Got a hankering to read some mountaineering books. I've read all of Joe Simpson's stuff, done all the Bonnigton and Messner expedition reports from the 70's, Into Thin Air, A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush etc.

Anyone got any recommendations...?

Seven summits by Steve Bell is a good collection of stories.

The white spider

Bicycles up Kilimanjaro

If you're near Sheffield, then I could lend you the first two?

Andy Caves books were good from memory

Andy Kirkpatrick too

Gwen Moffats Space below my feet

Eric Jones’ book was good (climber/base jumper etc)

Shackleton by Fiennes was superb, that will keep the winter blues at bay! I listened to it on Spotify, brilliant

Edit Joe Brown The hard years

Alison Hargreaves A hard days summer

Jon Krackear Into thin air (it’s a long time since reading it, so can’t remember much!)

I’ve started on Walter Bonnattis book but didn’t get too far, think I was distracted reading it. Will have another go

PaulE wrote: ↑Thu Nov 07, 2024 1:57 pm Seven summits by Steve Bell is a good collection of stories.

The white spider

Bicycles up Kilimanjaro

If you're near Sheffield, then I could lend you the first two?

Turns out I read a Seven Summits book back in the early Nineties, can't remember who wrote it though. The White Spider is on my list, although I've read Joe Simpson's North Face of the Eiger book. Have read Bicycles up Kilimanjaro.

voodoo_simon wrote: ↑Thu Nov 07, 2024 2:03 pm Andy Caves books were good from memory

Andy Kirkpatrick too

Gwen Moffats Space below my feet

Eric Jones’ book was good (climber/base jumper etc)

Shackleton by Fiennes was superb, that will keep the winter blues at bay! I listened to it on Spotify, brilliant

Edit Joe Brown The hard years

Alison Hargreaves A hard days summer

Jon Krackear Into thin air (it’s a long time since reading it, so can’t remember much!)

I’ve started on Walter Bonnattis book but didn’t get too far, think I was distracted reading it. Will have another go

I will check some of those out.

The Burgess Book of Lies - Adrian & Alan Burgess

The White Spider is quite a read.

Bonatti's Mountains of My Life is good, I thought. I really enjoyed Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage by Herman Buhl and On Thin Ice by Mick Fowler. Conquistadors of The Useless by Lionel Thierry also quite good.

Classic stuff:

The White Spider, Heinrich Harrer
Savage Arena, Joe Tasker
Total Alpinism, Rene Desmaison
50 Years of Alpinism, Ricardo Cassin
On The Heights, Walter Bonatti

More modern, humour

One Man's Mountains, Tom Patey
Rope Boy, Dennis Gray
The Totem Pole, Paul Pritchard
Moments of Doubt, Dave Roberts
Thin Air, Greg Child

Modern history/biographies

The Tower, Kelly Cordes
The Villain, Jim Perrin

Chicken Legs wrote: ↑Thu Nov 07, 2024 2:13 pm The Burgess Book of Lies - Adrian & Alan Burgess

In 1986 I was on a trip to attempt Gasherbrum IV (this is the mountain that dominates the approach to Concordia up the Baltoro glacier and is a few km from K2). We were walking in at the same time as a British attempt on K2 involving the Burgess twins and Alan Rouse (who would sadly die having summited).

Both of our teams had used the same company to make up our outer windsuits which were all-in-one affairs. Unbeknown to us, the seamstresses were more used to dealing with oil bicycle and construction workers and had a policy of removing 2" from self-measured chest measurements and adding 2" to the stomach Unfortunately for the Burgesses they were genuinely 48" chests with 30" waists. The tight chest wasn't a big problem in itself but it had the side effect of reducing the effective neck to groin distance of the garment so if you stood up straight your voice rose an octave

Kiss or Kill, Twight.

Vertical Pleasure (The Secret Life of a Taxman) - Mick Fowler.

A master of understatement and self-deprecating humour .

Everest the Cruel Way - after reading this, you'll never moan about a bivvy again!
The Shinning Mountain - Joe Tasker and Pete Boardman's ascent of changabang, which was quite a feat in those days

Ascent of Rum Doodle.

The Death Zone. Brilliant book.

- Winter 8000: Climbing the World's Highest Mountains in the Coldest Season by Bernadette McDonald
- Freedom Climbers by Bernadette Macdonald
- Mountains of the Mind by Robert Macfarlane
- The Seven Mountain-Travel Books by H.W. Tilman
- The Tower by Kelly Cordes
- Behind Everest: Ruth Mallory's Story - First British Expeditions by Kate Nicholson
- Starlight and Storm: The Conquest of the Great North Faces of the Alps by Gaston Rebuffat

Since Into thin Air was mentioned, this one for good balance:
- The Climb by Boukreev Anatoli and G. Weston DeWalt

One of the most amazing (set of) books on mountaineering:
- Everest. From Reconnaissance to Summit, 1921 to 1953 by Peter Gillman.
I got the set as a present and likely wouldn't have bought it, but in hindsight I highly recommend it to interested readership. A must have in an alpinists library.

+1 for Andy Kirkpatrick's psycho vertical

One man’s mountains is a favourite of mine
Also Nanga Parbat pilgrimage - Herman Buhl was good.

Also ‘Mountaineering in Scotland and Undiscovered Scotland’ by WH Murray

Menlove and The Villain by Jim Perrin were both good, I thought

Thanks all! Certainly a decent list to start investigating purchases from.