Thanks myles . Tom Patey - the climbing doctor from Ullapool. The Tibetans say that you die for the third and last time when finally no-one speaks your name. Tom Patey is one of my heroes.

I will third Tom Patey's book! That is great and has been reissued in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0898865425/qid%3D1125156700/104-8935996-0938351">paperback</a>.

And I will add a compatriot of Patey, Bill Murray's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1898573247/qid%3D1125156935/104-8935996-0938351">Evidence of Things Not Seen</a>. Another really great book. It is an evocative Murray quote that open's Hornbein's <i>Everest West Ridge</i>.

Patay has a poem in his book about Murray, "Ballad of Bill Murray", in part:
<i>
In that Tournament on Ice, Death or Glory was the price
For those nights in shining armour long ago --
You must forage for yourself on that ghastly Garicks Shelf
With every handhold buried deep in snow.
Murray did his Devil's Dance on each microscopic stance
Recording his impressions of the view,
There was green ice in the chimneys and black ice at the crux
And not a single piton or a screw--
</i>

Not many climbers who can produce stuff like that (except HandJam).

Although most (all?) of these have been mentioned:

Touching the Void - Simpson
High Odyssey - Rose
The Climb- Boukreev (I wouldn't say that it's what really happened, but another viewpoint)
Minus 148 - Davidson (First winter ascent of Denali)
In the Shadow of Denali - Waterman
About anything by Greg Child
The Burgess Book of Lies -
Moutain of my Fear - Roberts
Most Hostile Mountain - Waterman
Endurance

That's all I can think of without walking upstairs to the bookshelves.

The ascent of Everest - John Hunt (I was bequeathed an original hardcover first edition of this by a friend of my mum's. Needless to say it's one of my most treasured posessions.)

The Next Horizon - Chris Bonnington - has great black & white photos of my old heroes - Tom Patey, Joe Brown,, Dougal Haston, Layton Kor, John Harlin, Don Whillans Hamish McInnes....

'Sheer Will' by Michael Groom is good. He lost the front half of both feet from frostbite while climbing Kanchenjanga, was told he would never walk again. He then went on to summit the six highest mountains in the world without the extra O's.

He was also a guide on Rob Halls 1996 Everest expedition and provides in detail his perspective of those events. It is very interesting to get his point of view and compare it to Krakauer's and Boukreev's.

Has anyone else read this book?

"High and Wild" by Galen Rowell. The story about his first ascent of the S Face of Bear Creek Spire is classic!
I second "Karakoram" by Fosco Maraiani.
"Norman Clyde of the Sierra Nevada" is hard to find and expensive, but is a must read for anyone who climbs in the Sierra.

If you like history and to be left wondering how those guys did what they did with the gear that they had:
"The Hard Years" by Joe Brown and also Don Whillans' book (can't remember the name).
"Mountains of my Life" by Walter Bonatti
The White Spider" By Heinrich Harrer
"Vertical World Of Yosemite" is a good view of the early days of Yosemite big walls, but should probably be followed by Warren Harding's "Downward Bound" for a bit of Irreverance.
Another cool read is old Sierra Club Bulletins. I have one from june 1934 that is a small book with articles/stories by many of the early sierra rockclimbers about first ascents, Mountaineering Notes detailing early and first ascents throughout the sierra and an account of one of the huge Outings (what a bizarre way to go into the mountains, but it was a different time, a diiferent ethic).

Brian, Whillians' book is titled <i>Portrait of a Mountaineer</i>.

There is a brand new biography of Whillians by Jim Perrin, titled <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0091794382/qid=1125464784/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_10_1/202-5665264-0075834">The Villian</a>. Its publishing was delayed for several years over some legal wrangling. I am finishing up Harry Potter now, and think I'll crack that next. (It's also just released in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0898869862/104-8935996-0938351">paperback</a>).

Awesome thread... I got so psyched reading it, just bought Chouinard's "Climbing Ice", Farquhar's "History of the Sierra Nevada", Galen Rowell's "Many People Come, Looking, Looking" and Styrsa's "Climbing in the Caucasus". All first (and sometimes only) editions! Will let you know what I think when they arrive.

Rowell's High & Wild is also one of my favorite mountaineering books.

Has anyone read the following?

On the ridge between life and death: A climbing life reexamined by David Robert.

I have it on reserve at the library but haven't read it yet -it sounds interesting though. Check out the reviews on Amazon for more details.

Yes, great thread. Lots of excellent books and authors mentioned.

A book I read in preparation for a trip I took this summer was Storm & Sorrow in the High Pamirs by Robert W. Craig.

Blew me away. You have to take it in the context of the mid-seventies, but the way Craig weaves the vinyettes of outrageous pain and suffering during a few weeks is quite remarkable. Worth the read for sure and excellent maps and pictures if you are considering a trip to Pik Lenin and environs.

'The Villain' is a great book on the british scene in Whillans' day, and to read about some of his ascents on areas i know in Wales makes me shudder - hobnail boots, ropes round the waist and minimal protection...a great read, even if it explores the general scene in more detail than Whillans actual personality - maybe in effort to keep to the facts rather than boost the legend?
Reccomended.

Jim Perrin is one of the great writers on climbing, 'on and off the rocks' is a great read, a collection of essays on the scene of years ago.

I second Desert Solitare by Edward Abbey, I've read it 3 or 4 times and never tire of it. I also like "The Man Who Walked Through Time".

I just borrowed a copy of Anatoli Boukreev's The Climb...has anyone read this yet? What are your thoughts in comparison to Krakauer's account?

Just finished The Villian, by Jim Perrin, mentioned above, the biography of famous British climber Don Whillans. Highly recommended.

Whillans was famous for, among other things, his one-liners. Here is one. Tragically towards the end of his like he started drinking heavily and gained a lot of weight. A friend of his, concerend for his health, asked Don why he drank so much. The reply: "I have a morbid fear of dehydration".