Mountaineering in Scotland / Undiscovered Scotland: Volume 1: Two Scottish Mountaineering Classics Combined

‘Our climb is not one I shall ever repeat in like conditions. It became too exacting. But our day’s route led us through snow and ice scenery of deathless beauty. This lives strong in mind, while physical pains and trials, the so called realities of defeat and victory, have long been forgotten.’ Mountaineering in Scotland and Undiscovered Scotland are two of the greatest classics in mountaineering literature, brought together here in one volume. If mountaineering books are to be measured by their inspirational value then W. H. Murray’s two great Scottish classics top the list for climbers and walkers. Bill Murray’s vivid descriptions of his Scottish climbing adventures, on ice and rock climbs, mountain walks and scrambles, have an immediacy that transports the reader to some of the most classic and sought after itineraries in Britain. This is a timeless antidote to modern-day tales of sterile athleticism; a manifesto for bold adventures into the unknown. His vivid descriptions have an immediacy that transports the reader to some of the most iconic routes in Britain.Here are the dramatic and addictive moments of the high mountains – the white magnetism of winter moonlight, the rough warmth of Cuillin gabbro, the mirror sharp clarity of burn pools, the still peace of wilderness evenings and the banter and comradeship of mountain days. He records the saga of the early days of Scottish winter and summer pioneering, on rock and ice – replete with intrepid and adventurous days on the hill that should encourage even the most addicted climbing-wall lizard. Murray recounts the very essence of what exploratory climbing and deep mountaineering camaraderie is all about.

Reviews of Mountaineering in Scotland / Undiscovered Scotland: Volume 1: Two Scottish Mountaineering Classics Combined

'The writing is sublime with descriptions of climbing that come close to the Buddhist idea of 'ahimsa'; the shedding of self. It offers a more complex but satisfying answer to the questions why climb, than Mallory's "because it's there".' (David Rose, The Observer). 'Glory be! A climber's book, and yet a writer's too!' (Geoffrey Winthrop Young).