Spy On The Roof Of The World: Espionage and Survival in the Himalayas [Paperback]

Sydney Wignall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2000

In 1955, Sydney Wignall organized the Welsh Himalayan expedition to climb Tibet's highest mountain, Gurla Mandhata. But Wignall and two of his companions were more than just mountaineers; before setting out, Wignall had been recruited by a covert faction within Indian intelligence to report on Chinese military operations in newly invaded Tibet. Wignall and his band of unlikely spies were soon captured and imprisoned by the Red Army, thus beginning an ordeal that would draw on their last reserves of physical and emotional strength. Subjected to rat-infested, subfreezing cells and months of torturous interrogation, Wignall and his colleagues refused to allow their spirits to be broken. Ultimately, international pressure convinced the Chinese to release the three spies. But instead of being flown safely home, they were ordered to return via the Seti Gorge in the middle of winter, a deadly Himalayan pass considered suicidal even in summer. Their bodies wracked with frostbite and dysentery, their final trek to freedom is an amazing testament to their will to survive. (6 X 9, 304 pages, b&w photos, maps)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In this cross between a travel adventure story and an espionage novel, Sydney Wignall tells how he became an ad hoc spy for a renegade faction of Indian intelligence operatives in 1955. Wignall had set out to climb the highest mountain in Tibet, but was recruited to investigate Chinese military activity in the region. After being caught, he spent months in a rat-infested, sub-freezing cell as he underwent interrogation. When international pressure forced his release, his captors "released" him and two companions in a nearly impenetrable wintertime wilderness and said "Go home." Yet Wignall survived--and managed to smuggle out vital information. It is an exhilarating story that only now can be told. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

While organizing a Himalayan expedition in 1955 to climb Tibet's highest peak, Welsh mountaineer Wignall was recruited as a spy by India's secret service. This exhilarating account of his espionage, arrest by Chinese communists, several weeks' imprisonment in a rat-infested Tibetan jail and harrowing escape over a never-before-scaled Himalayan gorge is at once a thrilling real-life spy tale, a serendipitous adventure and an ethnographic travelogue. It is laced with intrigue, close escapes from death, breathtaking vistas and affectionate observations of the Tibetan people surviving under draconian Chinese rule. Wignall, who displays acerbic wit and a flair for storytelling, obtained proof of China's Tibetan military buildup for an attack on India-intelligence ignored by India's Prime Minister Nehru, who befriended the supposedly "anti-imperialist" Mao Tse-tung until China's invasion of northern India in 1962. In prison, Wignall endured solitary confinement and kept a diary that he hid in an inflatable mattress. Decked with sketches from his trek-a mission he was prohibited from divulging for 25 years-his book condemns the West for allowing China's cultural and physical genocide of Tibet. He notes ominously that China is now building a strategic highway to Nepal-an easy means for a future invasion that would give Chinese troops direct access to India. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press; 1st edition (July 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585740691
• ISBN-13: 978-1585740697
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,120,459 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Entertaining, November 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Spy on the Roof of the World (Hardcover)

A good sequel to Harrer's "Seven Years in Tibet." This book covers the time immediately after the Chinese 'liberation' of Tibet. The author's incredible story of survival after being illegally arrested is captivating. The author also has a sharp wit and some of the lies he tells the Chinese are hilarous. Especially the one about the 'real' reason Hillary and Tenzing climbed Everest.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't miss this great read, March 29, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Spy On The Roof Of The World: Espionage and Survival in the Himalayas (Paperback)

Whether you're interested in China, Tibet, or espionage, you will thoroughly enjoy this Brit's account of his run-in the the Chinese People's Liberation Army in 1995. A rather naive mountaineer, he casually accepts intelligence taskings from the British and Indian intelligence services to clandestinely cross the border into Tibet and collect information on the construction of the Xinjiang-Tibet highway. He gets caught. His description of his treatment by the Chinese is done with a wonderful British stiff-upper-lip, keep-your-sense-of-humor style that doesn't camouflage the very real fear and peril he and his colleagues were in. Really a page turner and an enjoyable read.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spying and climbing, April 22, 2000

By 

Keo (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spy on the Roof of the World (Hardcover)

If you like non-fiction adventure stories, this is the book for you! It's more about spying than climbing, so don't expect a Krakauer story, but it is a fascinating and gripping true story. Buy it; you won't regret it.