Summit Fever

Description

When poet Andrew Greig was asked by the near-legendary Scottish mountaineer Mal Duff to join his ascent of the Mustagh Tower in the Karakoram Himalayas, he had a poor head for heights and no climbing experience whatsoever. The result is this unique book. Short-listed for the Boardman-Tasker Prize and already something of a classic in adventure literature, Summit Fever has been loved by climbers and literary critics alike for its refreshing candour, wit and insight, and the haunting beauty of its writing. It is for every armchair adventurer who ever wondered what it would be like to climb in the Himalayas. Much more than a book about climbing, it celebrates the risk, joy and adventure of being alive.

Andrew Greig was born and brought up in Scotland. He has published many collections of poetry, including Men on Ice (Canongate) and two novels, Electric Brae (Canongate), which was short-listed for the MacVitie's Prize and received a Scottish Arts Council Award, and The Return of John MacNab (Headline), which topped the Scottish best-seller list in 1996. He took part in a number of Himalayan expeditions and from his experiences wrote Summit Fever (Hutchinson) and Kingdoms of Experience (Hutchinson).

* A wonderful, gritty expedition book. -- Chris Bonnington