Annapurna South Face (Tr)

This book expects a knowledge of climbing that I didn't have - with numerous terms tied to climbing that were not clear to me. The pictures make up for this and some of the stories are very interesting. Climbing the north face of Annapurna is quite a feat though and based upon that, if you are interested in these sorts of adventure books, I recommend this one.

The first ascent of the South Face of Annapurna is told in Bonington's characteristically engaging style. No detail of organization, logistics or communication is left out, with the result that we end up knowing quite a lot about what the climbers had for breakfast and what was said during their radio conversations; but I see this as a good thing. The book is slightly lacking in exciting scenes of actual climbing, as many expedition books unfortunately tend to be, but has plenty of gripping material nevertheless.