Mountain Conquest

by Eric Shipton

A well-illustrated history of mountaineering, with many drawings and photos of early expeditions to climb the world's peaks. A lot of more modern mountaineering lore is included. --- In pictorial paper-covered boards.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Adventure, Mountaineering, Memoir, Climbing

Hardcover

First published October 1, 1943

About the author

Eric Earle Shipton, CBE (1 August 1907 – 28 March 1977), was an English Himalayan mountaineer.
Shipton was born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1907 where his father, a tea planter, died before he was three years old. When he was eight, his mother brought him to London for his education. When he failed the entrance exam to Harrow School, his mother sent him to Pyt House School in Wiltshire. His first encounter with mountains was at 15 when he visited the Pyrenees with his family. The next summer he spent travelling in Norway with a school friend and within a year he had begun climbing seriously.

Shipton, Eric. Nanda Devi. Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1936.
Shipton, Eric. Blank on the map. Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1938.
Shipton, Eric. Upon That Mountain. Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1943.
Shipton, Eric. The Mount Everest Reconnaissance Expedition 1951. Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1952.
Shipton, Eric. Mountains of Tartary. Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1953.
Shipton, Eric. Land of Tempest. Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1963.
Shipton, Eric. That Untravelled World. Charles Scribner and Sons, 1969. ISBN 0-340-04330-X (Hodder & Stoughton (1969))
Shipton, Eric. Tierra del Fuego: the Fatal Lodestone. Charles Knight & Co., London, 1973 ISBN 0-85314-194-0
Shipton, Eric. The Six Mountain-Travel Books. Mountaineers' Books, 1997. ISBN 0-89886-539-5 (A collection of the first six books listed – That Untravelled World duplicated much of the previous content.)

Reviews

[Kai · Rating 3 out of 5]

He is lucky who, in the full tide of life, has experienced a measure of the active environment that he most desires. In these days of upheaval and violent change, when the most basic values of to-day are the vain and shattered dreams of tomorrow, there is much to be said for a philosophy which aims at living a full life while the opportunity offers. There are few treasures of more lasting worth than the experience of a way of life that is in itself wholly satisfying. Such, after all, are the only possessions of which no fate, no cosmic catastrophe can deprive us; nothing can alter the fact if for one moment in eternity we have really lived.

[Karenbike Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short, very readable book about the early mountaineers who climbed the highest peaks starting with Mount Blanc in Europe in the mid 1800s. It is not surprising that so few people attempted these mountains since there were a lot of superstitions and mysteries about the mountains and the surrounding areas.
Nevertheless these early men attempted the climbs without ropes, clampons, light weight clothing, and oxygen. They made multiple attempts on all the mountains and, after the mountains had been mapped, the competition was on.
Not only was foul weather and limited seasons a big problem but difficult climbing about 25,000 feet was extremely dangerous. All the early deaths were recorded. The skill and tenacity was richly detailed by Shipton who was an early explorer/climber.

[Clara Mazzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Erich Shipton (Ceylon, 1907 – Salisbury, 1977) è stato un personaggio particolare. Causa una dislessia non diagnosticata, conobbe un percorso scolastico estremamente faticoso (per non dire umiliante) che forse influì sul suo grande amore per la Natura e per la scoperta – ambiti per cui le discipline scolastiche di lettura e scrittura non erano primarie. Dopo aver fallito quindi un percorso universitario perché non riuscì a passare i test d’ingresso, si trasferì in Kenya dove si cimentò nelle piantagioni di caffè. Affascinato dal Mount Kenya e dal Ruwenzori, intraprese con un compagno di avventure delle scalate su queste due montagne, imprese che gli valsero l’invito per la partecipazione alla spedizione all’Everest del 1931 che fallì ma che spinse gli Inglesi a ritentare per tutto il decennio con altre tre successive spedizioni: nel 1933, nel 1936 e nel 1938 cui Shipton prese sempre parte. Ma non solo: esplorò il Nanda Devi e si avvicinò di molto al K2 ed inoltre, avventuriero indomito, ricevette anche degli incarichi di esploratore per mappare nuove zone ancora sconosciute dell’Himalaya. Durante la seconda guerra mondiale venne nominato console generale britannico a Kashgar per poi culminare la sua carriera diplomatica con la carica di console generale a Kuming, in Cina. Nel 1951 tornò sull’Everest e negli anni Sessanta andò in Patagonia e in Terra del Fuoco. Morì di tumore al rientro da un viaggio in Buthan. Questo libro, scevro da dettagli biografici che non siano strettamente necessari allo spiegare alcune sue scelte di vita, è un testo importante non tanto per le avventure raccolte (narrate più per evidenziare la bellezza dell’avventura pura e della scoperta che per la suspence che può generare tale sorta di impresa) quanto perché a partire dalle sue esperienze Shipton comincia a stilare una sorta di manualetto sull’organizzazione delle spedizioni: se fino ad allora, cioè fino agli anni Trenta, le spedizioni venivano concepite in grande stile e cioè composte di tanti membri che dovevano trasportare tanto materiale di comfort, dal cibo ad altre comodità da campo forse perché chi le organizzava non solo aveva la disponibilità economica ma era anche abituato ad un certo stile di vita, ecco che Shipton (che agli inizi della sua carriera non aveva un centesimo ma era determinato a far sì che la questione economica non fungesse da deterrente alla sua passione) intravede in tutta questa opulenza un grande limite per il successo dell’impresa e comincia a progettare delle spedizioni “slim” (come si preferiscono oggi, come le preferiva Messner, che lo cita) e ne elenca gli innegabili vantaggi: risparmio economico, snellezza ed agilità negli spostamenti, meno peso da portare, più possibilità di integrazione e valorizzazione dei vari membri, fattori che Shiptono considera determinanti al successo di un’impresa. Poi passa a considerare come un “problema” in alpinismo finché resta tale è arduo, ma una volta risolto fa sì che le ripetizioni di quella via diventino sempre più facili (e fa il paragone col Cervino che fino a quando non fu scalato, rimase una fonte di tentativi falliti, ma una volta “risolto” divenne un’ascesa da compiere in giornata); infine passa in rassegna punti specifici di una spedizione, in primis l’armonia del gruppo: ben lungi dall’essere ambienti idilliaci, facilmente questi gruppi diventano un crogiuolo di angherie ed invece questo va lavorato affinché non accada perché ne va a scapito del successo dell’impresa (e lui indica i punti da considerare e osservare per riuscire in questo intento). Insomma, questo scritto di Shipton ha un valore di “istruzioni per l’uso” storico. Indubbiamente alcuni aspetti delle spedizioni ora non sussistono più (per esempio come il problema del cibo in lattina, pesante e cattivo oggi sostituito da quello liofilizzato, più buono ma soprattutto più leggero) ma alcuni “fondamentali” invece hanno ancora pieno valore oggi. Un uomo strano, poco empatico o almeno poco incline all’introspezione (ma credo che questo sia per educazione e per inclinazione), forse un po’ un “weirdo” nella sua passione per la scoperta ma indubbiamente una persona che ha contribuito tanto all’alpinismo, alla geografia e a suo modo, ad una filosofia positiva e vigorosa vis à vis della vita da cui si trae una lezione valida, utile e sempre attuale.

[Peter Chynoweth · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Moderate Overview

The book feels like a summary of what could be a much longer and more detailed book. One of the attractions of mountaineering books is the description (sometimes in an understated way) of heroic and courageous feats of climbing, navigation and survival.
This book hints at them, as it narrates the so-called "golden age" of big mountain mountaineering. But there isn't enough detail. I was hoping for some tales of great adventures, epic successes and tragic or heart breaking stories of "almost made it". They were here, but only skimmed over. Perhaps it could have been three, four or five times longer, to really capture the allure of this form of human adventure.
However, it was still an interesting read, even if it only touched the surface.

[Neil Hamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating overview of a number of Shipton’s mountain adventures. Mt Kenya, multiple early trips to Everest, exploration in the Karakoram - this guy was a pioneer of lighter-weight exploratory mountain journeys. Wish I’d had the opportunity of going for a walk and a chat with him!

[Lesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written with gentle humour and frankness, Shipton shares his mountaineering and exploration adventures as well as his views on a range of mountaineering issues such as the size of expeditions, leadership, and team spirit. An entertaining glimpse into a mountaineering age now long vanished

[Peter Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Straightforward re-telling of one set of the classic stories of mountain climbing up to the 1950s that define a particular, largely Anglo-centric, view of mountaineering history. Has the feel of a book commissioned from the author when he was a bit down and out, and an introduction to the topic was needed for the bookshelves. This isn't Shipton at his best - go to the book-length retelling of his own adventures, particularly Nanda Devi, his biographies, and his later Patagonian adventures for that. Similarly, read Whymper himself on the Matterhorn for the best retelling, and so on and so forth. But this is a nice introduction to some of the historical stories that defined the world view of a particular style of mountain adventurer.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had amazing illustrations, photos, and plenty of accounts (some first-hand, as told by the author) of all of the dangerous expeditions through the Himalayas and other mountain ranges. Left me with a strong desire to go exploring.

[Lukrezia Cosimo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a good read, although sometimes slightly pedantic in tone. Eric Shipton's expeditions take place in a now gone colonial world. It's a different age, when young men go off to Africa to farm, and they refer to their friends by surname (or even initials and surname).

[Santanu Dutta · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice fragrance of Mountain air.

Eric Shipton presented in this book an unforgettable history of mountaineering staying from very early days of climbing. Presented in his own style of natural writing this book also file the reader with full full and vivid fragrance of the mountain air and the romance and spirit associated with this great game. This book although named as"Mountain Conquests" is not merely a book which chronicles the triumph of climbing a peak. Rather the beauty of this book lyes in chronicling the failure and failures and disasters of the early ages and attempts and how the people turned out to change the glorious and unforgettable failures into overwhelming successes.