Mixed Emotions – Greg Child
The Mountain Library rating: ★★★★★
Published: 1993
Reading style: easy
Images: none
Lasting memory:
“I’ve never been certain whether I’m a climber who writes or a writer who climbs.” And so begins Mixed Emotions, the first collection of Greg Child’s mountain writing. The title of this book should not be a surprise, for there is a recurring theme running through much of Child’s insightful work where he openly debates the conflict he experiences between justifying the risks of climbing versus the joys of the outcome. Similarly, Child likes to challenge his role as a mountain writer and in Mixed Emotions the basis for his struggle is set out in this first line. This continues in the opening to the classic Coast to Coast on the Granite Slasher (as Jon Krakauer outlines in the Foreword) – “Never trust the written word. At best it’s a second-rate account of reality….It’s slashing at reality.” We confront with him the question of how to communicate the joy of climbing through words. Is this possible? How to describe a summit, recount an epic or pay tribute to a lost friend. This ongoing dialogue raises Mixed Emotions to become a reference point in the genre. Wannabe mountain writers take note.
There are other lessons here too. In Another Tongue, a work of fiction thick with Child’s experiences from the Baltoro is a cutting scrutiny of the motivations of mountaineers and their influence on mountain communities, told through the eyes of two Balti porters. And in Meeting with a Stranger we bear witness to Child’s meditation on death after discovering a skeleton on a glacier “peaceful… He was part of the mountain now, like a boulder.”
As I’ve discussed before, the joy of Child’s writing is in the depth of observation and breadth of experience he delivers with intelligence and humour. From his beginnings climbing rock in Australia, to big walls in Yosemite, through to his beloved Karakoram, it’s all covered in Mixed Emotions. And there are also satisfying pieces on legends such as Doug Scott, Voytek Kurtyka, Don Whillans, and the lesser known, dark knight of American big walls, Jim Beyer.
“Human error is a reckless luxury in an environment where trespassers are merely tolerated.”
Herbert Matter’s mountains
Herbert Matter, Swiss-born American photographer and graphic designer.
via travelbrochuregraphics.com
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the ice warriors – Jerzy Porębski and Marek Berger
well, this is cool…
Lodowi Wojownicy [Ice Warriors] – a comic based on the journal of Krzysztof Wielicki who, in 1979, was part of the Polish team that set out to claim the first winter ascent of an 8000m peak. Published by the equally nifty Adam Mickiewicz Institute, a state cultural institution that promotes Polish culture around the world. Click on the image to read online.
Idea: Jerzy Porębski
Scenario: Jan Gogola, Jerzy Porębski
Drawings: Marek Berger
via Explorers Web.
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Thin Air: Encounters in the Himalayas – Greg Child
The Mountain Library rating: ★★★★
Published: 1988
Reading style: medium
Images: B&W throughout
Lasting memory:
An engaging chronicle of Greg Child’s climbing experiences in the Garwhal Himalaya and Karakoram during the late 70s and 80s, covering three compelling peaks; Shivling, Broad Peak and Gasherbrum IV, and a host of mountaineering luminaries. Child’s genuine, character laden narrative is instantly accessible and takes little time to sweep you up into the drama of the moment. This is the reason why Child’s contribution to mountain literature is significant. Along with being one of the enduring survivors of the great game of big wall climbing and mountaineering, he is a similarly gifted storyteller. Like Postcards from the Ledge and Mixed Emotions, Thin Air strikes the perfect balance between detail and description, humour and on the edge of your seat drama . It’s often described as an inspiring story, to which I agree, albeit inspiring in a more subtle way than one of the true classics, such as Peter Boardman’s The Shining Mountain.
“The old Tibetan traders had named the place well, their words Kara meaning black, and koram meaning covered in earth. Even the sound of the word had a sharpness to it, like the broken rubble riding atop the snapping and crackling Baltoro Glacier, our destination in the Karakoram. “
A finalist for the 1988 Boardman Tasker Memorial Award.
What the publisher says:
Climbing a Himalayan peak was the stuff of Greg Child’s wildest dreams. The in the late 1970s came a surprise berth on an expedition that was to define his career as a high-altitude mountaineer and transform his personality. A chronicle of his apprenticeship, Thin Air established Child as one of the great mountaineering writers of our time.
Thin Air is about the intensity of climbing “on the edge” day after day. It is about friendships and tragedies and the memories that linger for decades. Filled with humour, irony, and pathos, Thin Air touches us with the beauty of the Baltoro Glacier’s landscape and encounters with the local people. It also paints portraits of legendary mountaineers Doug Scott, Don Whillans, Alan Rouse, and others.
Greg Child writes regularly for Climbing and other magazines. He is the author of Mixed Emotions and Postcards from the Ledge. A prolific climber, he has summited Everest and K2 and made many first ascents in the Himalayas.
“Nobody writes better about mountaineering than Greg Child. This is a funny, sometimes wrenching, extremely powerful book. I would recommend it to anyone.” — Jon Krakauer
Piolets d’Or
The Sound of Gravity – Joe Simpson
The Mountain Library rating: ★★★★
Published: 2011
Reading style: easy
Images: no, fiction
Lasting memory:
The Sound of Gravity, Joe Simpson’s second attempt at a work of fiction, fails to satisfy with the strength we are accustomed to from his non-fiction catalogue. However, his latest book does raise its head above most in this paradoxically under-represented genre within the rich landscape of mountain literature.
On a bleak north face in winter, main character Patrick fails to stop the accidental death of his climbing and life partner. He is soon trapped in a terrifying storm, alone, and facing the prospect of a solo descent across difficult ground. His extraordinary escape leads not to renewal, but decades of being haunted by grief and loss until, at the story’s stomach churning climax, he is finally released from the mountain and the burden of bad memories.
This is a tale of two parts. Of the physical reality of struggling to save another’s life and your own, and the inner turmoil experienced after the battle has been won and lost. Surprisingly, given Simpson is one of the masters of climbing literature, I couldn’t find much to enjoy in Part One. It’s over explained and repetitive. Too much description tends to get boring and I can’t help but imagine the mental pain Simpson was going through as he extracted this drawn out storm sequence out of himself. It should have been shorter. Part two, however, is Simpson back on track. More flowing, elegant in parts, fulfilling. The plot becomes more romantic, but retains enough depth to preserve a level of intrigue that hits you firmly in the chest at the story’s climax, between a rock and some bullet proof ice.
The Sound of Gravity was shortlisted for the 2011 Boardman Tasker Prize.
What the publisher says:
As her hand slips from his grip, Patrick’s life is shattered, forever changed…
Trapped high on a stormbound mountain face in the icy depths of winter, a stricken young man is forced to fight for his life. Many years later, haunted by grief and guilt, Patrick is freed from his self-imposed vigil when at last the mountain releases his heartrending secret.
The Sound of Gravity is a harrowing, dramatic and powerful tale of how a haunting split-second memory can change the course of a lifetime – a novel of love, loss and redemption.
