Customer Reviews

150 glorious years in 250 pages - By: S. J. Pardoe, 19 Jan 2007
This is a masterly compilation of the AC's 150-year history, told through the achievements of its illustrious members & others, particularlyin the two 'golden ages' of Alpine-style mountaineering. The first,in the mid 19th century, was epitomised by Whymper, Stephen, Mummery & others, who hired the best local Guides & make the best use of them, eventually climbing as unassisted Amateurs. Between the Wars, Shipton, Tilman & others explored the greater ranges, unsupported, for months on end. The second age has been since WWII, with landmark ascents of the 8,000 metre peaks, first Annapurna, then Everest & Kangchenjunga, the only one to be first climbed by Britons (Band himself, with Joe Brown). A new generation of British Alpinists such as Bonington, Boardman & Tasker, Fowler & Venables have continued the tradition, while finding new ways to expand the boundaries of the possible.

George Band's book is meticulously researched, beautifully illustrated, & well-written, by a man now well into his 70s. After being called up as the youngest member of John Hunt's 1953 team, he got to know & climb with many of the world's finest Alpinists, & his personal experience shines through the text. Inevitably, stirring stories have been edited for space - Herzog's Annapurna epic gets only one page - but the book achieves a good editorial balance, & is refreshingly free from jargon. Among many rarely-seen illustrations is a charming study of Huntin conversation with Geoffrey Winthrop Young.

There's the odd slip - Reinhold Messner is variously categorised as West German (p155) or Austrian (p192), whereas he was bornin the South Tyrol, part of Italy. Otherwise, the book delighted me, as I am sure it will thousands of 'armchair mountaineers', not to mention those whose names grace its pages.