Mountain Men: The Remarkable Climbers And Determined Eccentrics Who First Scaled The World's Most Famous Peaks

by Mick Conefrey, Tim Jordan

Imagine a world without IMAX or Gore-tex, before North Face, a world without mobile phones or high-altitude Internet links, super-light hiking boots and polyamide fleece. Imagine a time when the Alps were as remote as the Himalayas and the Himalayas as remote as the moon. Traversing a century of climbing that began with the Victorian enthusiasts and ended with the conquest of the great Himalayan peaks, Mick Conefrey and Tim Jordan take us back to that (not-so-distant) world to tell the stories of the extraordinary men who were the first to climb the world's best-known mountains -- the Matterhorn, McKinley, Everest, and K2. Their quests provide welcome historical context and very modern thrills for readers of adventure narratives. Accompanied by unique archival materials, detailed maps, and photographs, Mountain Men invites us to follow in the footsteps of these fearless explorers, and tells us the stories with all their romance and stupidity, bravado and suffering, courage and miscalculation, intact. Meet the Mountain Albert Smith was an impresario who climbed Mont Blanc with the help of 16 guides, 18 porters, and 90 bottles of spirits; his Piccadilly shows turned mountaineering from a folly into a sport. Edward Whymper, perhaps the greatest of the Victorian climbers, was the first to summit the Matterhorn, but not an hour later he lost four members of his party in a horrible accident that would shadow him for the rest of his life. The Duke of Abruzzi, heir to the Italian throne, reached the intimidating slopes of K2 in 1909 but concluded that no one could climb it in his lifetime -- he was right. Mount McKinley was claimed by not one but several climbers, including America's great explorer -- and, it turned out, fraudster -- Dr. Frederick Cook, who had his porters take pictures of him on a look-alike crevasse many miles away from the actual mountain. The eccentric Maurice Wilson, convinced that he enjoyed God's protection, decided to climb Everest alone -- just as soon as he taught himself to fly and got himself smuggled into Nepal. He got further than anyone could have dreamed, but his body was discovered frozen a hundred feet from a food cache left by an earlier party.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Climbing

296 pages, Paperback

Published March 27, 2003

About the author

Mick Conefrey is the author of the award-winning Adventurer’s Handbook and How to Climb Mont Blanc in a Skirt. An internationally recognised filmmaker, he has produced several BBC documentaries on mountaineering and exploration, including The Race for Everest. He lives in north Oxford with his family.

Reviews

[Katie.dorny · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well written book comprising of essays about the world’s first attempts of our tallest mountains - this was a riveting read.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was great. It's a series of small looks into famous climbers...but only if you really know the world of climbing. It didn't necessarily look at Hilary and Mt. Everest or other climbs that have become popular in the news.

But I enjoyed it. The stories went in a chronological order tracking well-known climbs throughout history. It started with Alfred Smith who first went into the Alps up into the K2 climbs of the 1950's. I feel like the author did a great job of trying to write the stories from several points of view. Which, let's take a moment to talk about that. I can't believe how much anger comes off the mountain. These people are up there fighting the weather and the mountain and let's be honest, near death all the time. And then they come down and they BICKER. And they do it publicly in magazines and lectures. I can't believe that they want to come down and play the blame game. It was utterly fascinating.

I do wish the book had had more pictures. I am not going out on these mountains so I don't know what these all look like. The book only had about three pages of pictures right in the middle and it was definitely not enough. To me, all the mountains just sounded treacherous. Beautiful, but treacherous. I think more pictures would have really helped me separate them out a little more.

However, this is a great intro of mountaineering. You learn so much about it without it being in your face. Also, it sounded very exciting, but I did not get the urge to do it. If I heard frostbite one more time....

[Ken Peters · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book of stories about a diverse collection of interesting characters, beginning with the earliest days of mountaineering. I've read many mountaineering books, but hadn't read much about the Alps where it all began, and I appreciated getting to know some of the pioneers of alpinism. As the title suggests, these stories are about the climbers more than the mountains -- and what an assortment of personalities it is! But the focus is most definitely on their adventures in the mountains. The book is thoroughly researched and engagingly written, as I didn't want to put it down at times. But I would've preferred that the authors included stories of a couple lesser-known Himalayan peaks rather than telling three stories about K2.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesomely addictive. A collection of essays about various expeditions up to the heights. And the greatest thing is that the majority of them turn out well. I was beginning to worry that I only liked disaster tales of mountain-climbing - this book proves that the success stories are even more riveting.

[Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fundamentally, this is a book about people, decisions, and proof which takes place around giant peaks. The title is quite accurate - the climbing descriptions are minimal, but the characters and events and aftermath are well done. Possibly interesting even to non-climbers.

[Darla Ebert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bland but filled with information. The "Heart" seems to be left out in that there could have been more in the way of anecdotes and stories about each mountaineer. I DID learn some things, so there's that.

[Siany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Luna and Brian bought this for me for my Birthday - can't wait to read it!!

** Really, really enjoyed this book :-)

[Rae · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's incredible to me that the early climbers of mountains were able to ascend high peaks without all the modern equipment we use today. This was a great read!