Learning To Breathe - Couverture souple

Cave, Andy

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 009947266X ISBN 13 : 9780099472667

Editeur : Arrow, 2006

Synopsis

Learning to Breathe At the age of sixteen, Andy Cave followed in his father's and grandfather's footsteps and became a miner - one of the last recruits into a dying world. Every day he would descend 3,000 feet into Grimethorpe pit. But at weekends Andy escaped from the pithead to a very different world - testing his nerve on the cliffs and mountains around Britain. Full description

A propos du livre

Quatrième de couverture :

A brilliant book, well-written, gripping, honest and very moving' Chris Bonington

'This passion of mine had started long ago when, as an inquisitive child, I scrambled up the local pit muckstack. Later, as a teenage coalminer disillusioned with the world of dirt and darkness, I had fallen in love with real mountain climbing. That night, approaching the tent on the knife-edge ridge of a Himalayan peak, little did I know that this love affair was about to end. The following four days would be the most harrowing of my life.'

'The story of Andy Cave's transition from Yorkshire coal miner into one of Britain's best climbers echoes the heroic tones of Don Whillans or Joe Brown... Thoughtful and often gripping... Cave explains what it actually feels like to climb the kind of exceptionally dangerous routes that the rest of us, climbers or not, find unimaginable. There are few other climbers with the writing skills to be able to pull this off. There are fewer still who have led such an interesting and varied life as Cave.' Scotland on Sunday

'Andy Cave's compelling autobiography is, like Joe Simpson's Touching the Void, a gripping book on mountaineering that will appeal even to those who didn't know they were interested in climbing.... Cave is a talented writer who brings the emotional and physical aspects of mining and climbing to life in an understated but lyrical tone... Fascinating.' Observer

Présentation de l'éditeur :

At the age of sixteen, Andy Cave followed in his father's and grandfather's footsteps and became a miner - one of the last recruits into a dying world. Every day he would descend 3,000 feet into Grimethorpe pit.
But at weekends Andy escaped from the pithead to a very different world - testing his nerve on the cliffs and mountains around Britain, and forging endearing friendships with his new companions.
Enduring the 1984-5 miners' strike - the guilt, the broken friendships, the poverty - Andy continued to indulge his passion. In 1986, after much soul searching, he quit his job as a miner in order to devote himself to mountaineering. At the same time he decided to educate himself, acquiring almost from a standing start academic qualifications including a PhD in socio-linguistics. This extraordinary twin odyssey is graphically recalled in this remarkable book.
In the Himalaya in 1997 Andy achieved a courageous first ascent on one of the steepest and most difficult summits in the world - the North Face of Changabang. Seventeen days later, he and only two of his team-mates crawled into base camp, frostbitten, emaciated and traumatised. His account of this terrifying experience provides a dramatic climax to this compelling story.

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Arrow
• Date d'édition: 2006
• ISBN 10: 009947266X
• ISBN 13: 9780099472667
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 320