Starlight and Storm (Modern Library Exploration) [Paperback]

Gaston Rebuffat (Author), John Hunt (Translator), Wilfrid Noyce (Translator), David Roberts (Introduction), Jon Krakauer (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

From the 1920s to the 1950s, the race was on in Europe to score first ascents of the most formidable routes in the Alps and Dolomites. Buoyed by the advent of artificial climbing techniques (primarily the use of pitons), teams from France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, and Poland scaled the north faces of the Eiger, the Drus, the Matterhorn, the Grandes Jorasses, and other hallowed peaks, often pooling resources to obtain previously unimaginable success (and often tragedy), while the world below was ravaged by two brutal world wars. Noted French climbing guide Gaston Rébuffat lived at the center of this crucial era in mountaineering history. Starlight and Storm, first published in French in 1954 as Étoiles et Tempêtes, is his personal account of a rugged and glorious time before Gore-Tex, when men, soaked and chilled to the bone, sang to keep each other from falling asleep (forever) during exposed bivouacs in sub-zero degree snowstorms. Rébuffat's love of the climber's life is evident with each turn of the page. Where contemporary authors like Jon Krakauer, who provides this reissue's foreword, describe climbing in terms of nightmares and inner struggles, Rébuffat moves from one harrowing ascent to the next with uncommon gaiety and charm. "We have the instinct for it, the love of rocks and the necessary skill," he writes of time spent on the Drus, "so that we can climb without being worried by technical problems. Thus the whole climb was pure joy, for, while superficially watching over the actual ascent, the spirit had leisure to wander happily." The mysterious joy and lure of traversing earth's high places are expressed with a boyish innocence lost on much of today's climbing culture, making Starlight and Storm an enjoyable read, probably unlike any mountaineering journal you have ever encountered. --Kristopher Kaiyala

From Library Journal

The Modern Library is going straight to the top to launch its new "Exploration" series with this volume by R?buffat, a legendary mountaineering guide. Published in the 1950s, this recounts his numerous adventures scaling nature's greatest heights of ice and rock. Though you could get a nosebleed just reading this book, R?buffat allows the reader to experience adventures they otherwise could only dream about.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Modern Library (September 7, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375755063
• ISBN-13: 978-0375755064
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #351,158 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #73 in Books > History > Australia & Oceania > Polar Regions

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Classic, but not unique, September 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Starlight and Storm (Modern Library Exploration) (Paperback)

This book belongs on the shelf of anyone who collects climbing literature. Beautifully written (and/or beautifully translated), it presents a romantic, joyous view of climbing which may seem foreign to many modern climbers. The material on Alpine expeditions is very similar to that found in the works of Diemberger and Buhl, so it probably isn't worth buying the book for those alone; Rebuffat skips over Annapurna, for reasons which become clear when you read the introduction. _Starlight and Storm_ does, however, have an added bonus in a wonderful essay on climbing and danger, included in the section on technique. Overall, a book worth having.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the classics, April 20, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Starlight and Storm (Modern Library Exploration) (Paperback)

This is a great book, one of the classics. However, I do agree with the reviewer who complains that there isn't enough stuff about the actual climbing. Not only did Rebuffat do many famous ascents, but he also climbed with the greatest French climbers of his generation, most notably fellow Annapurna expedition members Louis Lachenal and Lionel Terray -- and he basically never mentions them. It is as if Gaston was too humble, and thought no one would be interested -- but we are, we are!

Anyone who enjoys this book needs to run not walk to find Lionel Terray's "Conquistadors of the Useless" which is very sadly out of print in English (although still a mainstay of French climbing literature). Not only do you get great stories of Gaston himself from Terray (including their ill-starred and hysterically funny attempt to run a farm together), but you also get all the blow by blow descriptions you could ever want of the big climbs -- the Walker, the Eiger, etc, -- as done by the legendary Lachenal-Terray rope.

Also, look out for "True Summit" by David Roberts, a new history of the Annapurna expedition which is due to be released later this Spring. And if you read French, try the two hot books in French climbing circles these days: Rebuffat's recently published biography and Louis Lachenal's memoirs ("Carnets du Vertige")

... not to mention Rebuffat's several other books and, yes, even movies!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars POETRY IN MOTION...THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE ROPE, August 31, 2000

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Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Starlight and Storm (Modern Library Exploration) (Paperback)

Lyrically written, the author, Gaston Rebuffat, one of the world's climbing greats, expresses such joy for mountaineering that it is infectious. No climbing enthusiast's library should be without this book. The photograph of Rebuffat which graces the cover of this book is alone worth the price of the book.

Rebuffat is positively poetic in his description of various climbs. The reader almost feels as if one were as one with the mountain. A purist, the author climbed not for the glory of it, but for the sheer joy of the brotherhood of the rope. In these days, where climbing is often just a reason for a media event, the author's approach is refreshing, indeed.