Quest into the Unknown
My life as a climbing nomad
Published on 4. April 2019
Book
Paperback/Softback
416 pages
978-1-911342-83-0 (ISBN)
Description
Highly Commended, Outdoor Book category, Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild Awards for Excellence 2019
We are all climbing where we are and with the gear we use in no small part due to Tony Howard's quest for adventure.
Tony Howard rose to fame in 1965 as a member of a group of young climbers from northern England who made the first British ascent of Norway's Troll Wall; a climb described by Joe Brown as, 'One of the greatest ever achievements by British rock climbers'. Tony went on to design the modern sit harness, now used worldwide by most climbers. He founded the company Troll Climbing Equipment but never stopped exploring. Quest into the Unknown is his story.
Tony has dedicated his life to travelling the world in search of unclimbed rock faces and remote trekking adventures. The scale of his travels is vast: he has visited all of the North African countries, much of the Arab land of the Middle East, the mountainous regions of Scandinavia, Canada and the rocky spine of the Americas, the Himalaya, remote Indian provinces, South East Asia, Madagascar, South Georgia and Antarctica. This book, the last word in adventure travel, takes the reader from Tony's youth spent developing the crags of the English Peak District, via whaling ships in the Southern Ocean, thousand-mile canoe trips in the Canadian Arctic, living amongst the Bedouin in the rocky mountains of Jordan, to the isolated opium tribes of Thailand.
Tony Howard's Quest into the Unknown is the jaw-dropping account of a life of adventure that is the very definition of true exploration.
We are all climbing where we are and with the gear we use in no small part due to Tony Howard's quest for adventure.
Tony Howard rose to fame in 1965 as a member of a group of young climbers from northern England who made the first British ascent of Norway's Troll Wall; a climb described by Joe Brown as, 'One of the greatest ever achievements by British rock climbers'. Tony went on to design the modern sit harness, now used worldwide by most climbers. He founded the company Troll Climbing Equipment but never stopped exploring. Quest into the Unknown is his story.
Tony has dedicated his life to travelling the world in search of unclimbed rock faces and remote trekking adventures. The scale of his travels is vast: he has visited all of the North African countries, much of the Arab land of the Middle East, the mountainous regions of Scandinavia, Canada and the rocky spine of the Americas, the Himalaya, remote Indian provinces, South East Asia, Madagascar, South Georgia and Antarctica. This book, the last word in adventure travel, takes the reader from Tony's youth spent developing the crags of the English Peak District, via whaling ships in the Southern Ocean, thousand-mile canoe trips in the Canadian Arctic, living amongst the Bedouin in the rocky mountains of Jordan, to the isolated opium tribes of Thailand.
Tony Howard's Quest into the Unknown is the jaw-dropping account of a life of adventure that is the very definition of true exploration.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-trade)
With flaps
Illustrations
Photographs, colour and black and white
Dimensions
Height: 233 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 37 mm
Weight
790 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-911342-83-0 (9781911342830)
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
Additional editions
E-Book
04/2019
Vertebrate Digital
€5.99
Available for download
Person
Tony Howard grew up in the Chew Valley, at the northern tip of the Peak District. After starting climbing in 1953, Tony became well known in climbing circles for his new routes and his contribution to local guidebooks. He worked as an instructor in the early 1960s and qualified as a BMC Guide in 1965, the year he and his friends famously made the first ascent of Norway's 1,000-metre Troll Wall. Tony was a founding partner of Troll Climbing Equipment, producing many innovative designs such as the world's first commercial range of nuts, the first climbing sit harnesses and the first sewn slings. He has climbed all over the world, discovering new areas and making many first ascents. Tony is a regular contributor to outdoor magazines, and has written or contributed to guidebooks for the English Peak District, Norway, Oman, Morocco, Jordan and Palestine.
Content
Precis; PART ONE; Chapter 1. Early Days -Part One; Chapter 2. Early Days -Part Two; Chapter 3. Early Days -Part Three; Chapter 4. Teenage Kicks -Part One; Chapter 5. Teenage Kicks -Part Two; Chapter 6. The Rimmon; Chapter 7. Whaling Days -South Georgia Bound; Chapter 8. Whaling Days -Antarctic Adventures; Chapter 9. Keep on Rockin'; Chapter 10. Winter Wanderings; Chapter 11. Norway -Arctic Adventures; Chapter 12. Jobs on the Rocks; Chapter 13. Dolomite Days; Chapter 14. Moroccan Mountains; Chapter 15. Norway -The Troll Wall and other escapades; Chapter 16. Life on the Ocean Wave; Chapter 17. Norway -The Romsdal Years; Chapter 18. The Times they are a-Changing; Chapter 19. On the Road Again; Chapter 20. Canada -Yukon Yarns; Chapter 21. Canada -'The Trail of '98'; Chapter 22. Homeward Bound; Chapter 23. Back Home; Chapter 24. Greenland; Chapter 25. Life at Troll; Chapter 26. Persian Perambulations; Chapter 27. And Then There Were Two; Chapter 28. Atakor Adventures; Chapter 29. Meanwhile, Back at Work ...; Chapter 30. Spanish Rock; Chapter 31. Morocco -Here Comes the Sun; Chapter 32. Alpine Adventures; Chapter 33. All Change ...; Chapter 34. Hard Rock Days; Chapter 35. Sudan Saga -Kassala Mountains; Chapter 36. Sudan Saga -Ticket to Ride ; PART TWO; Chapter 37. Exploring Jordan -Wadi Rum Discovery; Chapter 38. Exploring Jordan -Rum Rock ; Chapter 39. Exploring Jordan -Petra's Secret Canyon; Chapter 40. Exploring Jordan -Beyond Petra ; Chapter 41. Exploring Jordan -More Rum Goings On; Chapter 42. Exploring Jordan -Bedouin Rock; Chapter 43. Travels in Thailand; Chapter 44. Oman Odyssey -A Surprise Christmas; Chapter 45. Oman Odyssey -Musandam to Dhofar; Chapter 46. Exploring Egypt -Sinai and the Red Sea Mountains; Chapter 47. Exploring Egypt -Some You Win, and Some You Lose; Chapter 48. Incredible India -The Western Ghats and Beyond; Chapter 49. Incredible India -Ladakh and Beyond; Chapter 50. Exploring Ethiopia -The Roof of Africa; Chapter 51. A Libyan Invitation; Chapter 52. Middle Eastern Meanderings; Chapter 53. Exploring Jordan -The Lowest Adventures on Earth; Chapter 54. Madagascar -Mystical Mountains; Chapter 55. Welcome to Palestine; Chapter 56. Exploring Egypt -If at First You Don't Succeed ...; Chapter 57. Exploring Egypt -Nubian Nemesis; Chapter 58. Incredible India -The North East Frontier; Chapter 59. Incredible India -Saramati Surprise; Chapter 60. Palestine -Is there anybody out there?; Chapter 61. Exploring Jordan -The Knife Canyon; Chapter 62. Mali -Mountains, Magic and Music; Chapter 63. Exploring Jordan -New Discoveries; Chapter 64. Exploring Jordan -The Jordan Trail; Chapter 65. Incredible India -A Walk on the Wild Side; Chapter 66. Exploring Jordan -Back on the Trail; Chapter 67. Memory Lane; Chapter 68. The End of The Trail; Postscript.