ELUSIVE SUMMITS BY VIC SAUNDERS. BOOK REVIEW

TO OUR MIND THIS IS THE BEST OF CONTEMPORARY CLIMBING WRITING FOR CLIMBERS. WE ADMIT THE PUBLICATION DATE OF 1990 IS STRETCHING THE MEANING OF CONTEMPORARY SOMEWHAT, SO ANOTHER WAY TO SAY IT WOULD BE ‘POST-BONINGTON’, ie ANYTHING WRITTEN BY BRITISH CLIMBERS AFTER THE ERA OF LARGE, 8000m OBSESSED, HEADLINING EXPEDITIONS.

THE DOWN SIDE, AND WE WILL GET THIS OUT OF THE WAY NOW, IS THAT THIS BOOK AND VIC SAUNDERS WRITING SET THE STYLISTIC TONE THAT HAS PLAGUED MUCH OF BRITISH CLIMBING WRITING SINCE. THE REPETITIVE DRAMA OF SUFFERING, NARROWLY AVERTED CATASTROPHE AND INSINCERE UNDERSTATEMENT – THOUGH CHARMING IN THIS BOOK – FAST BECAME FORMAT IN THE HANDS OF ALL THE AVERAGE WRITERS THAT CAME AFTER, A SORT OF ANTIDOTE TO BONINGTON-ERA STUFF THAT READS WITH A SANDHURST ACCENT.

SAUNDERS WRITES, WELL, NOT BECAUSE HE IS A GOOD WRITER – HE ISN’T – BUT BECAUSE HIS PROSE IS INFECTIOUSLY AUTHENTIC, ECLECTIC, DETAILED AND SMART. HIS LATER BOOKS LOSE MUCH OF THIS, PERHAPS THE RESULT OF HAVING TO TAKE HIMSELF MORE SERIOUSLY, BUT ELUSIVE SUMMITS READS AS FRESHLY NOW AS IT DID THREE DECADES AGO. REMINESCANT OF JOYCE (MAKE OF THAT WHAT YOU WILL), SAUNDERS HERE IS HAPHAZARD SENTENCE BY SENTENCE, BUT MAKES FANTASTIC SENSE AT THE LARGER SCALE OF PAGE BY PAGE AND CHAPTER BY CHAPTER. ALL OVER THE PLACE, VERY HIT OR MISS AND AT TIMES ANNOYINGLY FORMAT-DRIVEN, THIS IS ACTUALLY A GREAT WAY TO TELL TALES THAT ARE COMPLEX, MULTI-FACETED AND PACKED WITH SERIOUS CLIMBING EXPLOITS.

THE RESULT IS A BOOK ABOUT CLIMBING BY A CLIMBER, SHOWING THE CLIMBERS MIND AT WORK, AND WE THINK THIS IS THE BEST VERSION OF THAT. SAUNDERS IS INTELLIGENT, INSIGHTFUL, AWARE AND FUNNY AND A MISFIT, AND ALL THIS COMES ACROSS, AS A RELENTLESS STREAM OF NARRATIVE THAT HAS A LOT IN COMMON WITH THE GONZO OF HUNTER S THOMPSON WHERE HE IS THE IMPERFECT PLAYER.

SAUNDERS IS A MIND WELL ADAPTED TO DETAIL, AND HE ELUCIDATES MUCH ABOUT THE CONTEXT OF THE CLIMBING BEYOND THE CLIMBING ITSELF. HE PRESENTS DECENT STUFF ABOUT THE LOCATIONS, HISTORIES AND ETHNOGRAPHY OF WHERE THESE ASCENTS TAKE PLACE, WITHOUT GETTING DROWNED IN HISTORY, MAKING A SEAMLESS LANDSCAPE THAT ACTUALLY EXISTS AS ANYONE WHO HAS BEEN TO THESE PLACES KNOWS.

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THE CONTENT OF THE BOOK IS A SERIES OF ASCENTS THAT DIDN’T – OR NEARLY DIDN’T – SUMMIT AS THE TITLE ALUDES TO, THOUGH THE TITLE OF ONE OF HIS LATER BOOKS – STRUCTURED CHAOS – WOULD SERVE HERE JUST AS WELL. THOUGH MAYBE FALLING SHORT IN THE EYES OF A PUBLIC WHO WANT THE SHALLOW STORY ARC OF BOOKS ABOUT ‘CONQUERING’ MOUNTAINS, IT IS REFRESHING TO READ STUFF WHERE THAT TROPE DOESN’T MATTER. MORE REFRESHING STILL IS SAUNDERS AMBIVALENCE ABOUT SUMMITING, STATING CLEARLY AT TIMES THAT HE DOESN’T CARE, AND NEVER ONCE BEMOANING THIS AS FAILURE.

FREED OF THIS DEVICE ADDS TO THE BOOKS CHARM AS IT SCUTTLES THE DULL NARRATIVE THAT GOES WITH THE PUNCTUATION OF A SUMMIT, AND ALLOWS SAUNDERS TO TELL BETTER STORIES ALONG MORE INTERESTING TIMELINES AND WITHOUT THE TIRED OLD EMOTIONAL ARC. IN ONE CHAPTER THEY TURN AROUND DUE TO A DROPPED PACK AND THE INCIDENT ITSELF COMES AND GOES WITHOUT MUCH EMBELLISHMENT, AS SIMPLY AN EVENT AMONG MANY THAT HAS BOTH PROS AND CONS.

THE CAST OF CHARACTERS ACROSS THE VARIOUS EXPEDITIONS NARRATED MAKES FOR A WHO’S WHO OF THAT GENERATION OF BRITISH CLIMBERS, PERHAPS THE LAST TO IDENTIFY AS A COLLECTIVE GENERATION AT ALL. IN THE HANDS OF A LESSER AUTHOR THIS WOULD BECOME A SERIES OF PORTRAITS OF POP STARS BUT SAUNDERS NEVER LETS THEM DETRACT FROM THE ASCENTS THEMSELVES, WITH LUMINARIES LIKE STEPHEN VENABLES AND MICK FOWLER BEING SIMPLY OTHER NAMES IN THE MIX.

SAUNDERS APPLIES THIS JUST AS WELL TO HIMSELF IN THESE TALES, NEVER MAKING HIMSELF AS THE CENTER OF ATTENTION AND STOPPING SHORT TOO OF THAT MOST NAUSEATING OF ENGLISH HABITS OF SUGARY SELF DEPRECIATION. HIS DESCRIPTIONS OF INTERACTIONS AND CONVERSATIONS ARE SPOTTY, LUCID, DETACHED AND MATTER-OF-FACT, AND SAVE THE TELLING FROM DEVOLVING INTO HUMAN DRAMA BY NEVER OVER RIDING THE CLIMBING. WHETHER THINGS WERE ACTUALLY LIKE THIS IS HARD TO TELL, BUT MAYBE THEY WERE, AMONG GUYS SO STRUNG OUT ON SERIOUS ASCENTS THAT COMMUNICATION WAS AS RAW AS THE CLIMBING.

THE SPANTIK CHAPTER

FOR ALL THE CHAOS OF THE FORST CHAPTERS, THE CHAPTER ON THE ASCENT OF SPANTIKS GOLDER PILLAR MUST RANK AS ONE OF THE GREAT PIECES OF MOUNTAIN WRITING, BEING A SINGULAIRTY IN STORY TELLING. AT ONCE IT IS A FLY ON THE WALL INSIGHT INTO TOP SHELF ALPINISM, A PERSONAL TALE, A DESCRIPTION OF MICK FOWLER AT HIS FINEST, AND SECTION OF WRITING WHERE CHAOS AND CLARITY RUN SIDE BY SIDE.

ACTUAL, COMPELLING WRITING, WITH NONE OF THE CLICHES OR ARCS THIS SORT OF THING USUALLY MEANS SUFFERING, AND WHERE SAUNDERS HIMSELF SUSPENDS HIS MORE TIRED STYLE OF WRITING TO PUNCH OUT HIS BEST WORK. THE CLIMBING IS ASTOUNDING AND NICELY NOT UNDERSTATED IN USUAL BRIT FASHION, YET NONE OF THE RIGOR IS TURNED INTO ‘EPIC’ DRAMA, INSTEAD BEING SIMPLY MATURE ALPINISM. IF SAUNDERS WROTE NOTHING ELSE THIS WOULD LIKELY CEMENT HIM HAS A FLASH OF BRILLIANCE IN AN OTHERWISE TEDIOUS GENRE, JUST AS THE ASCENT ITSELF IS A CONTEMPORARY HIGH POINT OF VANGUARD ALPINISM

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WHAT IS THERE TO LEARN?

WE ALL AGREE THIS IS ABOUT THE BEST PORTRAYAL OF ‘REAL’ KARAKORUM CLIMBING THERE IS, BEING RICH IN DETAILS AND THE ATMOSPHERE OF THAT PART OF THE WORLD. THIS BOOK GIVES LITTLE TO THE NON-CLIMBER, AND READERS WANTING TOUCHING THE VOID-STYLE MELODRAMA OR FREEDOM CLIMBERS-ESQUE MODERN HISTORY WON’T GET IT, BUT ANYONE WHO CLIMBS WILL GET THEIR FILL OF AUTHENTIC DETAIL AND STUFF THAT BOTH RINGS TRUE AND SENDS THEIR BLOOD COLD.

AT ONCE A TIME CAPSULE OF LATE 20th CENTURY EXPEDITION CLIMBING AND A GONZO DESCRIPTION OF THE TRIBULATIONS OF REMOTE AND OBSCURE ALPINISM, THIS IS A FLY ON THE WALL PERSPECTIVE OF HOW THE GEARS OF EXPEDITIONS REALLY GRIND. SAUNDERS SHOWS HOW THINGS LIKE THE FOOD AND FUEL EQUATION REALLY WORK, THE EFFECTS ON THE MIND AND BODY OF HARD DAYS AT HIGH ALTITUDE, THE WAY DECISIONS GET MADE AND HOW TEAMS WORK, AND BIG PICTURE THAT EXPEDITIONS TAKE PLACE WITHIN THAT INCLUDES LIFE BACK HOME, LOCAL AUTHORITIES, PUTTING GROUPS TOGETHER AND DECIDING ON OBJECTIVES AND ROUTES.

SAUNDERS DUMBS NONE OF THIS DOWN FOR THE NON-CLIMBER, A RARE CHANGE WHEN MOST ‘CLIMBING’ BOOKS ONLY LEAVE ACTUAL CLIMBERS WITH MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS, AND HE MAKES NO EFFORT TO SMOOTH THIS ALL STYLISHLY, UNLESS YOU COUNT ‘THROW IT ALL IN’ AS A STYLE.

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THIS IS ONE OF THE VERY FEW CLIMBING BOOKS WE CAME AWAY FROM SATISFIED, NOT FEELING WE HAD BEEN GIVEN JUST HALF THE TALE BECAUSE THE GOOD STUFF WAS LEFT OUT IN FEAR OF BORING A GENERAL AUDIENCE. WE CAME AWAY HAVING LEARNED MORE, INCLUDING STUFF THAT INFORMS OUR OWN CLIMBING, BY BEING GIVEN THE STRAIGHT DOPE DESPITE HOW DESPERATE, INTENSE AND VISIONARY IT COMES ACROSS.