20/04/2026
From Our Shelves | The Shining Mountain by Peter Boardman | HC Monthly Book Pick
"The 'Silver Age' of Himalayan mountaineering starts on 2 May 1964, with the knocking off of Shishapangma, the last of the 8000-ers. The most dedicated climbers then turn to smaller teams, lightweight and often alpine-style, on difficult routes in the greater ranges. One of its defining stories is the ascent of Changabang by Pete Boardman and Joe Tasker in the autumn of 1976." - www.ukclimbing.com
The Shining Mountain by Peter Boardman — a mountaineering classic built around the 1976 first ascent of the West Wall of Changabang, one of the most formidable big walls in the Garhwal Himalaya. First published in 1978, the book later won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in 1979.
Peter Boardman’s The Shining Mountain is far more than an expedition account. Written with honesty, restraint, and unusual literary grace, it captures the intensity of a two-man climb on Changabang’s fearsome West Wall alongside Joe Tasker. The book traces not only the technical challenge of the ascent, but also the psychological terrain of isolation, doubt, commitment, and the consuming pull of a difficult mountain objective. What gives it lasting power is Boardman’s voice—clear-eyed, self-aware, and deeply alive to both risk and beauty. The result is a book that reads not simply as climbing literature, but as a meditation on ambition, endurance, and the inner life of the mountaineer. It remains one of the enduring classics of Himalayan writing.
Image courtesy: www.ukclimbing.com
A must-read for mountaineers, climbers, and all readers drawn to the harder, quieter truths behind great Himalayan ascents.
