Books

The appropriate reading when in a storm bound bivi is accounts of others in much worse situations... There is a huge amount of free ebook literature available at https://www.gutenberg.org/ I'll try and post a list off my e reader later. For now: Nansen - Crossing of Greenland, The Fram Expedition/Farthest North, Eskimo Life. I especially like the moment in Farthest North when after two winters in the ice in Fram, then the trek across the ice by two of them to farthest north followed by retreat to Franz Josef Land and another winter in a hole dug into a frozen bank and roofed with walrus hide, they trek south and meet up with another expedition in the spring, after a shower they step on the scales and are each found to be 9 kg heavier than when they left the Fram a year ago. Other Classics: Richard Henry Dana. Two years before the Mast. Massachusetts to California and back around Cape Horn over two years in the 1830's Joshua Slocum. Sailing Alone around the World - the first to do so in 1895- Charles Darwin - The Voyage of the Beagle. James Beckwourth - Born into slavery in Virginia in 1798, freed he became a fur trader and lived with the Crow Indian tribe in the Rockies/Yellowstone area from the 1820's, eventually ended up in California in the goldrush times where he dictated his story to a journalist staying at his hotel. Don't think there is an ebook format file online but HTML is here, it's possible to convert to read it on an e reader: https://user.xmission.com/~drudy/mtman/html/beckwourth/ All of Shackleton I could post links, but you'll get there just as quickly with a search.

the worst journey in the world, about the british antarctic mission that included scotts trip to the south pole

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Worst_Journey_in_the_World Over the Whitcombe Pass by Jakob Lauper never fails to make me feel that life ain't so bad after all. Not good to read books set in cold places when you're sitting in a cold hut, yourself though...

Over the Whitcombe Pass may only be a 68 page book but the account is remarkable. I could not put it down. I've long wondered what those 'biscuits' were made of...

You can download Over the Whitcombe Pass from here as a PDF... I'll add it to my reading list! http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/167158

Philip Temple is a great author. The Last True Explorer is non fiction, set in New Guinea, he travels to a glacier, does a first ascent, recovers remains from a US plane crash on a mountain, witnesses the last of a stone -age culture etc. The book has great photos. Have a small backlit Kobo for tramping, downloaded his new novel 'The Mantis' which was gripping too.

Thanks for the link Matthew. It was looking like a forty dollar second hand book there.

I've seen good condition 2nd hand copies of Over The Whitcombe Pass retailing at $NZ 55.00. It's a very good read! A more recent edition of Lauper's account of the journey has been published by one of Lauper's descendents. (perhaps just in German ?) I know because I was asked to identify some peaks in a photo by the descendent who was getting the book published a year or two back.

Another good read is First Across the Roof of the World, by Graeme Dingle and Peter Hillary.

Not a book to carry about, but Mr Explorer Douglas by John Pascoe is good read. first read it in 1964, befor a trip up the Waitoto. was very useful