Unknown Pleasures
Collected writing on life, death, climbing and everything in between
Published on 1. March 2018
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-1-911342-72-4 (ISBN)
Description
'The idea of owning anything except the experience is hubris.'
Unknown Pleasures is a collection of works by the climber and award-winning author Andy Kirkpatrick.
Obsessed with climbing and addicted to writing, Kirkpatrick is a master storyteller. Covering subjects as diverse as climbing, relationships, fatherhood, mental health and the media, it is easy to read, sometimes difficult to digest, and impossible to forget.
One moment he is attempting a rare solo ascent of Norway's Troll Wall, the next he is surrounded by the TV circus while climbing Moonlight Buttress with the BBC's The One Show presenter Alex Jones. Yosemite's El Capitan is ever-present; he climbs it alone - strung out for weeks, and he climbs it with his thirteen-year-old daughter Ella - her first big wall.
His eye for observation and skilled wordcraft make for laugh-out-loud funny moments, while in more hard-hitting pieces he is unflinchingly honest about past and present love and relationships, and pulls no punches with an alternative perspective of our place in the world.
Unknown
Pleasures is Andy Kirkpatrick
at his brilliant best.
Unknown Pleasures is a collection of works by the climber and award-winning author Andy Kirkpatrick.
Obsessed with climbing and addicted to writing, Kirkpatrick is a master storyteller. Covering subjects as diverse as climbing, relationships, fatherhood, mental health and the media, it is easy to read, sometimes difficult to digest, and impossible to forget.
One moment he is attempting a rare solo ascent of Norway's Troll Wall, the next he is surrounded by the TV circus while climbing Moonlight Buttress with the BBC's The One Show presenter Alex Jones. Yosemite's El Capitan is ever-present; he climbs it alone - strung out for weeks, and he climbs it with his thirteen-year-old daughter Ella - her first big wall.
His eye for observation and skilled wordcraft make for laugh-out-loud funny moments, while in more hard-hitting pieces he is unflinchingly honest about past and present love and relationships, and pulls no punches with an alternative perspective of our place in the world.
Unknown
Pleasures is Andy Kirkpatrick
at his brilliant best.
Reviews / Votes
'A wonderful book, I raise a glass to you.' - Stevie Haston 'Eminently readable, perfectly written, thought provoking, challenging and very current. Read every page, think about them, agree or disagree, but don't miss out on these superbly expressed cogent tales. This book deserves to be read widely and not just by those who know Andy Kirkpatrick is "a bit of a climber"!' - John Hall, Professional Mountaineer magazine 'I have no doubt that some will find this book controversial, demanding and challenging. But I enjoyed reading it, and would recommend others to do the same. It is well produced, and is a case bound book that meets the high standards Vertebrate have set for this type of production.' - Dennis Gray, Footless Crow 'Kirkpatrick is at his strongest (which is very strong indeed) in the climbing pieces. It is climbing that gives him the lens through which he can most clearly see what it means to be alive.' - Ian Crofton, Scottish Mountaineering Club JournalMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Product notice
With printed dust jacket
Illustrations
Black and white illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 162 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
560 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-911342-72-4 (9781911342724)
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
Andy Kirkpatrick
Unknown Pleasures
Collected writing on life, death, climbing and everything in between
E-Book
02/2018
Vertebrate Digital
€5.99
Available for download
Person
Andy Kirkpatrick is an award-winning author and climber. With a reputation for seeking out routes where the danger is real and the return questionable, he has pushed himself on some of the hardest walls and faces around the world. He was born and raised on a council estate in Hull, one of the UK's flattest cities, and suffered from severe dyslexia which went undiagnosed until he was nineteen. Thriving on this apparent adversity, Andy transformed himself into one of the world's most driven and accomplished climbers and an award-winning writer. In 2001 he undertook an eleven-day solo ascent of the Reticent Wall on El Capitan, Yosemite, one of the hardest solo climbs in the world. This climb was the central theme of his first book, Psychovertical, which won the 2008 Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature. His second book, Cold Wars, won the 2012 Boardman Tasker Prize. In 2014 he partnered BBC One's The One Show presenter Alex Jones as she climbed Moonlight Buttress in Zion National Park in aid of Sport Relief.
Content
Preface; Introduction; Illustrations; 1: Climbing, Expeditions and Adventures; 1.1 The Land of Green Ginger; 1.2 High Marks; 1.3 Broken; 1.4 Boys Don't Cry; 1.5 Forces; 1.6 Lessons; 1.7 The Troll's Gift; 1.8 Queen Maud Land; 1.9 Celebrity Abuse; 1.10 Edge of Myself; 1.11 Pizza; 1.12 No Better Knot; Bad Poetry: The Mountain; 2: Looking On; 2.13 Imperfect Brother; 2.14 A Crying Girl; 2.15 Chongo by the Power; 2.16 Long Runs the Fox; 3: Gear and Technique; 3.17 Life at Retail; 3.18 A Mile Further Down the Road; Bad Poetry: Winter; 4: Life, Death and In-between; 4.19 The Haunted Cliff; 4.20 A Piece of Wood; 4.21 Until it Hurts no More; 4.22 The Boat; 4.23 Everest Sucking on the Barrel; 4.24 Words Like Morphine; 4.25 She Walks Away; 4.26 The Artist; 4.27 Rabbit Stories; 4.28 After Her; Bad Poetry: POLY WALL; 5: Unidentifiable; 5.29 Roger Godfrin; 5.30 How Does a Clock Tick?; 5.31 Learned Helplessness; 5.32 Dog; Epilogue: What I've Learned; Notes; Acknowledgements.