THERE’S HARDCORE, THEN THERE’S THESIGER HARDCORE. NOT THE CLIMBER THAT SHIPTON AND TILMAN WERE (SEE BELOW), BUT WHEN IT CAME TO GOING INTO PLACES THAT NO ONE ELSE WOULD, THESIGER DID SO WITHOUT COMPROMISE. WE GREW UP ON THIS STUFF.

THE MODERN STANDARD FOR ‘EPIC’, THIS BOOK SHOWS HOW MYTHS ARE MADE. THIS WAS AN INCREDIBLE CLIMB, WITH INCREDIBLE CLIMBERS ON A FUTURISTIC ASCENT. SCOTTS TELLING IS A LITTLE UNDERSTATED, BUT NOTHING IN ALL THIS NEEDS EMBELLISHMENT.

NO OTHER BOOK OF THIS QUALITY OF DOCUMENTATION OF 8000m ALPINISM EXISTS. WHITE LIMBO PROVIDES MORE INSIGHT INTO WHAT THESE SORT OF THINGS LOOKED LIKE THAN ALMOST EVERY OTHER CLIMBING BOOK COMBINED. REFRESHINGLY NO BULLSHIT, THIS BOOKS DETAILS WHAT A BUNCH OF GUYS COULD DO WHEN NO ONE TOLD THEM THEY COULDN’T.

THIS IS IT, THE ALPINIST MANIFESTO. DRENCHED IN MESSNERS ACERBIC AND ALLUDING PROSE, THIS IS CLASSICAL RHETORIC, UNCOMPROMISING AND MONOLITHIC, AND THE ARBITRATING REFERENCE FOR ANYONE NOT SURE WHAT ALPINISM IS. A BASIC CHROMOSOME OF CLIMBING.

THIS BOOK IS THE ONLY FIRST HAND DETAILS OF EXPEDITIONS TO K2 BEFORE WORLD WAR 1. SKIP THE PARTS ABOUT LIBERTINISM IF YOU LIKE, BUT CROWLEYS ACCOUNTS OF HIGH ALTITUDE EXPEDITION CLIMBING BEFORE IT WAS A THING ARE MARVELOUS, AND A VITAL PIECE OF THE HISTORY OF THE GAME.

IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THIS AND HAVEN’T BEEN TO XINJIANG THEN YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND THE SITUATION IN CHINESE TURKESTAN. DAVID BROPHY IS THE AUTHORITY ON MODERN UYGHER HISTORY, AND SHOWS HOW COMPLEX AND DIVERSE IT ALL IS, WITH NO OVERT POLITICAL AGENDA. IF YOU READ ONE POLITICAL BOOK CONCERNING CHINA, MAKE IT THIS

ONCE, GEAR CATALOGS WERE THE DISPOSABLE INTERFACE FOR VANGAURD IDEAS, AND THIS CATALOG WAS A TREATISE ON THE CUTTING EDGE OF THE DAY. A SEAMLESS BLEND OF GEAR SELLING, TRIP REPORTS, TABLES, GRAPHS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ALL IN GLORIOUS, BLED INK, FAT FONT BLACK & WHITE.

ANY SERIOUS ASCENT IN THE CHINESE HIMALAYA WILL HAVE REFERENCED NAKAMURA AT SOME POINT, AND THIS BOOK REFERENCES DECADES OF EXPLORATION AND THE SCHOLARLY MAPPING OF WHAT’S OUT THERE.

WENS BOOK COVERS THE TIBETAN AREA OF CENTRAL WEST SICHUAN AND SHOWS A VAST ARRAY OF PEAKS, USUALLY DOCUMENTED FROM A CLIMBERS PERSPECTIVE, INCLUDING THAT OF FEEDING THE RAT EXPEDITIONS ALEX TANG. WENS KNOWLEDGE OF THESE PEAKS IS ENCYCLOPEDIC AND THIS IS ESSENTIALLY HIS OWN BACKYARD.

THE BEST DESCRIPTION OF BEING ON EXPEDITION WE’VE EVER READ. THIS TALE TELLS IT IN A PLACE AND A TIME WHEN THIS LEVEL OF EXPEDITION WAS GENUINELY EXTREME. THIS IS GONZO STUFF, FILTERED UNAPOLOGETICALLY AND AN EXCELLENT REMINDER THAT NOT EVERYONE ON A TRIP IS FEELING THE SAME WAY.

THIS BOOK EPITOMIZES OUR POLITICAL STANCE; THAT CLIMBERS CAN BRIDGE IDEOLOGICAL DIVIDES WHERE WORLD LEADERS CANNOT. EXPERTLY RESEARCHED – THERE’S A LOT OF DEAD PEOPLE MENTIONED – THIS BOOK GUTS ANY IDEA THAT CLIMBING MUST COME FROM A PRIVILEGED OR SPONSORED BACKGROUND.

IT MAY JUST BE THAT ALPINISM FOUND ITS FULL EXPRESSION IN THIS GUY, THAT THESE EVENTS LEAD TO THIS SORT OF THINKING, WHERE ALPINISM IS NOT THE GOAL BUT A TOOL TO SOMETHING ELSE. JUST AS THE SEX PISTOLS SAID THEY WEREN’T “INTO MUSIC, WE ARE INTO CHAOS”, KURTYKAS STORY FRAMES CLIMBING IN WAYS THAT KEEP IT FROM THE MUNDANE.

NO ONE TELLS IT LIKE TILMAN. NO ONE. WHERE SHIPTON WAS THE SPIRIT OF ALPINISM, TILMAN WAS THE GUTS, ABSOLUTELY FEARLESS, OPEN MINDED, CURIOUS AND BIG HEARTED, TILMAN LACKS ANY OF THE WEAKNESSES THAT KEPT SO MANY CLIMBERS FROM THEIR FULL POTENTIAL. THIS WAS A GUY WHO FELT PRISON TIME IN AFGHANISTAN WAS ALL PART OF THE LAUGH OF CLIMBING.

WHERE TILMAN WAS ADVENTURE, SHIPTON WAS ALL ABOUT THE CLIMBING, TO THE DEGREE THAT TILMAN DEFERRED TO ALMOST NO ONE, EXCEPT HIS EQUAL AND PARTNER SHIPTON. SHIPTON HAS SAGE-LIKE QUALITIES, UNCONCERNED WITH THE MOTIVATIONS OF EMPIRE. THAT HE WAS HAPPILY BOOTED FROM THE (SUCCESSFUL) EVEREST TRIP BECAUSE HE KNEW IT COULD BE DONE IN BETTER FORM, PIERCES RIGHT TO THE HEART OF MODERN MOUNTAINEERING.

THIS IS THE MANUAL. WHATEVER YOU THINK OF MARK TWIGHT, HIS ESCAPADES SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES, AND WE CONSIDER HIM THE LAST BASTION OF DIY CLIMBING BEFORE IT WENT MAINSTREAM. THIS BOOK NAMES NAMES, POINTS FINGERS, GIVES FINGERS, EXPOSES TRUTHS AND BACKS IT ALL UP WITH PHOTOS NOT STERILE DIAGRAMS. ITS DATEDNESS IS HALF ITS CHARM.

BEFORE THERE WERE BEATNIKS THERE WERE SIMPLY PEOPLE WHO DIDN’T FIT IN. SOME OF THOSE PEOPLE CLIMBED MOUNTAINS, IN THIS CASE UNCONCERNED WITH THE STUFF OF HERZOG AND HILLARY OF THE DAY, BEING MORE INTO THE ZEN AND DAOIST SAGES LIKE HAN SHAN AND LI PO. THESE GUYS WERE SMOKING JAZZ CIGARETTES AND HOWLING AT THE MOON ON MOUNTAINS, NOT GREAT MOUNTAINS AS WE KNOW THEM, BUT MOUNTAINS AS PLACES THAT WERE OUTSIDE THE NORMAL WORLD.

WE HATE TRAVEL GUIDES. EXCEPT THIS ONE (AND ASIA OVERLAND WHICH DOESN’T REALLY COUNT). THIS BOOK IS THE ONLY ONE WE KNOW THAT TRULY COVERS THE TIBETAN HOMELAND, AND IS A WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE ON BEING THERE. THIS BOOK DISMISSES POINTLESS DETAILS LIKE WHERE TO GET WESTERN BEER, AND DEVOTES ITSELF TO INTEGRAL DETAILS LIKE HOW TIBET WORKS.

FASHION DESIGNER AND NAVAL COMMANDO, ERIC NEWBY WAS THE SORT WHO LOOKED AT THE MOST DIFFICULT PARTS OF THE WORLD AND JAUNTED OFF THERE WITH A MIX OF STYLE AND GRIT. TAKING A TAXI THERE FROM LONDON DURING ONE OF IRANS MANY CRISES, TO CLIMB A 7000m PEAK, IS EITHER THE WORK OF A FOOL OR OF A GENIUS, NEWBY OF COURSE BEING THE LATTER.

WE TAKE OURSELVES TOO SERIOUSLY, FORGETTING THAT CLIMBING ITSELF CAN BE SATIRE. THE BEST CLIMBING GOES HAND IN HAND WITH THE ABSURD, THE HILARIOUS, THE IRONIC AND THE WHIMSICAL, AND THE ASCENT OF RUM DOODLE IS BEST KEPT ON HAND AS THE ANTIDOTE TO SERIOUSNESS. WE CONSIDERED RUM DOODLE EXPEDITIONS AS THE NAME OF THIS COMPANY, ONLY A COIN FLIP DECIDED.