In Mountaineering in Scotland, climber and mountaineer W.H. Murray vividly describes some of the most sought-after and classic British climbs on rock and ice, including the Cuillin Ridge on Skye and Ben Nevis. The book - written in secret on toilet paper in whilst Murray was a prisoner of war - is infused with the sense of freedom and joy the author found in the mountains. He details the hardship and pleasure wrung from high camping in winter, climbs Clachaig Gully and makes the second winter ascent of Observatory Ridge. Murray recounts his adventures in Glencoe and the mountains beyond - including a terrifying near-death experience at the falls of Falloch. Murray's first book, Mountaineering in Scotland is widely acknowledged as a classic of mountaineering literature. It inspirational prose - as fresh now as when first published - is bound to make a reader reach for their tent and head for the hills of Scotland. He asserts, 'Seeming danger ensures that on mountains, more than elsewhere, life may be lived at the full.' This is classic mountain climbing literature at its best. War interrupted Murray's climbing: 'To me and everyone I knew at the time, mobilisation spelled the ruin of everything we most valued in life.' Joining the Highland Light Infantry, he served as a captain in the Western Desert before being captured. A quote from Mountain magazine from 1979 describes the moment after his capture: 'To my astonishment, he [the German tank commander] forced a wry smile and asked in English, 'Aren't you feeling the cold?' ... I replied 'cold as a mountain top'. He looked at me, and his eyes brightened. 'Do you mean - you climb mountains?' He was a mountaineer. We both relaxed. He stuffed his gun away. After a few quick words - the Alps, Scotland, rock and ice - he could not do enough for me.' It was during his time in prison camps that he wrote his first book, Mountaineering in Scotland, using the only paper available to him - toilet paper. The Gestapo discovered and destroyed his first draft but, undeterred, Murray simply started again. After the war Murray lived and worked as a writer in Argyll. Mountaineering in Scotland was published in 1947 and hailed as a masterpiece Four years later came a companion volume dealing with his post-war climbs - Undiscovered Scotland. In the post-war years Murray took a major part in several Himalayan expeditions, most noticeably as a member of Eric Shipton's 1951 Everest Reconnaissance Expedition which explored the lower part of the route later used by the successful 1953 expedition. Murray was awarded an OBE in 1966, to go with numerous other awards which included the Mungo Park Medal of the Royal Geographical Society and honorary doctorates from the universities of Stirling and Strathclyde.
Throughout 1949 and 1950 H.W. 'Bill' Tilman mounted pioneering expeditions to Nepal and its Himalayan mountains, taking advantage of some of the first access to the country for Western travellers in the 20th century. Tilman and his party-including a certain Tenzing Norgay-trekked into the Kathmandu Valley and on to the Langtang region, where the highs and lows began. They first explored the Ganesh Himal, before moving on to the Jugal Himal and the following season embarking on an ambitious trip to Annapurna and Everest. Manaslu was their first objective, but left to 'better men', and Annapurna IV very nearly climbed instead but for bad weather which dogged the whole expedition. Needless to say, Tilman was leading some very lightweight expeditions into some seriously heavyweight mountains. After the Annapurna adventure Tilman headed to Everest with-among others-Dr Charles Houston. Approaching from the delights of Namche Bazaar, the party made progress up the flanks of Pumori to gaze as best they could into the Western Cwm, and at the South Col and South-East Ridge approach to the summit of Everest. His observations were both optimistic and pessimistic: 'One cannot write off the south side as impossible until the approach from the head of the West Cwm to this remarkably airy col has been seen.' But then of the West Cwm: 'A trench overhung by these two tremendous walls might easily become a grave for any party which pitched its camp there.' Nepal Himalaya presents Tilman's favourite sketches, encounters with endless yetis, trouble with the porters, his obsessive relationship with alcohol and issues with the food. And so Tilman departs Nepal for the last time proper with these retiring words: 'If a man feels he is failing to achieve this stern standard he should perhaps withdraw from a field of such high endeavour as the Himalaya.' … (more) |
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