The Boardman Tasker Omnibus: Savage Arena, the Shining Mountain, Sacred Summits, Everest the Cruel Way

by Joe Tasker, Peter Boardman, Chris Bonington (Foreword)

Collects four out-of-print classic climbing books: Tasker's Savage Arena and Everest the Cruel Way, and Boardman's The Shining Mountain and Sacred Summits.

Genres: Mountaineering, Climbing, Nonfiction, Outdoors, Adventure, Biography, Travel

985 pages, Hardcover

First published February 16, 1995

Reviews

[Misho Todorov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joe Tasker delivered the typescript of Savage Arena to his publisher on the eve of his departure on the British Everest Expedition of 1982, in which he and Peter Boardman disappeared somewhere along the Northeast Ridge while making a push for the summit. Since then the names Boardman and Tasker have become synonymous with extreme mountaineering and have been given to mountaineering literature’s most prestigious annual award the Boardman Tasker Prize.
Tasker and Boardman have left behind a legacy of mountaineering literature which has been made immeasurably richer by their determination and bravery.
I loved Savage Arena. I've read this book first translated in Bulgarian - my mother tongue some time ago. Savage Arena is mad, exciting and dramatic tale of adventure, highly recommended for all mountain lovers.

[Sue Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Been meaning to read these four collected works for years... even decades. The books took me to the extreme environment of high-altitude mountaineering, as well as back to the eighties, and the climbing scene at that time. So it was a bit of a world- and time-shifting experience. Peter Boardman is the better writer, I feel

[Ian Lea · Rating 3 out of 5]

4 books in one sounds like a good idea, but unless you are a true fan, which I'm not, one mountain expedition soon sounds very much like another.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing collection of mountaineering stories. In addition to being expert climbers, Boardman and Tasker were skilled writers!

[Erika · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's clear that these climbers are true mountaineers. They climbed the highest peaks often without oxygen, once during winter, in the 1970s with 1970s equipment and clothing. They survived, with little or no frostbite. This was a big contrast to the more modern Everest books I have read about climbers having all kinds of catastrophes happen to them. Tasker, Boardman, and the others who climbed with them don't try to justify their climb as a selfless task devoted to someone else; they admit that they climb just because they have it in their blood and can't not climb. That is refreshing. They take risks but recognize when the risks might cost them too much, and they descend without summiting. That is refreshing. They are extremely hardy, technically skilled and know what they are doing, even at altitude. That is refreshing.

Boardman seemed to love climbing, whereas Tasker seemed compelled to do it. Tasker's sections were more textbook like, and Boardman's were more eloquent and emotional. Tasker's last book was written more interestingly than his first. It was clear that he had grown as a climber and a writer.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read some of these books maybe 20 years ago, luckily I've forgotten them so I don't mind reading them again. And I find (after reading some more contemporary climbing books) that these stories are great - in both the classic British understated way, and in the historic style these guys climbed (ie, team of two, alpine style, new routes after driving overland in a old van from Europe)

[Julian Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mountain of a climb and strangely poetic view of the challenge they faced. A book that manages to get across the hardships of a climb, the drive of the climbers and their personal thoughts and feelings, while allowing you to feel the cold, lack of comfort and at times painstakingly slow progress up a seemingly impossible face. A great achievement on every level.

[-ed- Erwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the finest mountain climbing literature ever produced. These two fellows were giants, forever together up there on the top of the world.

[David Kessler · Rating 3 out of 5]

A climbing story worth reading

[Lee Broderick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the best mountaineering writing ever.

[April Sanders · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are a mountaineer or just love the mountains, this is the book for you. Well written by Tasker and Boardman, two of the best of their time. So sad that they are gone.