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Books > Sport & Leisure > Sports & outdoor recreation > Active outdoor pursuits > Climbing & mountaineering
Sixth edition of this classic trekking guide to the Everest region of Nepal's Himalaya. Ranging from lush terraced fields to the highest mountain on earth, the scenery is breathtaking. There are trekking possibilities to suit all budgets - from independent trekkers on a shoestring staying in simple lodges with Sherpa families to travellers on guided treks with every luxury provided. This practical guide includes detailed route maps covering not only the classic treks but also the wild routes: *Everest expedition route *Rolwaling *Trekking from Lukla *Salpa-Arun *The Gokyo trek *High passes *Trekking peaks - including Mera and Island Peak Getting to Nepal l Kathmandu - trek preparations and what to see Where to stay and eat l Health and safety Employing a guide or porter in Nepal
Shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature. In the summer of 2012, a team of six climbers set out to attempt the first ascent of one of the great unclimbed lines of the Himalaya - the giant Mazeno Ridge on Nanga Parbat, the world's ninth highest mountain. At ten kilometres in length, the Mazeno is the longest route to the summit of an 8,000-metre peak. Ten expeditions had tried and failed to climb this enormous ridge. Eleven days later two of the team, Sandy Allan and Rick Allen, both in their late fifties, reached the summit. They had run out of food and water and began hallucinating wildly from the effects of altitude and exhaustion. Heavy snow conditions meant they would need another three days to descend the far side of the 'killer mountain'. 'I began to wonder whether what we were doing was humanly possible. We had climbed the Mazeno and reached the summit, but we both knew we had wasted too much energy. In among the conflicting emotions, the exhaustion and the elation, we knew our bodies could not sustain this amount of time at altitude indefinitely, especially now we had no water. The slow trickle of attrition had turned into a flood; it was simply a matter of time before our bodies stopped functioning. Which one of us would succumb first?' In Some Lost Place is Sandy Allan's epic account of an incredible feat of endurance and commitment at the very limits of survival - and the first ascent of one of the last challenges in the Himalaya.
In 1959, sixteen-year-old Ian ‘Spike’ Sykes left school and, after a short period of work at Leeds University, joined the RAF. Already a keen climber, he signed up on the promise of excitement and adventure and was posted to the remote RAF Kinloss Mountain Rescue Team in the north of Scotland. It was the beginning of a journey which would see him involved in some of the most legendary call-outs in Scottish mountain rescue history, including the 1963 New Year tragedy on the Isle of Skye. In the Shadow of Ben Nevis tells Spike’s story from growing up in Leeds in the aftermath of the Second World War, to his time with the RAF during the cold war. After leaving the RAF, he remained an active member of the Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team and was involved in the first lower down the north face of Ben Nevis – an epic 1,500-foot descent to rescue stricken climbers in the middle of winter. Following a two-and-a-half-year stint on Antarctica with the British Antarctic Survey, he returned to the Highlands and opened the first Nevisport shop with his close friend Ian ‘Suds’ Sutherland. Together, they brought Sunday trading to Fort William and were one of a small number of shops to revolutionise outdoor retail in the UK. Later, he was a key player in the development of the Nevis Range ski area. Over many years, and against all odds, the project became a reality and a great success. Recounted within these pages are a great many lively tales of adventures and mishaps, told with immediacy and charm. With a foreword by legendary Scottish mountaineer Hamish MacInnes, a close friend of Spike’s, In the Shadow of Ben Nevis is a must-read for anyone with an interest in Scottish mountaineering and mountain rescue.
This guide introduces the climber to the bouldering, traditional climbing and sports routes at Dumbarton Rock. Known to locals as 'Dumby', this is lowland Scotland's premier rock-climbing venue, home to famous routes such as Chemin de Fer, Requiem and Rhapsody, and with a reputation for hard and technical climbing. Dumby also cradles a collection of giant boulders, which host over 300 documented problems from easy to 8th grade level. Problems such as Pongo, Sabotage, Pressure, Sanction and Gutbuster are amongst Scotland's world-class bouldering test pieces. Photo-topos and textual descriptions bring clarity to complex routes (100+) and boulder problems (300+). The guide features a contextual historical introduction by John Hutchinson, detailing the decades of climbing heritage for which Dumbarton Rock is internationally recognised.
This is theengrossing story of the seasons the author spent climbing 4000m mountains inthe different regions of the Alps. It is also about the people with whom heclimbed who found time out of their day-to-day routine for this extraordinaryactivity. He explains the reason for this fascination which resulted in theirspending decades pursuing their climbing objectives. The words and photos both encapsulate thealpine experience in all its beauty and suffering, pain and exhilaration,danger and humour which is shared with each climbing partner and open to anyonewith the same commitment. The author believes that climbing all the 4000mmountains is a realistic and achievable objective that will take mountaineersinto much wild and beautiful terrain. These are not just snow plods: everymountain has a worthwhile route on it and even those with long glacierapproaches can become superb ascents and descents on ski in an alpine spring. The many photos taken over the years were areminder of details that had escaped notice in the journals kept at the time.These numerous stunning and inspiring photographs tell their own story andenrich the author's account. The book is dedicated to all his climbing partnerswho made the completion of the quest possible.
The definitive resource to brain-training for climbing--by an internationally recognized expert As physical as climbing is, it is even more mental. Ultimately, people climb with their minds--hands and feet are merely extensions of their thoughts and will. Becoming a master climber requires that you first master your mind. In "Maximum Climbing," America's best-selling author on climbing performance presents a climber's guide to the software of the brain--one that will prove invaluable whether one's preference is bouldering, sport climbing, traditional climbing, alpine climbing, or mountaineering. Eric Horst brings unprecedented clarity to the many cognitive and neurophysical aspects of climbing and dovetails this information into a complete program, setting forth three stages of mental training that correspond to beginner, intermediate, and elite levels of experience and commitment--the ideal template to build upon to personalize one's goals through years of climbing to come.
Lake District Bouldering is the long-awaited guide to bouldering in the Lake District National Park. Written by Greg Chapman, one of the pioneers of bouldering in the Lakes, it features almost 3,000 individually numbered problems and dozens of variations and linkups at over 70 venues. Greg created the LakesBloc website in 2003 with the sole aim of providing the very best online information relating to bouldering in the Lakes and surrounding areas. Lake District Bouldering builds on LakesBloc and brings together this huge amount of information in a comprehensive guidebook for the very first time. This guide is split into five sections: South-East, South-West, North-East, North-West and South Lakes Limestone. Featured crags include old-school venues such as the Langdale Boulders, the Bowderstone, Woodwell and Armathwaite; recently developed areas such as the Harter Gold Boulders in Dunnerdale and the Stirrup Stones in Wasdale, and nationally significant spots including Carrock Fell, Kentmere and St Bees Head. Each crag features detailed access and approach information, including GPS coordinates for parking and crag grid references, together with conditions information and local knowledge. Alongside superb action photography, there are over 700 colour photo topos, plus overview and topo maps. A reference section with Ordnance Survey maps is included for selected mountain crags, and a detailed appendix includes everything you need to plan a visit: tourist information centres, cafes and pubs, campsites and accommodation, gear shops, climbing walls, and useful websites.
'Proof that epic adventures are open to everyone, even if you've got a day job.' Alastair Humphreys Nicknamed 'Mountain Man' by the Sunday Telegraph, James Forrest is the record-breaking adventurer who climbed every mountain in England and Wales in just six months - the fastest ever time. Solo and unsupported, he walked over 1,000 miles and ascended five times the height of Everest during his 446-peak challenge. And he did it all on his days off from work, proving it is possible to integrate an epic adventure into your everyday life. From collapsing tents and horrific storms to near-fatal mountaineering mishaps, James endured his fair share of hardship out in the hills. But the good times far outweighed the bad. He slept wild under the stars, met eccentric locals, and exchanged the 21st century social media bubble for a simpler, more peaceful existence. What did he learn along the way? That life is more fulfilling when you switch off your phone and climb a mountain. Chosen by The Great Outdoors magazine as their book of the year, all readers will be inspired and motivated by James's amazing adventure, and the book concludes with a section on how YOU can achieve your next adventure. Whether it's something to get the kids involved in at half term, a fun challenge to tackle solo or with friends, or a record-breaking attempt of epic proportions, James will guide you through everything you need to do to plan and execute your adventure. This paperback edition also features a Foreword by adventurer and writer Anna McNuff.
The annual "Journal of the Scottish Mountaineering Club" has maintained a continuous record of mountain activities in Scotland since 1890 - 116 years of unbroken publication. This year's journal includes an article celebrating the centenary of the Ladies Scottish Climbing Club. Guy Robertson describes climbing Centurion on Ben Nevis in extraordinary winter conditions. John Mackenzie tells of winter pioneering in Glen Strathfarrar. Gordon Smith gives an account of his 'Dangerous Obsession' with a route on the Grandes Jorasses thirty years ago. Ole Eistrup describes climbing a new route on the Monch with Dougal Haston shortly before his untimely death. There is also a first hand account of what it is like to suffer from Lyme disease. And of course there are all the details of the latest new climbs north of the border.
Follow along in the footsteps of renowned climbers Fred Beckey, Jim Bridwell, Riccardo Cassin, Art Davidson, Royal Robbins, David Roberts, Bradford Washburn, Jon Waterman, and others as they scale Alaska's great peaks in Alaska Ascents by Bill Sherwonit. This collection of seventeen riveting first-person accounts reveals the stories of mountains, among the most inaccessible and difficult to climb in all of North America, and the remarkable individuals who have climbed them. In their stories, we learn about people who are drawn to scale such alien peaks, and who experience triumph of the spirit and sometimes tragedy and loss. Editor Bill Sherwonit, who lives in Anchorage, is also the author of several books, including To the Top of Denali: Climbing Adventures on North America's Highest Peak, Alaska's Accessible Wilderness: A Traveler's Guide to Alaska's State Parks, and Denali: The Complete Guide. "A riveting anthology . . . Each piece effectively captures the intensity of the undertaking and the emotions and challenges relating to each climb . . . A fine compendium of mountain literature highlights." -Library Journal "A terrific read." -Small Press "Alaska Ascents is packed with tales of -148 degrees F temperatures, 150-mile-per-hour winds, and all those splendid privations associated with making first ascents in the Great Land." -ROCK & ICE "Captivating." -Climbing Magazine "Climbers, would-be climbers, and nonclimbers alike will find this book good reading." -Alaska magazine WINNER: Special Jury Mention, Banff Mountain Festival: "an important book . . . one that climbers around the world will want to own." Fred Beckey, Jim Bridwell, Riccardo Cassin, Art Davidson, Royal Robbins, David Roberts, Bradford Washburn, Jon Waterman, and more have made highly acclaimed ascents in Alaska and have written enthralling accounts of their adventures. This anthology of Alaska climbing stories gives voice to Alaska's great peaks and to the people who have climbed them. Alaska Ascents takes readers to all of Alaska's major mountain systems-the St. Elias, Wrangell, Coast, Chugach, Alaska, and Brooks Ranges-and to many of its grandest peaks-Denali, St. Elias, Fairweather, Foraker, Hunter, Moose's Tooth, Devil's Thumb, and the Kichatna Spires. The storytellers in this collection reveal the challenges of Alaska's mountains, among the most inaccessible and difficult to climb in all of North America. These mountaineers have pushed the limits of what's possible in the sport of climbing, surmounting long, dangerous approaches, incredible cold, severe subarctic snowstorms, huge ice fields, and heavily crevassed glaciers. In their stories, we learn about people who are drawn to scale such alien peaks, and who experience triumph of the spirit and sometimes tragedy and loss.
Before us in the bright spring sunshine lay the entire Clyde valley, dominated by the vast sprawling mass of Glasgow, the dear green place. There was a time no too long ago when the old heavy industries would have made this view much less clear. But today we could see the Cowal Hills and Greenock in the west to the Pentlands in the East. From the time he bagged his first Munro, Peter Kemp has remained an enthusiastic hillawalker and this book is a testament to his passion for Scotland's outdoors and hillwalking culture.
For more than twenty-five years, FalconGuide has set the standard
for outdoor recreation guidebooks. Written by top outdoors experts
and enthusiasts, each guide invites you to experience the endless
adventure and rugged beauty of the great outdoors.
'All mountaineers develop differently. Some go higher, some try ever-steeper faces and others specialise in a particular range or region. I am increasingly drawn to remoteness - to places where few others have trod.' The Wild Within is the third book from Simon Yates, one of Britain's most accomplished and daring mountaineers. With his insatiable appetite for adventure and exploratory mountaineering, Yates leads unique expeditions to unclimbed peaks in the Cordillera Darwin in Tierra del Fuego, the Wrangell St-Elias ranges on the Alaska-Yukon border, and Eastern Greenland. Laced with dry humour, he relates his own experience of the rapid commercialisation of mountain wilderness, while grappling with his new-found commitments as a family man. At the same time he must endure his role in the film adaptation of Joe Simpson's Touching The Void, having to relive the events of that trip to Peru for a Hollywood director. Yates' subsequent escape to the some of the world's most remote mountains isn't quite the experience it once was, as he witnesses first hand the advance of modern communications into the wilderness, signalled by the ubiquitous mobile phone masts appearing in once-deserted mountain valleys. He is left to dwell on the remaining significance of mountain wilderness and must rediscover what the notion of 'wild' means for him now.
This is the first book to explore in depth the science of climbing and mountaineering. Written by a team of leading international sport scientists, clinicians and climbing practitioners, it covers the full span of technical disciplines, including rock climbing, ice climbing, indoor climbing and mountaineering, across all scientific fields from physiology and biomechanics to history, psychology, medicine, motor control, skill acquisition, and engineering. Striking a balance between theory and practice, this uniquely interdisciplinary study provides practical examples and illustrative data to demonstrate the strategies that can be adopted to promote safety, best practice, injury prevention, recovery and mental preparation. Divided into six parts, the book covers all essential aspects of the culture and science of climbing and mountaineering, including: physiology and medicine biomechanics motor control and learning psychology equipment and technology. Showcasing the latest cutting-edge research and demonstrating how science translates into practice, The Science of Climbing and Mountaineering is essential reading for all advanced students and researchers of sport science, biomechanics and skill acquisition, as well as all active climbers and adventure sport coaches.
Throughout 1949 and 1950 H.W. 'Bill' Tilman mounted pioneering expeditions to Nepal and its Himalayan mountains, taking advantage of some of the first access to the country for Western travellers in the 20th century. Tilman and his party-including a certain Sherpa Tenzing Norgay-trekked into the Kathmandu Valley and on to the Langtang region, where the highs and lows began. They first explored the Ganesh Himal, before moving on to the Jugal Himal and the following season embarking on an ambitious trip to Annapurna and Everest. Manaslu was their first objective, but left to 'better men', and Annapurna IV very nearly climbed instead but for bad weather which dogged the whole expedition. Needless to say, Tilman was leading some very lightweight expeditions into some seriously heavyweight mountains. After the Annapurna adventure Tilman headed to Everest with-among others-Dr Charles Houston. Approaching from the delights of Namche Bazaar, the party made progress up the flanks of Pumori to gaze as best they could into the Western Cwm, and at the South Col and South-East Ridge approach to the summit of Everest. His observations were both optimistic and pessimistic: 'One cannot write off the south side as impossible until the approach from the head of the West Cwm to this remarkably airy col has been seen.' But then of the West Cwm: 'A trench overhung by these two tremendous walls might easily become a grave for any party which pitched its camp there.' Nepal Himalaya presents Tilman's favourite sketches, encounters with endless yetis, trouble with the porters, his obsessive relationship with alcohol and issues with the food. And so Tilman departs Nepal for the last time proper with these retiring words: 'If a man feels he is failing to achieve this stern standard he should perhaps withdraw from a field of such high endeavour as the Himalaya.'
A resource book covering the finest walks, treks and climbs in the High Pyrenees for 400km between France and Spain, from the Cirque de Lescun, on the edge of the Basque country in the west, to the Carlit massif and the Cerdagne to the east of Andorra. The book is divided into five regional chapters: the Western Valleys; Cirques and Canyons; the Central Pyrenees; Enchanted Mountains; and Andorra and the Eastern High Pyrenees. Intended as a resource book for those planning a range of mountain activities in the Pyrenees, the guide describes each area valley by valley, and provides information on access and accommodation, as well as recommended maps and guidebooks. Unlike a conventional walking book, detailed route descriptions are not included; the guide does, however, direct the reader to the finest walks, treks and climbs in the area and provide an outline of specially selected routes. An extensive introduction gives all the practical advice and information needed for planning a trip. It offers a background to the mountains and their exploration, and provides a snapshot of the range with sections that help the reader focus on specific areas of activity, and suggests where best to exercise that activity.
'No sea voyage can be dull for a man who has an eye for the ever-changing sea and sky, the waves, the wind and the way of a ship upon the water.' So observes H.W. 'Bill' Tilman in this account of two lengthy voyages in which dull intervals were few and far between. In 1966, after a succession of eventful and successful voyages in the high latitudes of the Arctic, Tilman and his pilot cutter Mischief head south again, this time with the Antarctic Peninsula, Smith Island and the unclimbed Mount Foster in their sights. Mischief goes South is an account of a voyage marred by tragedy and dogged by crew trouble from the start. Tilman gives ample insight into the difficulties associated with his selection of shipmates and his supervision of a crew, as he wryly notes, 'to have four misfits in a crew of five is too many'. The second part of this volume contains the author's account of a gruelling voyage south, an account left unwritten for ten years for lack of time and energy. Originally intended as an expedition to the remote Crozet Islands in the southern Indian Ocean, this 1957 voyage evolved into a circumnavigation of Africa, the unplanned consequence of a momentary lapse in attention by an inexperienced helmsman. The two voyages described in Mischief goes South covered 43,000 miles over twenty-five months spent at sea and, while neither was deemed successful, published together they give a fine insight into Tilman's character.
This select guide includes detailed, easy to follow directions to climbing 100 of Washington's most visible, historically significant, and interesting mountains with summits over 5,000 feet. From introductory level off-trail summit hikes and scrambles to multi-pitch alpine rock and high volcano climbs, this guide is suitable for beginning scramblers and alpine rock climbers as well as more experienced climbers. Blending all types of climbing at all levels of difficulty, you'll find routes to popular scrambling peaks such as Mount Si, classic alpine rock peaks such as Prusik Peak, and to big volcanoes including Mount Rainier. Fully revised and updated, this book has been praised by scramblers, alpine rock climbers, volcano climbers, and trip leaders alike as being an accurate, user-friendly guide with superb, easy-to-follow route descriptions and drawings, to the summits of the mountains that people actually want to climb.
Every serious climber should experience Utah's Wasatch Range.
Granite slabs, vertical finger cracks, overhanging off-widths,
steep faces, and alpine adventures make it an unbeatable climbing
destination. And the singular beauty of the Wasatch, with its deep
canyons, remote alpine peaks, and miles of wilderness, attracts
climbers of all creeds year after year, further cultivating the
area's rich climbing history.
No goggles or glacier glasses, no hi-tech axes or day-glo Gore-Tex adorned Alpinists of the mid-nineteenth century. From the 1850s to the early twentieth century, the achievements of Irish mountaineers are largely obscured in British historical accounts. This sets the record straight. Frank Nugent, mountaineer-explorer, reveals a significant Irish contribution beginning with the Golden Age of Alpine Mountaineering when the first ascents of mountains like the Eiger and Weisshorn and the first traverse of the Matterhorn from Italy were by Irish climbers. Significant climbers of the time were: John Tyndall, a scientist from Carlow; John Ball MP from Dublin was the first president of the Alpine Club and led the popularisation of the sport with a series of guidebooks; Anthony Adams-Reilly from Westmeath produced the first reliable map of the Mont Blanc massif; Elizabeth Whitshed from Greystones, a pioneering woman mountaineer, was one of the first to engage in winter Alpine climbing; Valentine Ryan from Offaly is often considered the finest Alpine climber of the early twentieth century.The Alpine's Club's first publication in 1859 was Peaks, Passes and Glaciers, edited by John Ball. A climbing record of the Alpine Club, it was the blueprint for the Alpine Journal published annually ever since. The varied social, political and scientific backgrounds of Irish Alpine pioneers provide absorbing insights into nineteenth-century Irish society.
While few of us can aspire to climb the hardest routes, we all may open the SMC Journal and experience the excitement of exploratory climbing or the tense uncertainty of a first ascent. In this issue Helen Rennard recounts her ground-breaking winter climbs with Dave McLeod, Iain Small and Dave Almond, while Almond himself leads us up the fearsome Mistral route on Beinn Eighe. No point of the compass is neglected. In 'Winter Out West' Neil Adams describes pioneering routes in Ardgour. Iain Young goes 'Mountaineering in Hyperborea' on winter visits to the far north, while Bob Duncan soloes the Old Man of Hoy. Finlay Wild finds 'Eastern Promise' in his gruelling Cairngorm ski-tours. And further south, Mike Jacob recalls the rock-climbing exploits of 'Harold Raeburn in Lakeland'. We can recover our breath with some gentler pieces. In 'Night' Ian Crofton reflects on nocturnal phenomena in the mountains, while Donald Orr appraises D.Y.Cameron's mountain drawings. Gavin Anderson asks which heroes deserve 'A Stance on Parnassus', Dave Broadhead gets on his bike, Iain Cameron visits long-lying snowfields, and Robin Campbell guides us round the Scottish mountaineering archives. Humour can be found in the writings of Tim Pettifer and Phil Gribbon, dark fiction in a short story by Mike Dixon, and bone-shattering reality in Brian Shackleton's account of his serious accident. Ever-popular features include New Routes (some 660 of them), Munro Matters, and 21 expert reviews of recent books. |
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