Against the Wall |
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Author:
Simon Yates
By Vintage
Average Customer Rating:  
List Price: £7.99
Our Price: £3.00
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Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9780099766414
ISBN: 0099766418
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Number Of Pages: 176
Publication Date: 1998-01-01
Publisher: Vintage
Studio: Vintage |
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Thought provoking..., 2007-07-14
Simon's description of his attempt to summit the Central Tower of Paine in Patagonia was slightly disappointing to me in its lack of emotional description. He does describe the technical difficulties of climbing a vertical rock face very well, enabling readers to envisage just what an enormous undertaking this is. As I read the book through, I felt I was always waiting for something more from Simon, but it never really happened. He writes well how he comes to realise that climbing the summit is not worth risking his life for, but this also makes the book ending slightly flat. I have read far better written mountaineering / adventure books.
High Anxiety, 2002-02-23
I wasn't too sure about this book in the beginning as I began to suspect that Simon had been on some sort of writing course before it. He writes in quite short sentences. Almost keeping it simple and manageable. Being careful not to drift from the point. Once I got into the story, however, I forgot about the style and in the end I felt I had more of an idea into how these types of vertical wall climbs are conducted. Simon is quite frank about his own vulnerability, describing how he retches with fear over some of the dangerous moves he has to commit to on the climb. This vulnerability increases as the expedition extends, and I enjoyed his introspection and conclusion that his addiction has to be kept in balance before it kills him. There's no romance in it - like anything else out of balance, it can seriously detract from your life as you lose friends, roots, family and eventually identity. The writing becomes tinged with disappointment and depression in this search for understanding, but he comes through it and is uplifted in the end.
This is not a typical climbing book, but I found it to be a more balanced account of the climber, what he does and why he has chosen to do it than many others.
Gripping � Well written a must read!, 2005-01-31
I really enjoyed this book, I am a non-climber and could not put the book down, so much so I have since visited a seminar which proved that Simon is as good at public speaking as he is at writing. Simon knows you do not need to make a vertical assent to climb a mountain. I am looking forward to picking up the Flame of Adventure Simon's second book, and I can not wait.
Gripping � Well written a must read!, 2005-01-31
I really enjoyed this book, I am a non-climber and could not put the book down, so much so I have since visited a seminar which proved that Simon is as good at public speaking as he is at writing. Simon knows you do not need to make a vertical assent to climb a mountain. I am looking forward to picking up the Flame of Adventure Simon's second book, and I can not wait.
Climbing ok, but could do without the self-analysis , 2008-03-17
Having recently seen Into The Void, I snapped this book up during a recent visit to the charity shop. As it turned out, it's nothing to do with the famous Joe/crevasse legend, but recounts a difficult climb attempted in Patagonia by the author and 3 climbing friends, all relatively young and green at the time. I've read a few climbing books and in general they're written to record something exceptional (Messner/Krakauer/Simpson), and I suppose I expected this book would be in a similar vein, but the chapters just drifted by in a dull haze of descriptions about the various climbing difficulties to be overcome. I thought, What is the point of this book ? Eventually, towards the end, it's revealed. Simon has a crisis, not happy, doesn't want to take part in the final attempt for the summit. Fine, but then he tries to explain what the problem was, and leaves the reader none the wiser. He talks opaquely about dealing with things back home that he's avoided for too long, but doesn't say what these things are. It's several years since he wrote the book so I hope he's got rid of these demons by now. But apart from the self-analysis aspect, the book's good, a realistic account of a difficult climb in an interesting part of the world.
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