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| Messages 1 - 19 of total 19 in this topic |
Tom Patterson
Trad climber
Seattle
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Topic Author's Original Post - Feb 15, 2017 - 01:39pm PT
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I've mentioned before that our own David Harris ("Ghost") wrote an outstanding novel called Deadly Vortex with climbing as the subtext. It was so great to read an exciting story that was clearly written by an actual climber, but didn't hit you over the head with explanations of every aspect of it.
Just finished another great novel called Summit, written by Harry Farthing, a British guy who's got a decent resume of adventures under his belt. Incredibly, this is his first novel. It's exciting right out of the gate, and stays that way till the very satisfying end. It's sort of parallel, but increasingly overlapping stories about a modern British climbing guide (focused mostly on Everest), and an unknown German attempt in 1939 designed to bolster the prestige of the Reich. Yeah, it's fiction, so liberties have to be allowed, but man...what a read!
If you get the chance to read it, you won't be disappointed. 600+ pages of action, suspense, mystery, and side by side stories of two eras of mountaineering.
Anyone have any other recommendations in this genre?
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looks easy from here
climber
Ben Lomond, CA
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Feb 15, 2017 - 01:52pm PT
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The average Tacoite isn't its target audience, but anyone with middle-school age kids or grandkids might take a look at this one:
One of my close friends is a middle school English teacher, and it's part of his curriculum every year.
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Dolomite
climber
Anchorage
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Feb 15, 2017 - 03:12pm PT
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Three excellent books of climbing fiction published within about the last year and a half.
Snowblind by Daniel Arnold (short stories);
Too Close to God by Jeff Long (short stories collected over a long writing career);
Above the Reich, by David Chaundy-Smart (a novel featuring . . . Nazis!).
All highly recommended~
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Fossil climber
Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
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Feb 15, 2017 - 03:35pm PT
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Ghost's Vortex - ^^^^^!
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Fossil climber
Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
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Feb 15, 2017 - 08:47pm PT
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Not novel, but a gripping narrative poem, reads like a short story. "David", by Earle Birney. Climbers can totally relate.
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Tom Patterson
Trad climber
Seattle
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 16, 2017 - 07:50am PT
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Lots of good reads ahead!
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Gary
Social climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Feb 16, 2017 - 08:02am PT
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A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin has some climbing in it. It's a great book, too. Thanks to DMT for recommending it a while back.
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stevep
Boulder climber
Salt Lake, UT
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Feb 16, 2017 - 09:05am PT
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Solo Faces by James Salter (loosely based on Gary Hemming)
One Green Bottle by Elizabeth Coxhead (the ending will frustrate most climbers, but its very well written)
Along with Vortex, mentioned above, both are in the One Step in the Clouds climbing fiction omnibus, an excellent collection available cheap used.
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Feb 16, 2017 - 01:08pm PT
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Big Friction - Rancho Bernardo - has some good climbing friction.
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Tom Patterson
Trad climber
Seattle
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 16, 2017 - 06:05pm PT
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Was that one of the boulder in your backyard, Greg?
And Mandobob (first I thought it read "Manboob"), those novels look pretty fun. (Do you play mando?)
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Feb 16, 2017 - 06:17pm PT
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Anyone seen Mo?
Anyone looking for Mo?
Look for Mo here.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-374-19083-5
Lighting Out was a memoir by Daniel Duane, well-written and worth a look.
Looking for Mo is a novel which followed that.
Daniel knows his stuff and I liked both books.
He's lurking.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Feb 16, 2017 - 06:43pm PT
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Looking for Mo, a novel by Daniel Duane, features a weird-ass shoe resole guy. No BBPs, though. :0(
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norm larson
climber
wilson, wyoming
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Feb 17, 2017 - 05:28am PT
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The French author/climber Anne Sauvey wrote three great collections of climbing stories.
The Flammes Pierre
Mountains and the Azure
The game of mountains and chance
Her work appeared a few times in Ascent over the years. Some of the best climbing fiction I've read.
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Feb 17, 2017 - 07:11am PT
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Tom, I guess I did assume that you must've known about that one and it's neighbor, Flakey Edges. Not in my backyard but a few miles away in RB. Houses eventually sprung up and may have made it inaccessible since the earliest '70s, when it was a well-known destination for local bouldering to the Poway Mountaineers.
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Tom Patterson
Trad climber
Seattle
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 17, 2017 - 07:38am PT
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The boulder your post actually made me think of is the big one up near where the big round water tower used to be. I used to boulder up there quite a bit, and then it got surrounded by custom homes. Is this the one you're talking about?
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Feb 17, 2017 - 07:56am PT
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Bingo! Big Friction looks like what it sounds like. Back in the day of Robbins, PAs and RDs, it was a bigger deal.
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Tom Patterson
Trad climber
Seattle
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 17, 2017 - 07:59am PT
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Back in the day of Robbins, PAs and RDs, it was a bigger deal.
I remember well! PAs for me.
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Feb 17, 2017 - 08:17am PT
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This is good Poway history for you. There are only 4 named boulders in Poway, to the best of my recollection. Tooth Rock, the Molar, Big Friction, and Flakey Edges.
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| Messages 1 - 19 of total 19 in this topic |
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