Introduced by Stephen Venables, the legendary British climber, and published by the Oxford Alpine Club, Of Mountains and Men is an epic quest started by chance in a small graveyard not far from the Matterhorn, in the Swiss town of Zermatt. Three young British students – William Bell, Ian McKean, and James Ogilvie, “friends from Oxford killed together while climbing the Matterhorn in 1948” – are buried there. Following a hunch, the author decides to find out more about them and, soon, what began merely as a whim becomes an extraordinary journey that takes the reader from the heart of the Alps to Oxford and the Scottish Highlands, also taking in the sandy beaches of Mauritius and the snow-capped peaks of Bolivia and Kenya.
Full of serendipity moments, this book is a real-life, detective-like adventure that tells how the stories of William (a poet destined for greatness), Ian (a young Labour politician tipped for the top) and James (a decorated war hero) were unearthed. However, Of Mountains and Men does not attempt to explain how they died – the accident, no matter how tragic, was just a brief moment in their lives. Instead, the focus is put on the shared passion that brought them to the mountains. As a result, this book, which is written in a vibrant and dynamic style that will resonate with climbers and non-climbers alike, sheds light on why for some people climbing mountains is a search for their soul.
Full of serendipity moments, this book is a real-life, detective-like adventure that tells how the stories of William (a poet destined for greatness), Ian (a young Labour politician tipped for the top) and James (a decorated war hero) were unearthed. However, Of Mountains and Men does not attempt to explain how they died – the accident, no matter how tragic, was just a brief moment in their lives. Instead, the focus is put on the shared passion that brought them to the mountains. As a result, this book, which is written in a vibrant and dynamic style that will resonate with climbers and non-climbers alike, sheds light on why for some people climbing mountains is a search for their soul.
