fascinating story, a beautiful account of traditional Tibet and a wonderfully conceived and written book. Read it before you see the film, won't you?

Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer. Edition pictured 320 pages, December 1997, Flamingo. ISBN 0006550924. £6.40 at amazon.co.uk, £7.20 from bol.com.

Coming soon:

Eiger: Wall of Death by Arthur Roth

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, together with The Climb by Anatoli Boukreev

If you disagree with my reviews, or think there are books that should be here, then email me at offwidth@jeremythomson.co.uk. Come on, I know you're out there!