The Games Climbers Play

The Games Climbers Play is a collection of essays, tales and stories that plugs into the frenetic world of rock climbers and mountaineers. Written by a diverse band of writers who range from Frank Smythe, Dougal Haston and Pete Boardman to Martin Boysen, Ed Drummond and Yvon Chouinard, the book captures the joie de vivre that attends genuinely adventurous climbing, while never losing sight of the deadly serious game that it can become. The collection of essays articles, poems and short stories was first printed in 1978 and has been reprinted a whopping six times - a testament to its popularity and position as a classic of climbing literature. Many of the entries are drawn from magazines and journals, which gives Games an immediacy not found in other collections. It is spiced with light-hearted and humorous items, tempered with some polemical and philosophical tracts and illustrated by Sheridan Anderson's cartoons, which punctuate any hint of pomposity with their scathing caricatures and observations, to complete a truly irreverent picture of the climbing game. This latest edition contains commentaries to each article. Despite the passage of time, the thoughts and ideas of the band of voices collected here are instantly recognizable as belonging to that breed of beings that gravitate towards vertical challenges. Climbers have always played, and always will, the very many varieties of their game, and this wonderful anthology is a wonderful reflection of that fact, a resource for the next generation; you are not alone, many have spent lifetimes enslaved to a playing the climbers game, and many more will follow, incensed by the mandate of this kaleidoscopic anthology.

Ken Wilson was editor of Mountain magazine from 1969 until 1978 and owner of the outdoor publishing company Diadem from 1978 until 1989, when it was incorporated into Hodder. In 1993 Hodder downsized, and Ken set up the publishing house Bâton Wicks. He has been publisher and author of many of the most important and famed outdoor books in the British climbing world, including the ‘Hard Rock’ series: The Games Climbers Play, The Black Cliff, Cold Climbs, Wild, Classic and Big Walks,and others including, Argonauts of the Western Isles, Canoeing across Canada, and Run River Run. Ken is a member of the Climbers' Club, for which he edited the journal in 1976, and is intimately involved with the BMC, both as a volunteer and a critic. He is an Alpine Club member and an Honorary Member of the BMC.

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Update: September 2022. Most orders received through the Vertebrate Publishing Adventure Books website are dispatched from Gardners in Eastbourne, UK; some orders (such as signed copies of pre-orders, or limited stock items) are sent from our office in Sheffield, UK. If your order is for multiple items, you may receive more than one package, though we try to avoid this (if applicable, you would only be charged once for shipping). Orders received before 11 a.m. are dispatched the same day; orders received after 11 a.m. are usually dispatched the following business day. You will be sent a notification email when your order has been dispatched. If we are temporarily out of stock of a title we will advise by email.

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