Distant Mountains: Encounters with the World's Greatest Mountains - Hardcover

Cleare, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1900131420 ISBN 13: 9781900131421

Publisher: Duncan Baird Publishers, 1999

Synopsis

Shows and describes ten of the world's greatest mountain ranges, including the Himalayas, Alps, Pyrenees, Rockies, and Andes

About this title

Review

A collection of writings from 11 climbers with an abundance of experience in climbing in the toughest and highest mountain ranges in the world--each one of them is as skilled at putting in to words the spirit of the mountains as they are at scaling them.

Most continents are represented--the Pyrenees and Alps of Euorpe, the Canadian Rockies of North America, the Andes and Inca country of South America, not forgetting Patagonia, Africa and Asia, and of course Bonnie Scotland too!

The essays are intriguing as they portray not only the mountains, but also their character of their climbing companions, their hopes and fears and the mental and physical battles within themselves as each attempts to achieve their ambitions.

The essays are beautifully illustrated by one of the climbing world's most prestigious photographers, John Cleare, who has been climbing for more than 40 years. Cleare has travelled to six continents on various expeditions, no less than 20 of them in the mountains of the "roof of the world"--Nepal--as well as India, China and Pakistan. He was a member of the 1971 International Everest Expedition and he led the successful American ascent of China's Mustagh Ata in 1982. Cleare is also a successful broadcaster and this is his 16th major book on landscape subjects.

The photographs were all taken by Cleare on various expeditions and assignments over the years and they were rekindled from his files to put together this book.

For those of us whose greatest climbing ambition might be to scale Ben Nevis, Sca Fell and Snowdon, this is an interesting and enjoyable book which will stretch our horizons. For those who have set their ambitions on greater heights, there is a wealth of information. Excellent writing, sparkling photography and (to steal a quotation from Ruskin via Cleare):

"These threatening ranges of dark mountains ... are in reality sources of life and happinesss ... fuller and more beneficient than the bright fruitfulness of the plain".

The truth of this depends on what each person sees as they encounter the magnificence of mountains. Read this book and make your own judgement. --Ben Naylor

About the Author

John Cleare is a professional photographer who has been climbing for over forty years. His expeditions and assignments have taken him to sites on six continents, including the mountains of Nepal, India, Pakistan, and China. He was a member of the 1971 International Everest Expedition and in 1982 led the successful American ski ascent of Muztagh Ata in China. Cleare's television and film credits include The Climbers, which won the 1971 Trento Prize, and Clint Eastwood's The Eiger Sanction. The author of fifteen previously published books, Cleare lives in Wiltshire, England.

Discovery Books is part of Discovery Communications, Inc., which brings understanding to new levels through the highest-quality nonfiction television programming, publishing, and film production. Discovery Networks, a division of Discovery Communications, Inc., operates and manages Discovery Channel, TLC (The Learning Channel), Animal Planet, and Travel Channel.
About the Essayists

Mike Banks, MBE (b. 1922), has been on many climbs on every continent and in the Arctic. His books include Commando Climber (1955), High Arctic (1957), and Greenland (1975). He lives in Bath, England.

Sir Martin Conway (1856-1937) was the first to complete a traverse of the Alps, in 1894. An art
critic, writer, and explorer, he made pioneering climbs in the Himalayas, in the Andes, and in Tierra del Fuego. In 1881 he produced the first modern-style climbing guide, the Zermatt Pocket Book.

Nicholas Crane (b. 1954), the author of several travel books, won the Royal Scottish Geographical Society's Mungo Park medal in 1993. He lives in London, England.

Kurt Diemberger (b. 1932) is one of the most experienced climbers of the post-1945 period, best known for his Himalayan and Karakorum exploits (including Everest and K2).  His autobiography, Summits and Secrets (1971), has been hailed as a modern classic. He lives in Bologna, Italy.

David Harris (b. 1948), a climber for twenty-five years, is currently a coeditor of Ascent. He divides his time between Vancouver and Seattle.

W. H. Murray, OBE (1913-1996), inspired a whole generation of climbers with his evocative descriptions in his classic Mountaineering in Scotland (1947).

Jim Perrin (b. 1947), a noted broadcaster, was the first winner of the Boardman Taskter prize for mountain writing in 1985. He lives in Bangor, Wales.

Kev Reynolds (b. 1943) has been on nine Himalayan trekking expeditions and twenty-four treks in the Pyrenees. He has written more than
thirty books. He lives in Kent, England.

Steve Roper (b. 1941) is well known as a frequent climber in Yosemite and explorer of lesser-known regions of the American Southwest. He became one of the editors of the journal of Ascent in 1967, and his book Camp 4: Recollections of a Yosemite Climber won first prize for nonfiction at the 1994 Banff Festival of Books. He lives in Oakland, California.

H. W. Tilman (1898-1977) was famous as an explorer, mountaineer, sailor, and writer. He led the 1938 Everest attempt and in 1956 was the first to traverse the Patagonian southern ice cap. He has been hailed as the greatest explorer of the twentieth century.

Edition details

• Publisher: Duncan Baird Publishers
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1900131420
• ISBN 13: 9781900131421
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 176