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The Bond: Two epic climbs in Alaska and a lifetime's connection between climbers
Simon McCartney was a cocky young British alpinist climbing many of the hardest routes in the Alps during the late seventies, but it was a chance meeting in Chamonix in 1977 with Californian ‘Stonemaster’ Jack Roberts that would dramatically change both their lives – and almost end Simon’s.
Inspired by a Bradford Washburn photograph published in Mountain magazine, their first objective was the 5,500-foot north face of Mount Huntington, one of the most dangerous walls in the Alaska Range. The result was a route so hard and serious that for decades nobody believed they had climbed it – it is still unrepeated to this day. Then, raising the bar even higher, they made the first ascent of the south-west face of Denali, a climb that would prove almost fatal for Simon, and one which would break the bond between him and climbing, separating the two young climbers. But the bond between Simon and Jack couldn’t remain dormant forever. A lifetime later, a chance reconnection with Jack gave Simon the chance to bury the ghosts of what happened high on Denali, when he had faced almost certain death.
The Bond is Simon McCartney’s story of these legendary climbs.
Inspired by a Bradford Washburn photograph published in Mountain magazine, their first objective was the 5,500-foot north face of Mount Huntington, one of the most dangerous walls in the Alaska Range. The result was a route so hard and serious that for decades nobody believed they had climbed it – it is still unrepeated to this day. Then, raising the bar even higher, they made the first ascent of the south-west face of Denali, a climb that would prove almost fatal for Simon, and one which would break the bond between him and climbing, separating the two young climbers. But the bond between Simon and Jack couldn’t remain dormant forever. A lifetime later, a chance reconnection with Jack gave Simon the chance to bury the ghosts of what happened high on Denali, when he had faced almost certain death.
The Bond is Simon McCartney’s story of these legendary climbs.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2016
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463 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
March 4, 2017
Alaskan Epic
I have read a lot if mountaineering books. An awful lot. Joe Simpson's 'This Game of Ghosts', Ken Jones ' Darkness Descending' and John Porter's 'One Day as a Tiger' have each vived for my top spot. They have just been joined by a fourth contender. This book is engaging, enthralling and ultimately emotionally hard-hitting. Highly recommended for anyone who has ever tied a fig. 8 at one end of a rope and trusted the person at the other end with their life, and also to those who wonder how that must feel.
I have read a lot if mountaineering books. An awful lot. Joe Simpson's 'This Game of Ghosts', Ken Jones ' Darkness Descending' and John Porter's 'One Day as a Tiger' have each vived for my top spot. They have just been joined by a fourth contender. This book is engaging, enthralling and ultimately emotionally hard-hitting. Highly recommended for anyone who has ever tied a fig. 8 at one end of a rope and trusted the person at the other end with their life, and also to those who wonder how that must feel.
August 15, 2017
I'm really missing these two guys now I have finished as I felt a bond with them both and felt invested in their well being! The story not only of their epic climbing feats but of the emotions during and after such intense experiences is riveting. Honestly written and heart wrenching at times, the scenes were painted so you felt you were travelling every step with them. And so, so cold! The 'extras' in the story were all solid characters and the fact that all would sacrifice their own ambitions for the safety of another climber is the mark of their character and love of mountaineering. An excellent book.
October 5, 2018
Possibly the best mountaineering book I've read, but being involved in the publication makes me slightly biased, but trust me it is exceptional.
February 16, 2017
I am not an alpinist, but have read my share of mountaineering tales and not since
Joe Simpson's "Touching The Void" have I been so immersed in a story. After finishing this book recently it was difficult to get excited about any of my nightstand books waiting to be cracked.
It was personal, poignant, emotional, and so stimulating. A page-turner indeed!
No alpine experience necessary to savor and enjoy this historic adventure
Joe Simpson's "Touching The Void" have I been so immersed in a story. After finishing this book recently it was difficult to get excited about any of my nightstand books waiting to be cracked.
It was personal, poignant, emotional, and so stimulating. A page-turner indeed!
No alpine experience necessary to savor and enjoy this historic adventure
December 17, 2016
[disclosure: I work at Mountaineers Books] This is one of the very best adventure books I've ever read -- and not just at the top of Mountaineers Books' list, but one of the best ever, anywhere. When you've read as many nonfiction outdoor adventure narratives as I have, you become a pretty discriminating critic. Often I don't finish a tale if it's one that feels like I've read before, and I don't have patience with a story that's simply a recitation of trip facts. No, The Bond is GRIPPINGLY WELL TOLD! It's a stunning achievement for a first-time author.
You don't have to be a climber, know anything about climbing, or even have much interest in the outdoors to get caught up in this page turner. I love the story construction that makes it a fresh way to tell this sort of story. The chapters are fairly short --the format popular with we short-attention span/time deprived readers -- and each chapter ends with a cliff hanger that drives you forward. It's both dramatic and emotionally raw. The author bears all. There's arrogance and humility, bravado and fear, regret and reunion, and, ultimately, tender bonds rooted in shared experience.
I think you'll love it!
You don't have to be a climber, know anything about climbing, or even have much interest in the outdoors to get caught up in this page turner. I love the story construction that makes it a fresh way to tell this sort of story. The chapters are fairly short --the format popular with we short-attention span/time deprived readers -- and each chapter ends with a cliff hanger that drives you forward. It's both dramatic and emotionally raw. The author bears all. There's arrogance and humility, bravado and fear, regret and reunion, and, ultimately, tender bonds rooted in shared experience.
I think you'll love it!
March 17, 2018
One of the best books I have read in a long time. It as if you are on the west-face with McCartney and Roberts as they face their trials and triumphs. McCartney also begins to explore why as alpinists we put ourselves in great danger in order to simply climb.
August 15, 2024
Engaging account of two perilous ascents
February 7, 2017
Simon McCartney's book 'The Bond' is an intimate gift to mountaineering literature. A deeply personal story of a climbing relationship, the audacity of youth, and the indomitable human connection. There is no hubris in this telling.
The climbing community has pondered for nearly 40 years the details that surrounded two bold unrepeated ascents in the Central Alaskan Range; the first, the shear serac-laced North Face of Mt. Huntington, the second, the immense rock, snow and ice covered labyrinth of the Southwest Face of Denali. McCartney has risen as if from the dead to finally give us an honest, well-researched account of these climbs; a glimpse of his friendship with his climbing partner Jack Roberts, and a short history of an obsessed young climber.
The book is a brilliantly penned story of the bond that exists among those that have suffered in the mountains. It tells a journey of survival where the roles between the strong and the weak often change. Though a climbing story, the themes of human suffering and human heroism echo well beyond the mountains.
The winner of the 2016 Boardman Tasker award for Mountain Literature will strike a very personal chord to those of us who have climbed in the high mountains. McCartney quotes his friend Jack Roberts in the final analysis, "The flight out, like everything else we had encountered, was overwhelming. Yet nothing had changed except my point of view, myself. The face had not changed; it would be forever the same: timeless." 'The Bond' ultimately reawakens our hope in human kind.
The climbing community has pondered for nearly 40 years the details that surrounded two bold unrepeated ascents in the Central Alaskan Range; the first, the shear serac-laced North Face of Mt. Huntington, the second, the immense rock, snow and ice covered labyrinth of the Southwest Face of Denali. McCartney has risen as if from the dead to finally give us an honest, well-researched account of these climbs; a glimpse of his friendship with his climbing partner Jack Roberts, and a short history of an obsessed young climber.
The book is a brilliantly penned story of the bond that exists among those that have suffered in the mountains. It tells a journey of survival where the roles between the strong and the weak often change. Though a climbing story, the themes of human suffering and human heroism echo well beyond the mountains.
The winner of the 2016 Boardman Tasker award for Mountain Literature will strike a very personal chord to those of us who have climbed in the high mountains. McCartney quotes his friend Jack Roberts in the final analysis, "The flight out, like everything else we had encountered, was overwhelming. Yet nothing had changed except my point of view, myself. The face had not changed; it would be forever the same: timeless." 'The Bond' ultimately reawakens our hope in human kind.
September 17, 2017
Very enjoyable read, but probably one for other climbers rather than real general interest. Well written, and with unusual depth, it is quite eye-opening how far people are prepared to push themselves
March 7, 2019
I loved the book, but the amount of information seemed excessive. It's not only about the two epic climbs, as the title states, but the climbs prior to them, in between, and a life after. 4.5 stars from me.
June 1, 2021
Surviving Denali
Belay. Sérac. Crampons. Pitons. Up and corner and crack system. What had I gotten myself into? Review a book on mountaineering? The only mountain expedition book I’d ever read was Jon Krakauer’s award-winning memoir Into Thin Air – his epic adventure of the nightmare on Mt. Everest that claimed five lives and was written for mass consumption. Not to suggest that The Bond is not accessible to mountaineering neophytes – not at all. It’s that Simon McCartney’s book reverberates with such rawness that it deserves a separate distinction than that owed to Krakauer’s exceptional book. I worried about being able to accurately convey the subtleties and nuances of this highly technical sport – all wasted tsuris. Because, at its core, The Bond is an adventure – a grand adventure relevant for all. And, McCartney tells it so exceptionally well, that by the end of the second chapter, the arcane jargon faded into the valley’s mist.
Simon McCartney and Jack Roberts are two young men who share an intense passion for mountain climbing. The singular motivation that drives these two guys forward is an all-consuming ambition to tackle the toughest, gnarliest mountain ascents out there, climbing them in such a way, that they will be remembered with distinction and awe. McCartney’s book then is one of those life-defining personal revelations that vividly depicts the costs of pursuing dreams like these with such fervor. We know from the book’s outset that on one of these lads’ more intense climbs something had gone terribly askew. Something had occurred on one of those ascents that was so traumatizing, so searingly painful, that for the next 30 years no one in the alpinist community knew whether McCartney was alive or dead. His Alaskan exploits on Denali with his climbing partner Jack had taken on myth-like qualities – no one was quite sure about the veracity that swirled around their alleged dangerous feats. As Mark Westman explains in the Prologue, the time for telling the true story was long overdue.
The basics of the story, while extraordinary, are not what lifts this mesmerizing tale miles above similar tales of confronting nature at its worst and living to tell the story. Yes, the page-turning qualities of the narrative that propels it forward are commendable. Equally compelling is the manner in which McCartney manages to infuse ample doses of reality-based mountaineering, allowing the reader to connect to Simon and Jack as they saunter madly up and down the crevices of Denali. No, what truly makes this an original and brilliant work is the intimate affinity that expands exponentially between McCartney and his audience as we delve deeper into the story. Quietly supporting these explorations are a successful blend of narrative techniques. Mostly told from a first-person narrative, he also nimbly blends in Jack’s journal passages and those of other climbers, critical to the story’s development. This amalgam heightens the realism, fostering strong, counter-positioned viewpoints to Simon’s – it gives the story a wider, three-dimensional purview. And then, filtering through all of these varied lenses, are deeply revealing glimpses of the inner workings of what makes these folks tick. Like a surgeon, McCartney avulses the layers of his being. He strips away the epidermis, baring the thoughts of a man confronting death with every toe-hold and icy grip; he then rips back the dermis, exposing the psychological connective tissue that is barely holding him together and beneath that, he plunges deep within his psychic hypodermis, where his anxieties and humiliations (as he sees them) are palpably transparent to everyone.
Finally, there’s the book’s title – The Bond. McCartney is referring to that invisible, yet incredibly vibrant strand that links one climber to the next. It’s the willingness of these remarkably resourceful individuals to place themselves in harm’s way to save the lives of other climbers they don’t even know. In one instance a group who referred to themselves as the “Freaks” provided Jack and his colleague with “kindness, shelter and a willingness to share their meager rations,” which effectively “derailed their own climb.” Such acts of sacrifice and consideration were the rule, not the exception among this tight-knit band of mountaineering acolytes.
Thirty years after his heralded rescue from near-certain death, long past the time when he had shelved his memories of those perilous moments atop Denali, McCartney recreated in exquisite detail all that had transpired, finally giving substance to the myths that preceded his unflinching exposé. In doing so, he has, without a scintilla of doubt, created a masterpiece.
Originally published in the Anchorage Press on April 20, 2017
Belay. Sérac. Crampons. Pitons. Up and corner and crack system. What had I gotten myself into? Review a book on mountaineering? The only mountain expedition book I’d ever read was Jon Krakauer’s award-winning memoir Into Thin Air – his epic adventure of the nightmare on Mt. Everest that claimed five lives and was written for mass consumption. Not to suggest that The Bond is not accessible to mountaineering neophytes – not at all. It’s that Simon McCartney’s book reverberates with such rawness that it deserves a separate distinction than that owed to Krakauer’s exceptional book. I worried about being able to accurately convey the subtleties and nuances of this highly technical sport – all wasted tsuris. Because, at its core, The Bond is an adventure – a grand adventure relevant for all. And, McCartney tells it so exceptionally well, that by the end of the second chapter, the arcane jargon faded into the valley’s mist.
Simon McCartney and Jack Roberts are two young men who share an intense passion for mountain climbing. The singular motivation that drives these two guys forward is an all-consuming ambition to tackle the toughest, gnarliest mountain ascents out there, climbing them in such a way, that they will be remembered with distinction and awe. McCartney’s book then is one of those life-defining personal revelations that vividly depicts the costs of pursuing dreams like these with such fervor. We know from the book’s outset that on one of these lads’ more intense climbs something had gone terribly askew. Something had occurred on one of those ascents that was so traumatizing, so searingly painful, that for the next 30 years no one in the alpinist community knew whether McCartney was alive or dead. His Alaskan exploits on Denali with his climbing partner Jack had taken on myth-like qualities – no one was quite sure about the veracity that swirled around their alleged dangerous feats. As Mark Westman explains in the Prologue, the time for telling the true story was long overdue.
The basics of the story, while extraordinary, are not what lifts this mesmerizing tale miles above similar tales of confronting nature at its worst and living to tell the story. Yes, the page-turning qualities of the narrative that propels it forward are commendable. Equally compelling is the manner in which McCartney manages to infuse ample doses of reality-based mountaineering, allowing the reader to connect to Simon and Jack as they saunter madly up and down the crevices of Denali. No, what truly makes this an original and brilliant work is the intimate affinity that expands exponentially between McCartney and his audience as we delve deeper into the story. Quietly supporting these explorations are a successful blend of narrative techniques. Mostly told from a first-person narrative, he also nimbly blends in Jack’s journal passages and those of other climbers, critical to the story’s development. This amalgam heightens the realism, fostering strong, counter-positioned viewpoints to Simon’s – it gives the story a wider, three-dimensional purview. And then, filtering through all of these varied lenses, are deeply revealing glimpses of the inner workings of what makes these folks tick. Like a surgeon, McCartney avulses the layers of his being. He strips away the epidermis, baring the thoughts of a man confronting death with every toe-hold and icy grip; he then rips back the dermis, exposing the psychological connective tissue that is barely holding him together and beneath that, he plunges deep within his psychic hypodermis, where his anxieties and humiliations (as he sees them) are palpably transparent to everyone.
Finally, there’s the book’s title – The Bond. McCartney is referring to that invisible, yet incredibly vibrant strand that links one climber to the next. It’s the willingness of these remarkably resourceful individuals to place themselves in harm’s way to save the lives of other climbers they don’t even know. In one instance a group who referred to themselves as the “Freaks” provided Jack and his colleague with “kindness, shelter and a willingness to share their meager rations,” which effectively “derailed their own climb.” Such acts of sacrifice and consideration were the rule, not the exception among this tight-knit band of mountaineering acolytes.
Thirty years after his heralded rescue from near-certain death, long past the time when he had shelved his memories of those perilous moments atop Denali, McCartney recreated in exquisite detail all that had transpired, finally giving substance to the myths that preceded his unflinching exposé. In doing so, he has, without a scintilla of doubt, created a masterpiece.
Originally published in the Anchorage Press on April 20, 2017
August 27, 2019
Mi ha ricordato molto “La morte sospesa” di Joe Simpson: due ragazzini tra i venti e i trent’anni, un britannico (l’autore) e un americano (il bel Jack) negli verso la fine degli anni Settanta compiono due ascese incredibili (questa è la parola giusta) sul Denali. Nello zaino Simon si porta due cose: alta competenza tecnica e arroganza. Poco altro, tra cui troppo poco cibo. Jack ha almeno un diario e più umanità. Non paghi di una prima volta sul Denali in cui l’avevano rischiata grossa, ci ritentano, volendo aprire una nuova via, che non solo si rivela troppo difficile, ma risulta anche decisamente rallentata dal fatto che Simon è in preda ad un edema cerebrale che praticamente gli impedisce di scalare. Sono arrivati ad un punto in cui per salvarsi, possono solo salire. Ma le avventure non finiranno qui. Se per i primi due terzi del libro ho pensato si trattasse fondamentalmente di una frizzante relazione di salita, ma nulla più, soprattutto perché “Si” è la persona più umanamente trasparente che esista e che quindi non stava minimamente contribuendo ad una lezione di umanità, ecco che ho finito la lettura tra le lacrime. Al termine di tutta questa lunga avventura (che si protrarrà poi anche negli anni a venire) Simon raggiungerà finalmente un’altra dimensione, se non più umana (perché non mi è sembrato) almeno più umile e di questa lezione, lo riconosce lui per primo, ne aveva proprio bisogno. Non farà parte dei libri più belli di alpinismo che io abbia letto (proprio perché mi manca l’aspetto umano di “Si”, aspetto che invece gli alpinisti americani che incontrano, anche se fugacemente narrato da Si, hanno) ma gli riconosco comunque un valido messaggio ed importante soprattutto per i nuovi alpinisti.
May 20, 2020
"Mountain of my Fear" by David Roberts was in some ways the first of modern climbing books. A few years ago Roberts came to Anchorage, Alaska with his climbing partner, Matt Hale, to give a presentation on the 50th anniversary of their route on Mount Huntington. Afterwards, waiting to talk to him, I met a young woman and asked her if she was a climber.
"No, she said, "I climb, but I'm not a climber."
I chuckled at that and responded, "Well, I don't climb, but I'm a climber." Truth be told being a climber is a bit like being an alcoholic: once you are one you always are.
So, when a floppy, dog-eared copy of this book fell into my hands from another climber, who'd got it from another climber—all of us gray and all of us who, some would say, had wasted youth on rock, ice, and snow—I was a very interested to read it. The enigmatic Simon McCartney and his first ascent of the north face of Mt Huntington were both legendary in Alaskan climbing.
I read it in one sitting, traveling between Anchorage and New Orleans on a series of flights and airport waits. I haven't climbed alpine routes in over thirty years, but this book brought all the physical feelings and emotions right back up my spine and into my lizard brain.
This book and Joe Simpson's "Touching the Void" are modern classics of the genre.
A great first-hand account of pioneering alpinism.
"No, she said, "I climb, but I'm not a climber."
I chuckled at that and responded, "Well, I don't climb, but I'm a climber." Truth be told being a climber is a bit like being an alcoholic: once you are one you always are.
So, when a floppy, dog-eared copy of this book fell into my hands from another climber, who'd got it from another climber—all of us gray and all of us who, some would say, had wasted youth on rock, ice, and snow—I was a very interested to read it. The enigmatic Simon McCartney and his first ascent of the north face of Mt Huntington were both legendary in Alaskan climbing.
I read it in one sitting, traveling between Anchorage and New Orleans on a series of flights and airport waits. I haven't climbed alpine routes in over thirty years, but this book brought all the physical feelings and emotions right back up my spine and into my lizard brain.
This book and Joe Simpson's "Touching the Void" are modern classics of the genre.
A great first-hand account of pioneering alpinism.
August 5, 2020
An account of the author's climbing life built around two monumental climbs in Alaska. I don't think I have ever been so gripped a mountaineering book. This was genuinely unputdownable resulting in a couple of very late nights. The weaving of other journal entries into the narrative is beautifully done and the ending is incredibly moving. The only weaknesses perhaps are some of the Alpine stories which seem much more pedestrian in comparison (but not in reality) and the writing tends towards more conventional climbing literature. This highlights the importance of the inclusion of the Roberts and Kandiko journal entries in the Alaskan sections.
Also worth noting what a great job Vertebrate have done with the design of the book. There are many pictures printed amongst the text (as well as some high quality colour pictures collected in a more conventional manner) these are all of a high quality and really enhance the narrative.
Also worth noting what a great job Vertebrate have done with the design of the book. There are many pictures printed amongst the text (as well as some high quality colour pictures collected in a more conventional manner) these are all of a high quality and really enhance the narrative.
March 2, 2021
An engrossing read! Searingly honest indeed. Out of every book I've read on mountaineering, this is probably the most emotionally invested I have felt in the outcome! I'm so glad Simon McCartney made peace with the past, and decided to share the story of these two incredibly epic climbs, and of the enduring bond among fellow climbers.
I really enjoyed the combination of first person journal entries by his climbing partner, Jack Roberts (and a couple others) mixed with the author's narrative. Meticulously researched! I was transported to the "the moon" (in the book, this is how they referred to their long stints in the remote Alaskan wilderness).
I really enjoyed the combination of first person journal entries by his climbing partner, Jack Roberts (and a couple others) mixed with the author's narrative. Meticulously researched! I was transported to the "the moon" (in the book, this is how they referred to their long stints in the remote Alaskan wilderness).
December 20, 2024
Somewhere between a memoir and and adventure tale. Better than a lot of mountaineering tales that focus on the external achievements, this one has more personal elements to it and I got more invested and read it in a single day. I was particularly intrigued that the author had left climbing completely for 30 years before re-engaging with the climbing community and writing this story. He wasn't just another aspiring pro climber trying to make some money by publishing his exploits.
The only reason I didn't give it five stars is the chronological lapses in the story sometimes felt abrupt, leaving some questions unanswered for me.
The only reason I didn't give it five stars is the chronological lapses in the story sometimes felt abrupt, leaving some questions unanswered for me.
February 3, 2021
A wonderful analysis of the mind of a mountaineer when it is going well and when it all goes wrong. As his body breaks down under the environmental stress of the hardest route on the highest mountain in North America this tracks Simon’s mental state from independent and indestructible to a complete lack of comprehension as to what is happening. An incredible story of survival and the importance of the role of many unsung hero mountaineers that give up their dreams to preserve the life of their brethren.
January 5, 2023
I am not a mountaineer but I love books about climbing, love the human adventure in addition to the sheer insane performance. With The Bond I had both. It’s honest,,gripping and heart wrenching. The change of point of view gives another dimension to the story. I haven’t come back from Alaska. It’s a treat to start the year with a book that will stay among my favorite.
July 25, 2018
An awesome story compellingly told by a climber who risked everything to climb beyond the point of no return. Incredibly, he returned. Which is a good thing, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to write this book, and we wouldn't have been able to enjoy it.
April 17, 2020
I am not a climber but this account of a climbing pair's first ascents on two serious Alaskan peaks is one of the best climbing books I've read. Honest, desperate and exciting. It allows the reader to see the psychology behind extreme climbing and the bond between climbing partners
October 16, 2020
The best mountaineering book I've ever read. An honest and human account of the connection between climbers and their love of the mountains. No macho fronts or colonial conquests. This is a book for everyone. Cannot recommend this more highly.
January 19, 2023
a must read climbing epic.....l
A very honest account of two alpinists at the cutting edge in the late seventies. This is very powerful writing.
If you don’t know the story I would read the foreword after the main event.
A very honest account of two alpinists at the cutting edge in the late seventies. This is very powerful writing.
If you don’t know the story I would read the foreword after the main event.
January 18, 2018
One of the finest books on mountaineering ever written.
January 21, 2018
McCartney is a great storyteller. Remarkable account of two daring first ascents and averting tradegy on Denali. Humorous, gripping, transportive.
February 2, 2020
Was crying at the end.
June 27, 2020
Gripping tale of two Alaskan climbs. This book deserves to be a classic.
January 23, 2021
Kept me on my toes and could barely put the book down. Amazing story and once again revealing the respect and kindness that people show on the mountains
October 22, 2021
I think this could be one of my most favourite books of this type. Well written and informative with out being dull. Get a really good insight into the climbs and the feelings at the time. Brilliant
July 28, 2022
Excellent true story. While highly skilled climbers there is as most climbers know shed loads of luck and they had their fair share.
October 6, 2025
10/10 mountaineering book
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews