Straight Up

Himalayan Tales of the Unexpected

Born in the foothills close to the Himalaya Steve Berry had from an early age
an urge to become a traveller, an adventurer, an explorer, and until the age
of 38 years he tried hard to satisfy two opposing forces. Half of him wanted
to find a satisfactory career path while the other half wanted to be free and
specifically explore the Himalaya. In the end he found a compromise to satisfy
both needs. In 1987 with his climbing friend Steve Bell he founded Himalayan
Kingdoms, a travel company specializing in trekking and expedition holidays.

This book is a collection of stories from his early expeditions to the
Himalaya prior to 1987. There are tales of encounters with bears, escapes from
avalanches, summit successes and failures, love stories, mystical connections,
Himalayan storms, near death accidents, raw travel across the Indian sub
continent, and grapples with bureaucracy. It is told warts and all. It starts
with tales of youthful naivety in the mountains of Himachal Pradesh,
progresses to what Steve describes as his best ever adventure, the first
British ascent of Nun, 7,135m/23,410ft, in Kashmir, and finishes with the
truth of what happened on the failed attempt to climb Bhutan’s highest peak,
Gangkar Punsum, 7550m/24,770ft.