Can anyone recommend any good ski touring / ski mountaineering / alpine mountaineering books? Not guidebooks but accounts / memoirs etc.; and “good” as in well written. Looking for some “pool-side” inspiration during the family summer holiday.
The (in my opinion) near peerless HW Tilman’s books are already well thumbed; as is Kit Deslaurier’s “Higher Love” (and although not really a mountaineering book, “Blokes Up North” by Kev Oliver and Tony Lancashire is worth an honourable mention (as it has a lot of ice, and they both Royal Marines).
The problem is I’ve read all of them more than once … so new suggestions gratefully received!
Hi James. If you haven’t come across Frank Smythe, I strongly recommend him. I have a precious collection of his six alpine/himalayan climbing books. To get a flavour, read the first page of book 6 - Mountaineering Holiday.
Happy reading, Tim
(Added by admin on behalf of TimSimpson)
Killing Dragons by Fergus Fleming - as good history of alpinism as you’ll find anywhere. Well written IMHO
Not alpine as such, but The Shining Mountain by Pete Boardman.
And on that note,if you want well written books, then go through the winners of the Boardman Tasker award over the last few years and see what takes your fancy. See Archive — The Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature and take your pick
You could try “Among the Mountains” by Wilfred Thesiger - more trekking than mountaineering but great stuff and includes his meeting with Eric Newby which Newby describes in “A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush”.
In our Online age I’m slightly hesitant to suggest that a new page about Books be added to the Resources(?) tab, namely a Selected Bibliography. It could list all the important books mentioned so far, and many other worthy titles, split under relevant headings. For example Classic Memoirs; Guides by Region; General Handbooks; Mountain Navigation; Safety; etc etc.
Such a Bibliography would be of great help to newcomers to the sport, as well as the more experienced wishing to delve deeper, or those simply looking for good holiday reading.
It will clearly be impossible to provide a definitive list. I have created a similar page for another Society I belong to, and would be happy to share learnings if the Committee decides to take this idea forward.
For everyone else benefit I would also recommend Climb to Conquer a history of the formation of the 10th Mountain Division in the US during World War Two and their campaign in Italy. Many of the famous US ski resorts (Aspen, Vail etc) where founded by ex-10th Mountain veterans and they also laid the foundation for how much of our sport evolved (at least on that side of “the pond”).
Can certainly endorse Tilman’s books… currently very happily engrossed in Nepal Himalaya.
I’d also very much recommend Michel Peissel’s Mustang: a lost Himalayan Kingdom (more mountainous exploring than mountaineering), and Maurice Herzog’s Annapurna (most definitely mountaineering his account of the first ascent).
Robert Byron’s Road to Oxiana (travels through Persia and Afghanistan in the 30s) is also right up there for me… again more mountainous travel than mountaineering.
his account of the first ascent).