It isn't often that I will read or listen to a book from the 1970's. But as I was searching for a mountain climbing book on a peak I had not heard of before, I saw this one in the Audible library. I decided to pick it up and I am glad I did. This is my review of Peter Boardman's account of a two-man expedition on Changabang in 1976.
Title/Author:
“The Shining
Mountain” by Peter Boardman, narrated by Stuart Crank
Rating:
4 of 5 stars (Very
Good)
Review:
In 1976, two
climbers from England, Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker, set out to achieve a
first in mountaineering history. They
set out to be the first climbers to summit Changabang’s West Wall. They would not be the first to reach the
summit of this mountain in the Indian Himalayas but they would be first to do
so on this more treacherous path. This book is Boardman’s account of that
expedition, published in 1978.
The audio
version is narrated well by Stuart Crank.
His voice inflections allow the listener to easily distinguish between Boardman
and Tasker, something that would not be easy to do if one has not met the
men. The writing is good as well. Boardman does come off at times as bit of an
elitist with his less-than-flattering remarks about people such as porters, but
when it comes to his description of the climb, it feels like a gripping novel
of survival. This is especially true as
the two of them reach the summit.
Some of the
other features I did like was there wasn’t a long, drawn out description of the
history of the mountain like some other books on mountaineering have. There is some that will help the reader who
is not familiar with the mountain have a little background, but it’s not a
major part of the book. I also felt that
the description of the actual climb, the conversations between the two men and
their feelings both during and after were excellent. Especially that latter part. While yes, Boardman may have made the remarks
mentioned above, those are at least honest.
Keeping in mind when this took place and when the book was written, it
was not uncommon for those types of thoughts to be prevalent at the time.
I live my
vicarious mountain climbing life through these types of books and this one gave
me another mountain for which I have enjoyed hearing about a summit reach. I am also glad I chose the audio version for
this as an excellent narrator can enhance a story like this and Crank does so
marvelously.
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