No Picnic on Mount Kenya: A Daring Escape, A Perilous Climb in Around the World in 80 Books

Jul 14, 2021 Kay rated it really liked it

Shelves: nonfiction, e-book, mountains-and-men, world_war_ii, exploration-adventure

The title of this book alone sparked my curiosity, and although I have never understood the motivations of mountain climbers, I seem to have read a handful of books recounting the exploits of that curious subspecies of adventurer.

Benuzzi writes lyrically and evocatively, and he is throughout charming and rather self deprecating. His quixotic quest -- to escape an african British prison camp, climb Mt. Kenya, and then return to the camp -- sets him firmly in the company of romantics and dreamers. The title of this book alone sparked my curiosity, and although I have never understood the motivations of mountain climbers, I seem to have read a handful of books recounting the exploits of that curious subspecies of adventurer.

Benuzzi writes lyrically and evocatively, and he is throughout charming and rather self deprecating. His quixotic quest -- to escape an african British prison camp, climb Mt. Kenya, and then return to the camp -- sets him firmly in the company of romantics and dreamers.

It was the monotony of prison camp life that most galled him, and he longed for something -- anything -- to break the monotony.

Recounting his initial glimpse of the mountain, the reader understands how completely he falls under its spell:

...then I saw it. An ethereal mountain emerging from a tossing sea of clouds, framed between two dark barracks: a massive blue-back tooth of sheer rock, inlaid wit azure glaciers; austere yet floating fairy-like on the near horizon.

He writes with an engaging panache. I especially enjoyed the sections after he and his two companions make their break from camp and spend a number of days fighting their way toward the mountain in difficult terrain. Details of the sights, the major and minor annoyances of the trek, the quirks of his companions, and heady passages describing the lush scenery abound.

Golden-green sunrays filtered through the foliage and were broken into a thousand reflections on the stream, foaming among smooth, multicoloured stones....There were countless birds, from graceful sunbirds with slender beaks and bright colours, to harshly croaking lories showing in flight their blood-red wing feathers. Troops of monkeys jumped from branch to branch ....Butterflies of every size and colour dallied gracefully along the banks.

Finally, he and his two companions set up a base camp, where one of the trio remains and Benuzzi and a companion begin their climb. I confess to never being terribly interested in descriptions of climbing itself, though invariably I pick up a few new words from said descriptions such as "couloir" ("A gully, sometimes a potential route").

Alas, the peak of Mt. Kenya proved unattainable, and years later Benuzzi found that he and his companion had, in fact, attempted an impossible route. However, despite near starvation and exhaustion, a successful climb up a secondary and less challenging peak was made. Despite his disappointment at not attaining his goal, he waxes lyrical over the spiritual benefits of the climb:

From one point of view it seems to me today that it was madness for two grown men, out of training for eight years, having spent twenty months in prison, debilitated by a backbreaking flight of nine days, by the weight of impossible rucksacks, and by a lack of food and sleep, having left from an irrationally distant and low base camp, to be prepared to go, in winter conditions, where mountaineers like Shipton and Tilman, vastly superior to them in technical terms, well trained, well nourished and aided by porters, had not wanted to go....from a purely spiritual side, however, which matters more to a true mountaineers, our ignorance was a genuine godsend.

The last quarter of the book is given over to what Benuzzi learned about Mt. Kenya and the various attempts to climb it by numerous mountaineers over the years. This section, to be truthful, I found a bit boring and I skimmed through it. Still, on the whole, this was an unusual and memorable book, part adventure and part love story - of a man for a mountain. ...more

6 likes · Like · see review