reach: point of sail when wind is at right angles to the sail.
reef: reducing the area of sail exposed to the wind in heavy weather by rolling or tying canvas up round the boom.
rotor: a descending whirlwind caused by air that has flowed over the crest of a mountain peak.
sea anchor: throwing out any old thing on the end of a line in such a way that it will hold the boat's nose into the waves in order to ride out a storm more easily.
self-steering: a wind vane device fitted to the rear of a boat which keeps it facing into the wind on a predetermined heading while the yachtsman works or sleeps.
sérac: pinnacle or tower of ice, which is invariably unstable and dangerous.
sheets: ropes for controlling the trim of the sails.
shroud plate: metal plate on the sides of a boat's hull to which are attached the stainless steel wires giving lateral support to the mast.
sirdar: head Sherpa on an expedition.
standing wave: stationary wave in a river, caused by an underwater obstruction such as a boulder.
stays: stainless steel wire supports for the mast running fore and aft, to the front and back of the boat.
staysail: small triangular sail attached to the front stay.
stopper wave: a stationary wave which is breaking.
storm jib: smallest sail a boat possesses used in front of the mast in very heavy weather to provide basic stability.
sump: a cave passage completely filled with water, leaving no air space, also called a syphon.
traverse: to move horizontally or diagonally across a rock or snow slope. Also the ascent or descent of a mountain by different routes.
yards: horizontal spars two-thirds of the way up the mast which support the rigging.
Select Bibliography
The author is grateful for permission to quote from the following books:
OCEANS
Thor Heyerdahl, The Kon-Tiki Expedition, Allen & Unwin, 1950.
—Fatu-Hiva, Allen & Unwin, 1974.
—Aku Ah, the Secret of Easter Island, Allen & Unwin, 1958.
—American Indians in the Pacific, Allen & Unwin, 1952.
—(with E. N. Ferdon) Report of the Norwegian Archaeological Expedition to Easter Island and the East Pacific, Allen & Unwin, 1962.
—The Ra Expeditions, Allen & Unwin, 1971.
Arnold Jacoby, Señor Kon-Tiki, Allen & Unwin, 1968.
Francis Chichester, Alone Across the Atlantic, Allen & Unwin, 1961.
—The Lonely Sea and the Sky, Hodder & Stoughton, 1964.
—Gipsy Moth Circles the World, Hodder & Stoughton, 1967.
Robin Knox-Johnston, A World of my Own, Cassell, 1969.
Nicholas Tomalin and Ron Hall, The Strange Voyage of Donald Crowhurst, Hodder & Stoughton, 1970.
Nigel Tetley, Trimaran Solo, Nautical Publishing Co.,1970.
Chay and Maureen Blyth, Innocent Aboard, Nautical Publishing Co., 1970.
Bernard Moitessier, The Long Way, Adlard Coles, 1974.
David Lewis, Ice Bird, Collins, 1975.
DESERTS
Wilfred Thesiger, Arabian Sands, Longman, 1959; Collins, 1980.
—Desert, Marsh and Mountain, Collins, 1980.
RIVERS
Richard Snailham, Blue Nile Revealed, Chatto & Windus, 1970.
Chris Bonington, The Next Horizon, Gollancz, 1973; new edition Vertebrate Publishing, 2016.
John Blashford-Snell, Where the Trails Run Out, Hutchinson, 1974.
Mike Jones, Blue Nile expedition report, 1972.
MOUNTAINS
Maurice Herzog, Annapurna, Cape, 1952.
Lionel Terray, Conquistadors of the Useless, Gollancz, 1963.
Eric Shipton, That Untravelled World, Hodder & Stoughton, 1969.
John Hunt, The Ascent of Everest, Hodder & Stoughton, 1953.
—Life is Meeting, Hodder & Stoughton, 1978.
Edmund Hillary, High Adventure, Hodder & Stoughton, 1955.
—Nothing Venture, Nothing Win, Hodder & Stoughton, 1975.
Wilfrid Noyce, South Col, Heinemann, 1954.
George Lowe, Because It Is There, Cassell, 1959.
Michael Ward, In This Short Span, Gollancz, 1972.
Tenzing Norkay (as told to James Ramsay Ullman), Man of Everest, Harrap, 1955.
Walt Unsworth, Everest, Allen Lane, 1981. Revised edition, Mountaineers Books/Bâton Wicks, 2000.
Chris Bonington, Annapurna, South Face, Cassell, 1971.
Don Whillans, 'Annapurna, South Face', Mountain, issue 12, 1970.
Reinhold Messner, The Big Walls, Kaye and Ward, 1978.
—The Seventh Grade, Kaye and Ward, 1974.
—The Challenge, Kaye and Ward, 1977.
—Everest: expedition to the ultimate, Kaye and Ward, 1979.
—Solo Nanga Parbat, Kaye and Ward, 1980.
Felix Kuen, 'Der Sieg und die Tragodie' (Triumph and Tragedy), Der Bergsteiger, November 1970.
Chris Jones, Climbing in North America, University of California Press, 1976.
Steve Roper, Camp 4: Recollections of a Yosemite Rock Climber, Mountaineers Books, 1994.
Warren 'Batso' Harding, Downward Bound: A Mad! Guide to Rock Climbing, Prentice Hall, 1975.
—'El Capitan', American Alpine Journal, volume XI, No. 2, 1959.
Nicholas O'Connell, Beyond Risk, Conversations with Climbers, Mountaineers Books, 1993.
Pete Kakeda, 'The Milestone', Climbing, No. 190, December 1999.
Lynn Hill, 'El Capitan Climbed Free', American Alpine Journal, volume 36, issue 68, 1994.
—'First Free Ascent of the Nose', American Alpine Journal, volume 37, issue 69, 1995.
Peter Boardman, The Shining Mountain, Hodder & Stoughton, 1978.
Joe Tasker, Savage Arena, Methuen, 1982.
Alan Hankinson and expedition members, Changabang, Heinemann Educational, 1975.
Andy Fanshawe and Stephen Venables, Himalaya Alpine Style, Hodder & Stoughton, 1995.
Mick Fowler, Vertical Pleasure, Hodder & Stoughton, 1995.
Mick Fowler, 'A Touch too Much', American Alpine Journal, volume 40, issue 72, 1998.
Andy Cave, 'Changabang: A World Apart', Alpine Journal, volume 103, 1998.
Julie-Ann Clyma, 'Mountain of Dreams, Mountain of Sorrows', Alpine Journal, volume 103, 1998.
Andy Cave, 'Changabang, Storm and Sorrow', Climber, September 1997.
THE POLES
Vivian Fuchs and Edmund Hillary, The Crossing of Antarctica, Cassell, 1958.
Edmund Hillary, No Latitude for Error, Hodder & Stoughton, 1961.
—Nothing Venture, Nothing Win, Hodder & Stoughton, 1975.
George Lowe, Because It Is There, Cassell, 1959.
Noel Barber, The White Desert, Hodder & Stoughton, 1958.
Wally Herbert, Across the Top of the World, G.P. Putnam, New York, 1974. (The American edition was expanded from a shorter account published under the same title by Longman, 1969.)
AIR
Charles McCarry, Double Eagle, W. H. Allen, 1980.
Leo Dickinson, Ballooning over Everest, Jonathan Cape, 1993.
Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones, The Greatest Adventure, Headline, 1999.
Bertrand Piccard, Une Trace dans le Ciel, Editions Oresol, 1999.
Richard Branson, Losing my Virginity, Virgin, 1998.
Brian Milton, Dalgety Flyer, Bloomsbury, 1990.
—Global Flyer, Mainstream Publishing Company, 1998.
Colin Prescot, To the Edge of Space, Boxtree/Macmillan.
BENEATH THE EARTH
Martyn Farr, The Darkness Beckons: the history and development of world cave diving, Diadem, 1981; new edition Vertebrate Publishing, 2017.
—'Caving International interview Geoff Yeadon on cave diving', Caving International Magazine, No.5, October 1979.
CONCLUSION
Tom Robbins, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Bantam, 1991
Doug Scott, 'On the Profundity Trail', Mountain, issue 15, May 1971.
J.R.L.
Anderson, The Ulysses Factor, Hodder & Stoughton, 1970.
Ingrid Cranfield, The Challengers, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1976.
Wilfrid Noyce, Springs of Adventure, John Murray, 1958.
Bob Drury, 'Hamari Kahani', Cross Country, edition 62, April/May 1999.
Author’s Note
In bringing Quest For Adventure up to date for the new millennium, I am indebted to many for their help. First I want to thank my fellow adventurers who have given up their time in talking to me, responding to my questions and affording me a glimpse into their respective worlds.
Maggie Body, editor of practically all my books, including the original Quest for Adventure, and Louise Wilson, my secretary all these years, have once again combined superbly to keep me on the editorial track.
On the picture front, Frances Daltrey, who runs my picture library, has proved to be a brilliant picture researcher, locating original pictures and finding new ones. She has been ably aided by her son William and by Margaret Trinder who also helps me in the office. Audrey Salkeld has once again given generously of her wide knowledge of the adventure field and Ken Wilson, old friend and former editor has come up with many useful suggestions.
Susan Haynes, my managing editor has kept us on course and Nigel Soper has done a handsome job in designing the book.
My special thanks and appreciation, as always, goes to my wife Wendy, for her loving support and encouragement.
CB
Photographs
Captain Blashford-Snell on the Blue Nile expedition, 1968.
Sometimes the dinghies had to be towed and pushed along narrow channels between this archipelago of tree-covered islands whose dank undergrowth blocked the stream bed. (The Blue Nile)
Manhandling the vulnerable rubber dinghies down a shallow boulder-strewn channel (The Blue Nile).
There was very little skill in getting down cataracts. It was entirely a matter of luck which waves we hit (The Blue Nile).
Crossing the fast-flowing river Abaya. It was here than Ian Macleod drowned while trying to take a line across. (The Blue Nile).
People were actually trying to kill us. John-Blashford-Snell got out his service revolver and took potshots at our Shifta bandit attackers as we beat a hasty retreat. (The Blue Nile).
Aerial view of the South-West Face of Everest. Photo: Keiichi Yamada.
Climber approaching the Whillans Box at Camp 4, Everest, with Hiunchuli, 6,442 metres, in the background. (The Challenge of Everest).
Our 140 porters in the foothills on our way to Annapurna (Annapurna, South Face).
Team sorting out climbing gear at Base Camp, with the South Face of Annapurna in the background. The route went up the left-hand buttress.
Ian Clough crossing steep snow on fixed ropes above Camp 4, Annapurna.
Climber load carrying on the fixed ropes on the ice cliff just below Camp 5, Annapurna.
Mick Burke led most of the Rock Band, crux of the entire climb, often in bad conditions (Annapurna, South Face).
Ian Clough, left, and Chris supported Whillans and Haston from Camp 5 during the bad weather spell (Annapurna, South Face).
Don Whillans, who with Dougal Haston pushed the route out from Camp 6 and sat out the bad weather waiting for a break (Annapurna, South Face).
Don Whillans on the summit of Annapurna (from a 16mm film camera frame), the only camera they took to the summit.
Diamir Face of Nanga Parbat. (Diamir – Messner on Nanga Parbat).
Changabang and the Rhamani Glacier from the side of one of the peaks on its south-side flank.
Quest for Adventure
Chris Bonington
This edition first published in Great Britain in 2000 by Cassell & Co. This digital edition first published in 2017 by Vertebrate Digital, an imprint of Vertebrate Publishing.
Vertebrate Publishing
Crescent House, 228 Psalter Lane, Sheffield S11 8UT UK.
Text copyright © Chris Bonington 1981, 2000, 2017.
Images the author’s collection unless otherwise credited.
Chris Bonington has asserted his rights under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
This book is a work of non-fiction based on the life, experiences and recollections of Chris Bonington. In some limited cases the names of people, places, dates and sequences or the detail of events have been changed solely to protect the privacy of others. The author has stated to the publishers that, except in such minor respects not affecting the substantial accuracy of the work, the contents of the book are true.
Some of the text reproduced in this book first appeared in a book of the same title published in 1981.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-911342-70-0 (Ebook)
ISBN 978-1-911342-71-7 (Print edition)
All rights reserved. No part of this book covered by the copyright herein may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means – graphic, electronic, or mechanised, including photocopying, recording, taping or information storage and retrieval systems – without the written permission of the publisher.
Every effort has been made to obtain the necessary permissions with reference to copyright material, both illustrative and quoted. We apologise for any omissions in this respect and will be pleased to make the appropriate acknowledgements in any future edition.
Produced by Vertebrate Publishing.
www.v-publishing.co.uk
Quest for Adventure Page 49