Product Description

Stephen Venables is one of the greatest British climbers of his generation and he has now written a full autobiography, which explores how and - more importantly - why he became a mountaineer, and reveals a series of never-recorded adventures on four continents. At its climax, he revisits his dramatic success without oxygen on the Kangshung Face of Everest, described by Reinhold Messner as the most adventurous in Everest's history and by Lord Hunt as 'one of the most remarkable ordeals from which men or women have returned alive'. As Venables writes: 'Although we didn't go seeking deliberately an epic near-death experience, it did turn out that way - the ultimate endurance test for which all the previous adventures seemed, retrospectively, to be a preparation.'

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #202885 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 370 pages

Sunday Telegraph, Books of the Year
There can be no dispute about the magnitude of his achievement. Venables is superb on the terror and exhilaration of climbing ... [but] honest enough to face up to the selfishness that mountaineering requires and the strain it puts on relationships.

Guardian
If you've never climbed, Higher than the Eagle Soars can still be read for its old-fashioned, self-effacing humour, as the story of a cultured man determined to place himself inside a tradition he loves. Or you can read it for the thrills and spills.

Sunday Times
The story of his descent after a night spent near the top is ... both harrowing and deeply moving.

Customer Reviews

Everest - the Venables Way - and so much more.
The positive reviews on the dustjacket about a previous book (see them on this Amazon site) indicate his stature as a writer. Although a slow reader, I have read this fine new book of 352 pages in under two days: at every opportunity - constantly delighted with the clarity and enthusiasm of his writing. Venables presents a range of activities, not just climbing; his life and the book are all the richer. Climbers, armchair and outdoor, as well as non-climbers, should find much of interest. His modesty is welcome; mistakes and doubts increase adventure - and suspense. The many successes are not inevitable. His playground widens rapidly from England to the Alps, then Asia and South America. Everest starts at page 274, with a detailed and lively narrative, good to read even when you already know his 1989 expedition book.

Fantastic read
Stephen Venables was born too late to have the chance of being in the `Golden Generation' of British climbers such as Brown, Bonnington, Whillans, Scot and Haston, but deserves his place in the pinnacle of British climbing talent. His story follows the general blueprint of climbing autobiographies, the author finds himself in love with rock and wants to test himself, at first in the Alps, and later the Greater Ranges. Venables specialised in first ascents of mountains generally between 7000 and 8000m and tended to shy away from the most popular ranges for much of his career, instead focusing many climbs in the Hindu Kush of Afghanistan and India.

The book follows his fascinating journey, and the narrative is exciting and downright fun, a perfect balance between life and climbing, touching on the age-old problems of finding employment which was convenient enough to allow him to climb, and funding expeditions. The books climax takes place on the committing Kangshung Face on Everest. One of the last unclimbed routes on the world's tallest mountain, Venables reaches the summit alone and late in the day, forcing him into an open bivouac in the Death Zone, one of the highest ever survived.

Venables writing style is perfect for this style of book. He never makes himself out to be a superhuman climber who has conquered danger in the world's high mountains, and you know instantly he is doing it for the love of the very actions of climbing, and the freeness of the mountain environment. Towards the end he makes a poignant reference to his son Ollie, the only known child in the UK to be diagnosed with both autism and leukemia, saying that he is a not a hero for conquering the mountains he climbs, but Ollie is the hero for his quiet suffering.

Venables has written many books which cover his trips in more detail, such as Painted Mountains and Alone at the Summit, all of which are very much worth reading. However for a record his life and career, as well as an insight into the man who's humility has endeared him to me completely, this is a must read.

What next?
I believe that as a climber, a mountaineer, and an author Stephen Venables excels in all these activities, as demonstrated by his lifetime of risky but rich adventures, and by recognition via various literature short lists and as Grand Prize Banff Mountain Festival and Boardman-Tasker Award winner - though my only `personal' contact is being in the audience for one of his lectures on the Kangshung Face of Mount Everest where he came across as a `natural' raconteur. Also I have some understanding from reading other earlier books, but prior knowledge of his epics and exploits is not necessary to appreciate `Higher Than The Eagle Soars' - an autobiography published in 2007 embracing Stephen Venables' life up to him being the first Briton to succeed on Everest without oxygen in 1988, from initial introduction to rock-climbing and mountaineering on numerous trips within Britain, the Alps, the Himalaya and South America - some not previously appearing in print. No universal answer is possible on `why we climb?' yet the author thoughtfully presents his personal views, and he describes dramatically how he experiences excitement and exhilaration with control and fear intertwined. Avoiding either overt exaggeration or covert self-deprecation Stephen Venables tells a tremendous tale, and he does so with much humour. This is a `warts and all' autobiography that underlines Stephen Venables' skills and courage - but with large doses of luck, but also it exposes his obsessive and selfish nature with solo distractions from team objectives. The sub-title of `Higher Than The Eagle Soars' is `A Path To Everest' and triumph on the Kangshung Face is portrayed as the ultimate endurance test for which all previous adventures seemed to be preparation. I am aware of further expeditions in the Himalaya, South and North America, Antarctica etc - (example: `A Slender Thread' published in 2001), but after the momentous Kangshung Face achievement `Higher Than The Eagle Soars' says nothing apart from reference to a short outing in Wales as a `Postscript'. What a pity - or will there be a sequel covering later years? I'm holding back a `star' in anticipation - hence 4-star rating.