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Conquistadors of the Useless
An engagingly written portrait of the times and climbs of premier French Mountainerer, Lionel Terray including the Eigerwand, Fitzroy, Annapurna and more.
Paperback, 372 pages
Published
August 30th 2008
by Mountaineers Books
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I have a soft spot for climbing books - climbers (certainly those that write books) seem to have something of the poet about them and the activity of risking life and limb and enduring great suffering in places of magnificence of beauty seems to make, to me at least, for fascinating tales.
This book is a wonderful example. Terray who seems to have been one of those people for whom life as a mountaineer was inevitable rather than a choice writes with almost unreasonable modesty about ...more
This book is a wonderful example. Terray who seems to have been one of those people for whom life as a mountaineer was inevitable rather than a choice writes with almost unreasonable modesty about ...more
(If you were not a climber, this would likely only merit 4 stars). You may not have heard of Lionel Terray, but his autobiography makes you think you should have - for the number of peaks he climbed if nothing else. This is an excellently written/translated book written in a bygone era of the modern sport of mountaineering - when all protection damaged the rock, siege tactics were the norm for mountains, and climbing was a lifestyle rather than a sport. In addition to the excellent descriptions ...more
Terray is an unexpectedly excellent writer. Understood to be a much more honest and factual account of the first ascent of Annapurna than Herzog's. I enjoyed this book quite a bit.
A great book to read by those driven by a passion for alpinism. Lionel Terray is a phenomenal writer who know about what he writes!
Also called "Borders of the Impossible" (first US edition). Interesting reminiscences of many mountains.
Tremendous account of climbing all over the world. Has to be one of the premier mountaineering memoirs.
Good book about the early mountaineering exploits of French pioneer Lionel Terray. As I don't know much about mountaineering I found some of his descriptions of events a little opaque, but still, this is an entertaining book.
Simply the best mountaineering book ever written
title says it all....
Warnie B.
marked it as to-read
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