Collected writing on life, death, climbing and everything in between…
«The idea of owning anything except the experience is hubris.» Unknown
Pleasures is a collection of works by the climber and award-winning author
Andy Kirkpatrick. Obsessed with climbing and addicted to writing, Kirkpatrick
is a master storyteller. Covering subjects as diverse as climbing,
relationships, fatherhood, mental health and the media, it is easy to read,
sometimes difficult to digest, and impossible to forget.
One moment he is attempting a rare solo ascent of Norway’s Troll Wall, the
next he is surrounded by the TV circus while climbing Moonlight Buttress with
the BBC’s The One Show presenter Alex Jones. Yosemite’s El Capitan is ever-
present; he climbs it alone – strung out for weeks, and he climbs it with his
thirteen-year-old daughter Ella – her first big wall.
His eye for observation and skilled wordcraft make for laugh-out-loud funny
moments, while in more hard-hitting pieces he is unflinchingly honest about
past and present love and relationships, and pulls no punches with an
alternative perspective of our place in the world.
Unknown Pleasures is Andy Kirkpatrick at his brilliant best.
Paperback edition