The Boardman Tasker Omnibus
Savage Arena and Everest the Cruel Way; The Shining Mountain and Sacred Summits
Published on 1. February 2012
Book
Paperback/Softback
876 pages
978-1-898573-85-2 (ISBN)
Description
Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker were at the cutting edge of mountaineering during the 1970s and early 1980s. Talented writers as well as climbers, they left two legacies. One was their great endeavour, their climbs on high peaks with bold, lightweight and innovative methods; the second and more lasting achievement was the books they wrote and left behind. The Boardman Tasker Omnibus brings together four books in which the two men describe their remarkable climbs, expeditions and first ascents.
The books have become mountaineering classics; incredibly popular and brilliantly written accounts that set the standard for mountaineering literature. Tasker's Everest the Cruel Way is the story of an attempt to climb the highest mountain on earth by a new route - a climb which proved too much for a group of Britain's finest mountaineers. And in Savage Arena, Tasker vividly describes his participation in the first British winter ascent of the North Face of the Eiger, his first ascent of the West Wall of Changabang with Boardman and his attempts on K2 and Kangchenjunga. The Changabang ascent was described by Sir Chris Bonington as 'a preposterous plan. Still, if you do get up it, it'll be the hardest thing that's been done in the Himalayas.'
Boardman's account of the climb - very different to Tasker's - is recounted in The Shining Mountain, whilst in Sacred Summits he combines the excitement of extreme climbing with acute observation of life in the mountains as he describes the remarkable ascents he made during one single climbing season.
The Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature was established in Pete and Joe's honour, and is presented annually to the author or co-authors of an original work which has made an outstanding contribution to mountain literature. For more information about the Boardman Tasker Prize, visit www.boardmantasker.com
The books have become mountaineering classics; incredibly popular and brilliantly written accounts that set the standard for mountaineering literature. Tasker's Everest the Cruel Way is the story of an attempt to climb the highest mountain on earth by a new route - a climb which proved too much for a group of Britain's finest mountaineers. And in Savage Arena, Tasker vividly describes his participation in the first British winter ascent of the North Face of the Eiger, his first ascent of the West Wall of Changabang with Boardman and his attempts on K2 and Kangchenjunga. The Changabang ascent was described by Sir Chris Bonington as 'a preposterous plan. Still, if you do get up it, it'll be the hardest thing that's been done in the Himalayas.'
Boardman's account of the climb - very different to Tasker's - is recounted in The Shining Mountain, whilst in Sacred Summits he combines the excitement of extreme climbing with acute observation of life in the mountains as he describes the remarkable ascents he made during one single climbing season.
The Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature was established in Pete and Joe's honour, and is presented annually to the author or co-authors of an original work which has made an outstanding contribution to mountain literature. For more information about the Boardman Tasker Prize, visit www.boardmantasker.com
Reviews / Votes
The most riveting book on climbing that I have ever read. - Sir Chris Bonington.A gripping story of tremendous courage and unbelievable endurance. - Sir Edmund Hillary.
More details
Edition
Combined volume
Language
English
Place of publication
Macclesfield
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-trade)
With flaps
Illustrations
black & white photos, drawing & maps
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 45 mm
Weight
1220 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-898573-85-2 (9781898573852)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Previous edition
Peter Boardman | Joe Tasker
The Boardman Tasker Omnibus
"Savage Arena", "Shining Mountain", "Sacred Summits", "Everest the Cruel Way"
Book
12/1996
2nd Edition
Baton Wicks Publications
€41.07
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Persons
Peter Boardman was born on Christmas Day in 1950 and became one of Britain's most-respected high altitude mountaineers. He was a mountaineering instructor at Glenmore Lodge in the Cairngorms, and National Officer of the British Mountaineering Council before being appointed Director of the International School of Mountaineering in Leysin, Switzerland.
He was part of Chris Bonington's 1975 Everest expedition, made an almost impossibly difficult ascent of Changabang with Joe Tasker in 1976 and went on to climb Kangchenjunga and to attempt to summit K2, being beaten back by poor weather and exhaustion. Mount Kongur followed in 1981 and, in March 1982, in a small expedition with Chris Bonington, Joe Tasker and Dick Renshaw, he attempted the previously unclimbed and highly difficult North East Ridge of Everest, where he and Joe Tasker tragically lost their lives.
Peter and Joe left two legacies. One was their great endeavour, their climbs on high peaks with bold, lightweight innovative methods, the second and more lasting achievement is the books they wrote and left behind. Peter's talent for writing emerged through his climbing career. The success of his first book The Shining Mountain was immediate in the climbing world and won him wider acclaim with the John Llewelyn Rhys Memorial Prize for literature in 1979. Sacred Summits, published shortly after his death, described the climbing year of 1979, the trips to New Guinea, Kangchenjunga and Gaurisankar.
The Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature was established in Pete and Joes' honour, and is presented annually to the author or co-authors of an original work which has made an outstanding contribution to mountain literature. For more information about the Boardman Tasker Prize, visit: www.boardmantasker.com
He was part of Chris Bonington's 1975 Everest expedition, made an almost impossibly difficult ascent of Changabang with Joe Tasker in 1976 and went on to climb Kangchenjunga and to attempt to summit K2, being beaten back by poor weather and exhaustion. Mount Kongur followed in 1981 and, in March 1982, in a small expedition with Chris Bonington, Joe Tasker and Dick Renshaw, he attempted the previously unclimbed and highly difficult North East Ridge of Everest, where he and Joe Tasker tragically lost their lives.
Peter and Joe left two legacies. One was their great endeavour, their climbs on high peaks with bold, lightweight innovative methods, the second and more lasting achievement is the books they wrote and left behind. Peter's talent for writing emerged through his climbing career. The success of his first book The Shining Mountain was immediate in the climbing world and won him wider acclaim with the John Llewelyn Rhys Memorial Prize for literature in 1979. Sacred Summits, published shortly after his death, described the climbing year of 1979, the trips to New Guinea, Kangchenjunga and Gaurisankar.
The Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature was established in Pete and Joes' honour, and is presented annually to the author or co-authors of an original work which has made an outstanding contribution to mountain literature. For more information about the Boardman Tasker Prize, visit: www.boardmantasker.com