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Shishapangma: The Alpine-Style First Ascent of the South-West Face
This adventure classic captures everything from the historical to the deeply personal in a gripping account of an ambitious first ascent of the Southwest Face of Shishapangma. As Alex MacIntyre describes it, "To climb it became an ambition, but not just to climb it, we had to make the ascent with style, as light, as fast, as uncluttered as we dared, free from umbilical cords and logistics, with none of the traditional trappings of a Himalayan climb. The wall was the ambition, the style became the obsession." Placing the expedition into a historical context, Doug Scott presents a wealth of historical detail about the region while Alex MacIntyre provides a unique commentary on the "big peak" way of life-from the frenzied preparations to the clashes of personality, the affection, and the humor.
321 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
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About the author
Doug K. Scott
20 books3 followersDouglas Keith Scott CBE, known as Doug Scott, is an English mountaineer noted for the first ascent of the south-west face of Mount Everest on 24 September 1975. Scott and Dougal Haston were the first Britons to climb Everest during this expedition. In receiving one of mountaineering's highest honours, the Lifetime Achievement Piolet d'Or, his personal style and climbs were described as "visionary".
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 9, 2019
Interesting read but by no means the best climbing book I've read. This expedition lurched from one difficulty to the next almost throughout. It was interesting in that it was a climb in Tibet and dealing with the Chinese authorities at the time time took up vast amounts of time and energy. It was a previously unclimbed face again interesting. However the members of the expedition had their differences - politely - and the book is jointly written which didn't really work for me. Proof of the thought that driven climbers may not be the easiest of people to live with! Good for real climbing fans less so for others.
September 8, 2017
The reason why this book exists is because the lead authors, along with the rest of their teammates, were contractually obligated to write and publish it in exchange for an advance payment needed to finalize their 1982 expedition budget. This fact is clearly laid out in the very beginning, and sets the tone for what is actually a very honest account of an adventure that was confronted with so many hurdles, yet somehow still managed to achieve its primary objective.
While Shishapangma is not edge-of-your-seat mountaineering literature in the vein of Touching the Void or other harrowing survival stories, it is compelling enough to keep the reader engaged. Part of this has to do with the fact that the narrative voice changes constantly, most often between Doug Scott and Alex MacIntyre but with contributions from everyone else as well. Naturally, the writing styles are as different as the people who contribute them, and while this can be disorienting to readers focused on the story, I actually found it satisfyingly democratic in that everyone was given the opportunity to have their say, even if in some cases that wasn't much (such as the sections contributed by Elaine Brook, the only female team member).
More than the style however, what the book really succeeds at is giving the world good insight into the Tibet of early 1980s, a region that China was just allowing to open up at the time, albeit in a tightly controlled way. Because of the lack of precedent in dealing with foreigners and constant suspicion about Cold War geopolitics, the communist bureaucratic process turned out to be a more formidable obstacle than the climb itself. Navigating the minefield of randomly changing regulations is recounted in such excruciating detail, it really seems like a miracle the team was able to get to base camp. Then, personality conflicts, bad weather and inadequate supplies almost brought the entire endeavor to a grinding halt, but somehow the three Himalayan climbing experts succeeded at reaching the summit and coming back in one piece. To make things even sweeter, they made the first recorded ascent of the Southwest Face, and did so in alpine style - still a novel idea at the time.
While I enjoyed the story of the climb itself, I also added to my knowledge with the background material provided at the end of the official expedition report. This material included a history of Tibet itself, detailing the people, the religion and the intrusion of outside forces, as well as a comprehensive overview of climbing in the Shishapangma region, including rare details of the 1964 Chinese expedition that made the first ascent of the mountain.
The Shishapangma Expedition is certainly more technical subject literature, thus appealing to audiences who have more extended knowledge of the subject, but it is also an engaging read suitable for anyone looking to learn about the more remote regions of the world. Acknowledgement of its importance was provided by the Boardman-Tasker Award it won in 1984, mountaineering literature's most prestigious award.
While Shishapangma is not edge-of-your-seat mountaineering literature in the vein of Touching the Void or other harrowing survival stories, it is compelling enough to keep the reader engaged. Part of this has to do with the fact that the narrative voice changes constantly, most often between Doug Scott and Alex MacIntyre but with contributions from everyone else as well. Naturally, the writing styles are as different as the people who contribute them, and while this can be disorienting to readers focused on the story, I actually found it satisfyingly democratic in that everyone was given the opportunity to have their say, even if in some cases that wasn't much (such as the sections contributed by Elaine Brook, the only female team member).
More than the style however, what the book really succeeds at is giving the world good insight into the Tibet of early 1980s, a region that China was just allowing to open up at the time, albeit in a tightly controlled way. Because of the lack of precedent in dealing with foreigners and constant suspicion about Cold War geopolitics, the communist bureaucratic process turned out to be a more formidable obstacle than the climb itself. Navigating the minefield of randomly changing regulations is recounted in such excruciating detail, it really seems like a miracle the team was able to get to base camp. Then, personality conflicts, bad weather and inadequate supplies almost brought the entire endeavor to a grinding halt, but somehow the three Himalayan climbing experts succeeded at reaching the summit and coming back in one piece. To make things even sweeter, they made the first recorded ascent of the Southwest Face, and did so in alpine style - still a novel idea at the time.
While I enjoyed the story of the climb itself, I also added to my knowledge with the background material provided at the end of the official expedition report. This material included a history of Tibet itself, detailing the people, the religion and the intrusion of outside forces, as well as a comprehensive overview of climbing in the Shishapangma region, including rare details of the 1964 Chinese expedition that made the first ascent of the mountain.
The Shishapangma Expedition is certainly more technical subject literature, thus appealing to audiences who have more extended knowledge of the subject, but it is also an engaging read suitable for anyone looking to learn about the more remote regions of the world. Acknowledgement of its importance was provided by the Boardman-Tasker Award it won in 1984, mountaineering literature's most prestigious award.
October 29, 2024
Interesting book, because of the honesty that was made possible by the multi-author writing method. The appendixes are not relevant and are dry, and even though I tried, I couldn't read them all. Unexpectedly, I was rooting the whole book for Doug, and for other participants that didn't get to climb the main objective. The antagonist was Alex, but it is still thanks to him and Doug that we have such a transparent account of the events. I think this is an excellent example of some of the toughest social problems that can be found in long expeditions, and I believe most of what everyone says in the book.
I found this in a second-hand store in Stockholm, in exceptional conditions, and I feel very lucky about it. The book is unique, maybe not the best, but one that can be revisited and that offers the audience different philosophies, where one can maybe choose sides or even disagree with all. Fun read!
I found this in a second-hand store in Stockholm, in exceptional conditions, and I feel very lucky about it. The book is unique, maybe not the best, but one that can be revisited and that offers the audience different philosophies, where one can maybe choose sides or even disagree with all. Fun read!
January 10, 2019
I found this to be a bit dry to be honest. Perhaps because I prefer my mountaineering books to have a greater proportion of the content devoted to the actual climb rather than the the trek and life in base camp. This book has more content devoted to an account of the organisation, journey and dynamics of the team which made it a bit boring for me. The climb was interesting though, just would've preferred more of the book devoted to it.
November 18, 2013
This is a curious experiment in the 'expedition book' still common in the early 1980's. The writing is shared between each of the team members, although principally Doug K. Scott and Alex Macintyre and the result is a somewhat disjointed narrative. What this does, uniquely, achieve is to make naked the often fraught and fractious nature of pretty much all expeditions (mountaineering and otherwise) as well as fully revealing each of the many personalities.
Doug Scott is a famously thoughtful, reflective, quasi-spiritual individual and his prose here reveals that nature perfectly. It is not, however, great writing. That, perhaps, is why he has never joined the legion of writing-climbers and contents himself with the public-speaking circuit in his old age. Alex MaxIntyre, meanwhile, comes across as bombastic, self-aggrandising and neo-colonial - in short, the very polar opposite of his more senior colleague. When the narrative reaches the actual climb though, leaving behind the administrative and base-camp parts, his writing comes alive and you sense that, had he lived, he well have become a writer of some quality. Sadly, that was not to be.
Further reflecting Doug's character are a series of appendices, unusual for a book of this type. These outline a history of Tibetan buddhism, European contact with Tibet, expeditions in the Shishapangma region, a climbing history of the same and a view on 'expedition medicine' which is really a summary of Doug's views on the relevance of Bhuddist and Chinese spirituality to expeditions. A series of colour photographs, from this and later expeditions, is also included in this edition. All of which explains why this has come to be used as a guidebook as well as a piece of literature.
Doug Scott is a famously thoughtful, reflective, quasi-spiritual individual and his prose here reveals that nature perfectly. It is not, however, great writing. That, perhaps, is why he has never joined the legion of writing-climbers and contents himself with the public-speaking circuit in his old age. Alex MaxIntyre, meanwhile, comes across as bombastic, self-aggrandising and neo-colonial - in short, the very polar opposite of his more senior colleague. When the narrative reaches the actual climb though, leaving behind the administrative and base-camp parts, his writing comes alive and you sense that, had he lived, he well have become a writer of some quality. Sadly, that was not to be.
Further reflecting Doug's character are a series of appendices, unusual for a book of this type. These outline a history of Tibetan buddhism, European contact with Tibet, expeditions in the Shishapangma region, a climbing history of the same and a view on 'expedition medicine' which is really a summary of Doug's views on the relevance of Bhuddist and Chinese spirituality to expeditions. A series of colour photographs, from this and later expeditions, is also included in this edition. All of which explains why this has come to be used as a guidebook as well as a piece of literature.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews