Good Climbing Literature

Christian wrote:What is it with all this "warrior" stuff in relation to climbing? It's not MMA fer chrissakes.

wtf is mma?

Three Cups of Tea, Touching the Void, and Into Thin Air are among my favorites.

The Ascent of Rum Doodle, by W.E. Bowman- one of the best pieces of satirical literature, climbing or otherwise, that I've ever had the pleasure of reading!

ATTACK
Once at the enemy, you should not aspire to just strike him, but to cling after the attack.
The moment the enemy relaxes, attack strongly and quickly.
When the enemy makes a quick attack, you must attack strongly and calmly aim for his weak point as he draws near, and strongly defeat him.
Attack in an unsuspected manner, knowing his metre and modulation and the appropriate timing.

CHARACTER
In strategy your spiritual bearing must not be any different from normal. Both in fighting and in everyday life you should be determined though calm.

DECEPTION
When you cannot be deceived by men you will have realized the wisdom of strategy.

DISCIPLINE
When you have attained the way of strategy there will not be one thing that you cannot understand.

INITIATIVE
You must force the enemy into unconventional situations.
You must win by seizing upon the enemy's disorder and derangement, and by not according him even a little of recovery.

MORALE
Attack where his spirit is lax, throw him into confusion, irritate and terrify him. Take advantage of the enemy's rhythm when he is unsettled and you can win.

RECONNAISSANCE
Examine your environment.

SOLDIERS & SAILORS
It is said the warrior’s is the twofold way of pen and sword, and he should have a taste for both ways.

STRATEGY
In strategy, fixing the eyes means gazing at the man's heart.
"If the enemy remains spirited it is difficult to crush him..."

- Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings. 1645.

i'm not that well read, but the book, American Rock, by Don Mellor was teh best climbing literature book that i've ever read.

way better IMO than many of the books referenced above. For a climber who has been around the country some, and got a chance to see and climb in many of the different meccas, this inded is the book for you! -

the premise of the book (as i recollect) is that the local rock in each area has influenced the climbing style and ethics of the surrounding climbing culture.

and it is just a great read and history of the different american rock meccas....

seriously, a great read! -

S

countrymanpress.com/titles/…

a short walk in the hindu kush, eric newby

J. C. Wilks wrote:ATTACK Once at the enemy, you should not aspire to just strike him, but to cling after the attack. ...

Some good titles already suggested, but one of my faves has to be The Lonely Challenge: Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage by Hermann Buhl. His solo first ascent of an 8000 meter peak is so far out there, just an amazing feat of mountaineering that was so far ahead of it's time.

George Bell wrote: I tried this, but the rock looks unaffected! ]

A chronological survey of some old stuff that starts early and illustrates how much evolution in the sport we've had, might go like this:
Scrambles Amongst the Alps- Whymper- (includes his obsession with the Matterhorn)
The Epic of Mt Everest- Younghusband- (the three British expeditions of the twenties)
K2 The Savage Mountain- Houston & Bates- (features THE ACCIDENT holy cow!)
The White Spider- Harrer- (classic)
The Seven Mountain Travel Books- Tilman- (The low key light and fast adventurer)
Annapurna- Herzog- (Talk about digging deep)

I also second No Picnic on Mt. Kenya- Benuzzi- A great story of a sporting attempt under ridiculous circumstances.

I think the European stuff written during the late fifties/ early sixties is best. It's all so completely understated. My favorites are

Conquistadors of the Useless by Lionel Terray
The White Spider by Harrer
Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage by Hermann Buhl (a little earlier)

For climbing fiction Solo Faces Jon Slator is a real good read. Not so loosely based on Gary Hemming.

Sweet thanks for all the Book tips...

Im not entirely well read, although I have been reading a lot lately getting books from the Library! ( :

I would still Highly Reccomend "Post Cards From the Ledge, Greg Child" to Anyone.. its hilarious, and keeps you on edge the whole book.

Just checked out "Eiger Dreams" for my next book... Im pretty stoked!!

"White Spider" It seems like a lot of people reccommended, Ill check that out too....

Enduring Patagonia- Greg Couch HMMMM Sounds good too... ( : Thanks Brahs

Whats with all the Negativity about the "Rock Warriors Way"??? Im sorry that you dont like it.. I thought it was good but does not warrent being "Good Literature" more Training Literature...

Cool... Props to all

Peace!

Why does no one mention Messner's books? I started reading Solo Nanga Parbat and got bored.... Do people like his books?

Thanks

Another good one that I read way back, may be hard to find but is a good read: Four Against Everest.

I don't remember the author, but it's about four ordinary joes who decide they're going to try to climb Everest and scrape together enough equipment and dough to make it happen. Good stuff.

Peter Boardman also wrote several books about his exploits in the Himalayas before he and Joe Tasker disappered on Everest.

Minus 148, by Art Davidson, about the first winter ascent of Denali. Outrageous stuff.

Finally, Chris Bonington wrote a number of decent things: Annapurna, South Face is one still on the shelf in my old room at my folks' place. While I don't remember the title, if you can find the title that details Doug Scott's crawl down a peak [edit: the Ogre] with two broken legs, that's some fine reading there.

'Killing Dragons:The Conquest of the Alps' - by Fergus Fleming

Interesting history lesson. Gets a little bogged down in the middle, though.
My favorite part is when the author explains that in the early days, the locals didn't even have a word for 'mountaineer' and considered climbers to be some heretofore unclassified sub-species of idiot. *
- I'll take that as a compliment :0)

• disclaimer: quoted from memory.

AAJs & ANAMs

right on w/ the 3 Cups -- their periodical offers some more, as well.

Super-Blind's are also worth a look.

The only problem with Touching the Void, is that it makes me shit my pants; I can't even watch the movie for very long.

"Downward Bound" by Warren Harding.

The autobiography of Hermann Buhl

amazon.com/Nanga-Parbat-Pil…

cathy proenza wrote:The autobiography of Hermann Buhl