Customer Reviews

A Book of Memories

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Once on the flake I had to move quickly and free-climb into the corner ten feet away. [...] Realising that I could not hang on long, I lunged to the left and in a series of rapid ape-like movements, stopped at the end beneath the corner. A race was now on. I needed to get a piece of equipment into the crack above and clip into it before my strength ran out. [...] My left arm buckled under the strain and my hand uncurled from behind the flake. I put my right hand back on the flake just as my left arm finally gave out. Shaking it vigorously to speed up recovery, I started to panic. ..."

This is Simon Yates retelling of a 3 week expedition-style ascent of a remote big-wall in southern Chile during Christmas 1987 with three other British climbers. The author, an accomplished climber in his own right, is (undeservedly) most famous for cutting the rope on Joe Simpson during a descent of Siula Grande. The climb was technically difficult and progress often slow but it was the Patagonian weather which posed the greatest threat and forced retreat several times during the climb. While some of the text revolves around the dangers of leading relatively blank sections, mental rather than physical exhaustion dominate much of the story. In the end, it is the author's internal struggle which determines the course of events.

Yates' writing style is easily read. The book has no literary aspirations but does provide a narrative ambiance, as though the story is shared among friends in a pub. With realistic dialogue and honest introspection, Yates is able to bring you, as the reader, to Patagonia and guide you up the rope with the climbers. Yates provides welcome tangents in the narrative by drawing on his wealth of experience to recall events of previous expeditions such as when his base camp in the Karakoram was flattened by serac fall, or a particularly daring solo ascent of Ben Nevis. Only a true enthusiast of autosports enjoys a race without a collision. Just so, it takes an honest enthusiast of climbing to appreciate an expedition account without a major disaster. Unfortunately this reality predetermines the book to a narrower audience than it deserves. In my opinion, this is an excellent form of mountaineering literature and a welcome response to sensationalism.

On a grander scale, an account of big-wall aid climbing is of little relevance to my own interests in mountaineering. However, there is a wide array of details which I found fascinating: coping with a hypothermic climbing partner, using slings fixed on ice-axes imbedded in the wall as aiders, narrowly avoiding an avalanche after starting too late in the morning. Scattered throughout are a litany of humorous moments tinged with a certain realism most of us can appreciate such as Yates getting mad at a mate who forgot his mitts at camp, and irate when another mate offers his only pair to help him.

While several motifs in the book such as being up "against the wall", hoping to surmount "the central tower" (of "Paine" nonetheless), explicit descriptions of crack climbing and nut placement, to say nothing of the double meaning in the above quote, allude to a curious psychological framework more lurid than I would want to explore, the perspective of this text lies elsewhere. These lads represent a transitional period in mountaineering history between earlier upper-class gentlemen alpinists inspired by colonialist ambitions to conquer nature and the commercial enterprises of the nineties fuelled by thrill-seeking nuevo riche. Yates and his companions were decidedly antiestablishment and retreated to isolated corners of the world insulated by mountaineering counter-culture. In the present age, those able to overcome paralysis when confronted with the modern existential crisis have assumed hero-status [1]. Where Jeff Lebowski and Walter Sobchak turned to bowling [2], Yates and company turned to climbing. Several descriptions and interpretations of risk throughout the text conceptualize near-death experience as an existential exercise which presents a little-explored motivation for climbing as both sport and philosophy. Yates' nihilistic attitudes in the book are reminiscent of Joe Simpson's sentiments during the prologue to the film "Touching the Void"[3]:

"We were fairly anarchic, fairly irresponsible. We didn't give a damn about anyone else or anything else. We just wanted to climb the world. And it was fun...brilliant fun."

Good escapist reading, an introspective account of climbing excitement and a great model of what expedition accounts should be.

References:
1 Schepisi, F. (1993) Six Degrees of Separation.
2 Coen, J. (1998) The Big Lebowski.
3 Macdonald, K. (2003) Touching the Void.

'Against the Wall' details a climbing trip by the author and three other climbers in Patagonia. The climb represents a turning point in the author's life, though it takes most of the book for Yates to make his point!

Towards the end of the book, Yates explores how an unbalanced outlook on life can lead to many forms of disaster (inside and outside of mountaineering). As part of that discussion, Yates also touches briefly on the Siula Grande trip (with Joe Simpson), and how a series of mistakes lead to the cutting of the rope.

I would reccommend this to folks who enjoy mountaineering and adventure books... not at the top of my list but reccommended nonetheless.

This book is a great story on the journey of a low budget mountainer and his friends.It is a enjoyable book to read and can be exciting.

I love the fact that this book was written and published. It proves that not only books about climbing disasters can be interesting reading. While the action does not measure up your guts and gore climbing books, this should not be dismissed as dull. It is a story of your more typical, hard, first ascent and a fine read.

Nothing really that exciting in this rather straight forward account of a first ascent in Patagonia. The author describes a first ascent of the Central Pillar of Paine. No major epics, personality or culture conflicts just a typical climb. The author relates doubts about his climbing future, expressing a desire to "settle down." I found myself saying, "Who cares?" Joe Simpson, Yates's former climbing partner, better describes his own reasons and doubts about climbing. Nothing really stands out to recommend this book. That this book was written is surprising concerning the rather weak ending. The characters and writing are rather plain, as are the situations. A book that can be easily passed by.

This book is a great story on the journey of a low budget mountainer and his friends.It is a enjoyable book to read and can be exciting.

Nothing really that exciting in this rather straight forward account of a first ascent in Patagonia. The author describes a first ascent of the Central Pillar of Paine. No major epics, personality or culture conflicts just a typical climb. The author relates doubts about his climbing future, expressing a desire to "settle down." I found myself saying, "Who cares?" Joe Simpson, Yates's former climbing partner, better describes his own reasons and doubts about climbing. Nothing