{"product_id":"the-shining-mountain-the-first-ascent-of-the-west-wall-of-changabang-9781839810534","title":"The Shining Mountain: The First Ascent of the West Wall of Changabang","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'It's a preposterous plan. Still, if you do get up it, it'll be the hardest thing that's been done in the Himalayas.'\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSo spoke \u003cb\u003eChris Bonington\u003c\/b\u003e when \u003cb\u003ePeter Boardman\u003c\/b\u003e and \u003cb\u003eJoe Tasker\u003c\/b\u003e presented him with their plan to tackle the unclimbed West Wall of \u003cb\u003eChangabang\u003c\/b\u003e - the Shining Mountain - in 1976. Bonington's was one of the more positive responses; most felt the climb impossibly hard, especially for a two-man, lightweight expedition. This was, after all, perhaps the most fearsome and technically challenging granite wall in the Garhwal Himalaya and an ascent - particularly one in a lightweight style - would be more significant than anything done on Everest at the time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe idea had been Joe Tasker's. He had photographed the sheer, shining, white granite sweep of Changabang's West Wall on a previous expedition and asked Pete to return with him the following year. Tasker contributes a second voice throughout Boardman's story, which starts with acclimatisation, sleeping in a Salford frozen food store, and progresses through three nights of hell, marooned in hammocks during a storm, to moments of exultation at the variety and intricacy of the superb, if punishingly difficult, climbing. It is a story of how climbing a mountain can become an all-consuming goal, of the tensions inevitable in forty days of isolation on a two-man expedition; as well as a record of the moment of joy upon reaching the summit ridge against all odds.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFirst published in 1978, \u003cem\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Shining Mountain\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e is Peter Boardman's first book. It is a very personal and honest story that is also amusing, lucidly descriptive, very exciting, and never anything but immensely readable. It was awarded the \u003cb\u003eJohn Llewellyn Rhys Prize\u003c\/b\u003e for literature in 1979, winning wide acclaim. His second book, \u003cem\u003e\u003cb\u003eSacred Summits\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e, was published shortly after his death in 1982.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Vertebrate Publishing\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/04\/2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781839810534\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 224\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.35lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.70h x 5.00w x 0.60d","brand":"Peter Boardman","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44625879236789,"sku":"9781839810534","price":13.6,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_45e22f23-fbc9-480c-868d-3c2beea0ead9.jpg?v=1725978493","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-shining-mountain-the-first-ascent-of-the-west-wall-of-changabang-9781839810534","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}