[.ca] Eric Shipton: The Six Mountain Travel Books (ISBN 0898865395)

Great Collection of Shipton's writing:
Eric Shipton was one of THE great climbers and mountaineering authors of the 1930's. Shipton climbed with H.W. Tilman and Frank Smythe (both of whose collections of books have been republished by the same publishing house as this book). Incidentally, Shipton was on the early expedition that explored the southern approach to Everest after the route thru Tibet was closed off post WWII,and,like Tilman and Smythe, was on a number of the pre-WWI Everest expeditions. Some of Shipton's best writing is in this book and it reads as well today as it did when it was written. Some enthralling accounts of his climbs as well as a good deal of exploration ("Blank on the Map", one of the books in this collection, is worth the price of the book all by itself - an account of the time Shipton, Tilman and a small group spent exploring a remote area of the Karakoram's). If you like books about climbing that are well-written and entertaining, this is an excellent pick. Just don't expect too much technical climbing jargon or step by step / hold by hold accounts of climbs.