Summit Fever [Paperback]

Andrew Greig (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1997

This is an account of the successful ascent of the Mustagh Tower in 1984 by previously little-known British climbers, and a description of the author's own feelings and experiences as a novice climber on a full-blown Himalayan expedition. The reader follows him through his preparations, the problems of adjustment, the last-minute negotiation of financial and bureaucratic obstacles, the joys and hazards of the approach route from Rawalpindi through Baltistan. The book depicts the stark and hostile beauty of the highest mountain range in the world, as well as the warm fellowship at Base Camp and above. Andrew Greig gives portraits of the members of the team, going some way towards answering the inevitable questions of why climbers climb. Andrew Greig is the author of "Men on Ice", "Kingdoms of Experience" and "The Return of John Macnab".

Product Details

• Paperback: 281 pages
• Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd (January 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0862417422
• ISBN-13: 978-0862417420
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,769,067 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars AN ARMCHAIR CLIMBER'S DREAM COME TRUE..., June 8, 2002

By 

Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Summit Fever (Hardcover)

Imagine yourself, armchair climber that you invariably are, being invited by a well respected mountaineer to join an expedition to the Karakoram Himalayas to write a book about the experience. What would you do?

Well, if you are like Andrew Greig, notwithstanding lack of climbing experience, you find the invitation hard to resist, especially since the mountaineer who invites you, Mal Duff, is personally willing to put you through the paces on some of the local peaks to help you get into the groove of climbing. Before you know it, you find yourself on expedition in the Karakoram Himalayas headed to the Mustagh Tower.

This book is the author's account of how he found himself on a high altitude climbing expedition, what he did to train and get in shape for it, what he did when he got there, and what his perceptions were, as a former arm chair climber, of the expedition experience and climbing at high altitude.

His account is gritty, realistic, and he tells it the way he sees it, warts and all. Well written, though narrow in scope, it celebrates the roller coaster existence of being on a real live adventure ride that is the lot of expeditioners everywhere.