As an English major and daughter of two now retired English professors, I was raised in a house filled with thousands of books. We didn’t just have one copy of a book – we would have triplicate, because, I suppose, you can never have too much of a good thing.
But reading has always powered my imagination – and imagination is probably behind my starting this whole mountain climbing thing in the first place. Well, to be more precise, it was a 1991 movie called K2 that I saw on TV. In fact checking for this post, I discovered it was largely panned by the critics, but I still remember the drama of preparation (one of the climbers was a lawyer) and the critical moments on the mountain where one climber had to make the decision to leave his injured companion behind. The husband found the film absolutely appalling. But for some reason, the adrenalin junkie in me found the battle of man versus the elements completely fascinating.
A good book about the mountains – or any adventure travel – brings you that one step closer to making the summit your own reality. Lots of books have given me that little last push up that extra flight of stairs. Here are some of my favorites and I’d like to know yours – I’m currently perfecting my Kindle reading technique for stair climbing.
The Seven Summits by Frank Wells and Dick Bass. This may be where it truly started. A work colleague of mine lent me this book back in the 1990s, and, true confessions, I never returned it. It’s the tale of the original two who climbed the seven summits in one year, 1983, the year I graduated from university. Easy reading and puts the mountains within reach.
Paths of Glory by Jeffrey Archer. The story of George Mallory’s fateful trip to Everest, starting with his days climbing church steeples. The mystery remains – did he or did he not summit?
Mark Horrell’s travel diaries – these are available very inexpensively in Ebook format. He seems to have climbed everything and his very detailed accounts of mountains ranging from Cotopaxi to Elbrus are quite reassuring to a novice climber.
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. Need I say more.
And, to finish up, The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean. Ok, it’s not about summits but it is about swamps., Possibly the most beautiful prose ever written about the adventure of hiking through the wild Florida of the Fakahatchee swamp and the search for rare orchids. Inspirational for swamp dwellers who want to see more than the concrete of Florida development.
FromSwamptoSummit 
Tenzing Norgay and the Sherpas of Everest is supposed to be good, although I haven’t read it yet. There’s also a collection of short stories called Games Climbers Play that’s well worth reading. Don’t buy it, I’ll send you my copy. The best adventure travel book I’ve ever read is Jupiter’s Travels by Ted Simon. Bought for me by M on one of her trips to England it’s a wonderful book about a trip around the world on an old Triumph motorcycle. My copy has been with me across the country on at least a half dozen trips and is beat up, falling apart, and probably still contains dirt from the time I fell off the motorcycle at Mono Lake. You can’t borrow that one, but I have a copy that the author signed at Bike Week in Daytona a few years ago. I’ll send it to you with the other book.
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Yeah, and you can give my damn book back to me!
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Isn’t it now a sacrifice to the mountain gods? (I seriously thought of omitting that book just to avoid the inevitable comment.) Perhaps one day it will appear on your doorstep wrapped in a Tibetan prayer flag.
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Have you read The Magnificent Mountain Women(1990) by Janet Robertson? It is about the pioneer women of CO, and while the writing is not great, it is really interesting. I kept telling Roger when I was reading it that I had to “loan” it to you. Will try to send it with John after T’giving.
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Thanks! I will make sure I return it!
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I was obsessed with K2 in ’92 (after college). My first yoga CD used for classes in ’96 was the sound track to K2 (George Harrison–named my baby Harrison). Today, at crossfit, one of our members, came in and wrote this quote down: “I didn’t climb Mt. Everest to die, I climbed Mt. Everest to live.” Mountains of books, mountains that reach the heavens, or valleys low and wide…inspiration is inspiration!
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I think I will have to get onto reading some of these titles. Louise
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