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The Beckoning SilenceThe Beckoning Silence by Joe Simpson
Buy new: £5.91 / Used from: £0.01
Simpson has developed immeasurably since 'Touching The Void' - read this as his own personal journey or an introduction to the Eiger's bloody history; either way, you'll be hooked from the first page
Summit Fever: An Armchair Climber's Initiation to Glencoe, Mortal Terror and the Himalayan MatterhornSummit Fever: An Armchair Climber's Initiation to Glencoe, Mortal Terror and the Himalayan Matterhorn by Andrew Greig
Buy new: £7.59 / Used from: £4.51
for armchair explorers and climbing fanatics alike - a genuine classic, at turns both innocently naive and brutally harsh, with the reality of an initiation into high altitude expeditions
Miracle In The AndesMiracle In The Andes by Nando Parrado
Buy new: £5.99 / Used from: £0.01
mountaineering tales usually focus on a struggle upwards or a retreat down - in a way this emcompasses both, but it's the passion for human survival that shines through even stronger
Into Thin Air: Personal Account of the Everest DisasterInto Thin Air: Personal Account of the Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer
Buy new: £5.36 / Used from: £0.01
essential reading
Alpine WaysAlpine Ways by F S Smythe
Buy used from: £1.74
In the author's words: 'In these pages I have tried through camera and pen to take those who like walking skiing and climbing among mountains back to a few of the well-remembered Alpine ways'
The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on EverestThe Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest by Anatoli Boukreev
Buy new: £5.39 / Used from: £0.01
More 'factual' than Into Thin Air (which I'd recommend above this for first timers), but if you're an Everest junkie, into the '96 tragedy, or high altitude mountaineering in general, this is for you.
Regions of the Heart: The Triumph and Tragedy of Alison HargreavesRegions of the Heart: The Triumph and Tragedy of Alison Hargreaves by David Rose
Buy used from: £0.01
despite all the explanations/justificatons/history it's still hard to know what made Hargreaves tick, only that the mountains were where she loved to be - a thouroghly absorbing read nonetheless
Postcards from the Ledge: The Collected Mountaineering Writings of Greg ChildPostcards from the Ledge: The Collected Mountaineering Writings of Greg Child by Greg Child
Buy new: £10.04 / Used from: £2.19
you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll wonder why (+ how!) the hell they do it ... Child covers all the bases in this collection of tall stories from his personal archives
Touching The Void [DVD] [2003]Touching The Void [DVD] [2003]
Buy used from: £6.18
I'll plump for the DVD as the narrative in Simpson's debut was not yet (IMHO) in the same league as those above - that said, a classic story that has inspired many (myself included) to delve deeper
The First Fifty: Munro-bagging Without a BeardThe First Fifty: Munro-bagging Without a Beard by Muriel Gray
Buy used from: £8.45