Best climbing book

steve edwards wrote:Except that Krakauer inserts conjecture during a period he was asleep and AB was up on the mountain saving people. Krakauer, indeed a better writer than many, has no interest in authenticity. That doesn't make his books bad, per se, but they should not be treated as fact but as yarns. Like many good storytellers, the closer you know the real story the more regularly you notice his consistent use of hyperbole. As my buddy Largo once said, "never let the truth get in the way of a good story."

He wrote about the events he slept through just like any journalist writes about events they weren't present from, he gathered evidence and interviewed the participants, INCLUDING Boukareev. Of course it's not 100% accurate, no story can ever be 100% correct because as humans, we each have different perspectives. (I think that there's a quote pertaining to this at the opening of one of the chapters actually.)

I mean, I understand that Krakauer made mistakes (like misreporting Andy Harris' death). But I think that overall, he's as accurate as he can manage, he's too conscientious of a person to not do so.

I feel like many climbers look down on Krakauer's actions on Everest, and that doesn't really make too much sense to me. He actually performed remarkably on summit day. He was at the Hillary step with Boukreev, Bieldelman and Harris ahead of any of the other climbers or sherpas. That's pretty damn amazing of a feat considering that he had torn so much cartilage in his ribs that he couldn't even breath without excruciating pain.

I should add that it was Krakaeur's writing that got me into climbing, so I am a little biased.

Back to the original subject, I HIGHLY recommend Clint Willis' The Boys of Everest about Chris Bonnington's life and career and the lives and careers of the climbers that floated in his circle.

Admittedly, some might find the writing a tad on the melodramatic side, but, I found that appropriate, people die left and right in this story, it's hard to avoid that tone.

No other book that I have ever read has so methodically explored the motivations behind why we climb, the writing in this book is heart-wrenchingly beautiful at times, and it's incredibly easy to become completely immersed in the events of the book, the mental pictures it paints are extraordinary.

Downward Bound a mad guide to rock climbing writen by Waren "Batso" Harding !

steve edwards wrote:Just wanted to add that Rum Doodle, I now see, is written by Bill Bryson who is an absolutely fantastic writer (so how the hell did I not know of this?) I'm sure, for pure entertainment, it's going to be high on the list. I don't think a Bryson book has taken me more than a handful of sittings at most.

Actually, Bryson just wrote the Introduction. But he describes the book as hilarious, and if anyone knows hilarious, it would be Bryson.

Annapurna: A Woman's Place by Arlene Blum

Arlene Blum led the first women's expedition to Annapurna in the 1970s. It includes more details of expedition planning than most books do and it was interesting to catch a glimpse into that logistical nightmare.

sarahw wrote:Annapurna: A Woman's Place by Arlene Blum Arlene Blum led the first women's expedition to Annapurna in the 1970s. It includes more details of expedition planning than most books do and it was interesting to catch a glimpse into that logistical nightmare.

+++1 It's on my list and in my personal autographed library of climbing best.

Mount Analogue by Rene Daumal

How about some passages from these selections???

Mark Twights "Kiss or Kill: Confessions of a Serial Climber"

You can read many of the stories from the book here:
books.google.com/books?id=N…