For whatever reason, most people don’t have ambitions to be thrown into committing and terrifying tussle with a Himalayan mountain, battling upwards into thin air in the unwavering pursuit of its incredibly lofty summit. Living these kinds of adventures vicariously is much safer and somewhat more comfortable, if perhaps less rewarding. And so, it’s certain that many, many times more people have read about summiting Everest, K2, the Eiger or Denali than people have actually climbed them. This popular pastime is called armchair mountaineering.
The exploits of mountaineers have long fascinated the general public. Ever since the Golden Age of Alpinism saw the great peaks of the Alps chalked off in the mid 19th century, onlookers have far outnumbered those who’ve risked their lives in Earth’s wilder places. Unlike soccer or basketball, mountaineering is not a spectator sport and the closest many of us will get to experiencing the great summits of the world is through the best climbing films or by reading a jolly good mountaineering book.
But with literally thousands of worthwhile reads, where does one start? Our selection of the best mountaineering books are classics that have overcome the test of time and often language barriers to stand proud on bookshelves across the world. Let’s get into it.
The White Spider by Heinrich Harrer (1959)
Named after the vaguely arachnid-shaped ice field towards the top of the Eiger’s notorious Nordwand (North Face), The White Spider reveals the fascinating history of climbing on one of the world’s most feared alpine faces. The sheer face, nicknamed the Mordwand (Murder Wall), was a much-coveted prize for alpinists in the early 20th century. A series of daring attempts were launched before the first ascent in 1938, with some ending in heartbreaking tragedy.
Spoiler alert! The author was part of the successful first ascent, alongside Anderl Heckmair, Ludwig Vörg and Fritz Kasparek. A remarkable character by any standards, Harrer would go on to write another literary classic, Seven Years in Tibet. It tells the tale of his escape from a prisoner-of-war camp in India during the Second World War, a fraught journey across the remote Tibetan plateau and subsequent experiences in Lhasa, Tibet’s capital.
The Mountains of My Life by Walter Bonatti (1995)
Legendary Italian alpinist Walter Bonatti was, without doubt, one of the greatest mountaineers in history. The Mountains of My Life collects writings from his many great expeditions and climbs, from his role in the controversial first ascent of K2 in 1954, to his solo winter ascent of the North Face of the Matterhorn in 1965, and everything else in between. It’s one of our best mountaineering books because it’s a unique document of pioneering adventures in the world’s high places.
Touching the Void by Joe Simpson (1988)
One of mountaineering’s most legendary survival stories is that of Joe Simpson and his ordeal on the 6,344-meter giant Siulla Grande in the Peruvian Andes. Along with climbing partner Simon Yates, Simpson successfully made the summit before injury forced an emergency descent. This led to the dramatic situation where Simpson was left hanging over a glacier, attached to Yates by a single rope. Yates was faced with a unique dilemma: cut the rope on his partner to save himself or slowly succumb to being pulled off the mountain. The book has been adapted for both screen and stage, underlining its enduring appeal.
Annapurna, a woman’s place by Arelene Blum (1980)
Arlene Blum is one of America’s greatest ever mountaineers, a pioneering leader of all-woman expeditions to some of the world’s most spectacular places. Annapurna, a woman’s place tells the remarkable story of the female 1978 expedition to Annapurna I, the first successful American ascent of the mountain. It’s a tale that reveals the logistical problems the team faced, the battles they fought within and of an expedition that enjoyed success and suffered tragedy in equal measure. Blum’s passionate retelling is a vivid read, at times full of humor and always brutally honest.
Annapurna by Maurice Herzog (1951)
On June 3, 1950, Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal became the first people in history to stand on the summit of an 8,000-meter peak, when they successfully topped out on Annapurna in the Himalayas. Herzog’s subsequent retelling of the adventure isn’t just one of our best mountaineering books, it’s thought to be one of the biggest selling of all time, and widely regarded as one of the most influential. Indeed, the success of both the climb and the book turned Herzog into a bona fide mountaineering celebrity worldwide.
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer (1997)
Perhaps America’s pre-eminent mountain author, Jon Krakaeur has written several classics, including Into the Wild and Eiger Dreams. However, his most famous book, Into Thin Air, was the result of his presence in one of Everest’s darkest chapters, the disaster of 1996. A devastating storm swept across the mountain on a busy summit day, killing eight climbers, including Krakauer’s expedition leader, Rob Hall.
The book, subtitled A personal account of disaster on Everest, tells Krakauer’s version of events and has generated criticism from others from the expedition, particularly around the actions of Kazakh mountaineer Anatoli Boukreev. In response, Boukreev released his own retelling of the disaster, The Climb, during the same year. The events were also the subject of the successful 2015 film Everest, though Krakauer took issue with the film’s content, claiming it to be incorrect.
The Shining Mountain by Peter Boardman (1978)
Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker were two of Britain’s leading alpinists in the late ’70s and early ’80s, as well as being talented authors. Between them, the pair wrote four classics of the time: Everest the Cruel Way and Savage Arena (Tasker), and Sacred Summits and The Shining Mountain (Boardman). The Shining Mountain tells the incredible story of the pair’s climb of the West Wall of Changabang in the Garhwal Himalaya in 1976. It was one of the most audacious climbs of any era and one that went unrepeated for 46 years.
Tragically, Boardman and Tasker died on May 17 1982 on Everest’s North East Ridge, though their legacy lives on in the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature. This British award is given to the finest mountain books of the year at the annual Kendal Mountain Festival.
Space Below My Feet by Gwen Moffat (1961)
This classic memoir follows pioneering British climber Gwen Moffat as she pursued a simple life. Often climbing barefoot, she lived rough and hitchhiked from place to place, from the dark peaks of the Isle of Skye to the resplendent, granite aiguilles of the Alps. As well as the tales of climbing feats, there’s also stories of the opportunistic jobs Moffat took to finance her love of climbing. She’d go on to become the first British woman to qualify as a mountain guide and later carved out a career as a writer.
Beyond the Mountain by Steve House (2009)
Steve House’s career in the high mountains is so impressive that Reinhold Messner, widely regarded as the greatest mountaineer of all time, named him as “the best high-altitude climber in the world” in the foreword to Beyond the Mountain. The book reveals one of the leading lights of American alpinism, from his unique apprenticeship in the mountains of Slovenia to scaling great heights in the Greater Ranges. It culminates in a sensational climb, along with Vince Anderson, of the Central Pillar on Nanga Parbat’s Rupal Face in 2005. This was one of the great mountaineering feats of the modern age and one which earned the pair the Piolet d’Or award.
Mountains of the Mind by Robert Macfarlane (2003)
This entry in our list of the best mountaineering books is a bit different – it’s less a book about mountaineering than an exploration of humans’ fascination with mountains. In the acclaimed Mountains of the Mind, Macfarlane weaves in the history of mountaineering, alongside personal anecdotes, and delves deep into the lure that the world’s high places hold for so many of us. Passages from the book featured prominently in the 2017 film Mountain, which was narrated by the great Willem Dafoe.
