WORDS
SOPHIE BICHENER, BEN THORNTON-HARWOOD
mega exploits
8,000 Metres
Alan Hinkes, Cicerone, £25
There are some feats in life that seem
effortless to onlookers. Mountaineering
isn’t one of them. Blizzards, frostbite,
avalanche and the effects of high
altitude on the human body might have
made it the sport of the brave but, also
– for many – of fatal obsession.
Above 8,000m, where the world’s
highest peaks poke up towards the
stratosphere, such dangers are
ever-present companions, as Hinkes –
the first Briton to climb the world’s
14 top summits – explains in this
blackened-toes-and-all account.
It’s not all ice and brutality, of
course. The book’s stunning shots of
the peaks in and around the Himalayas
can only hint at the incredible beauty
of the views that just a handful of the
most adventurous will ever see. Yet
even the more mundane and everyday
parts of the narrative give an insight
into the macho, have-a-go culture of
those who spend their lives climbing to
the top of the world.
Adventures in reading
Our book picks this month are a macho bunch, with mountaineering exploits,
cooking for blokes and a South Sea sojourn
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