No Easy Way – The Challenging Life of the Climbing Taxman

‹If we were guaranteed success in everything we tried then life would be
pretty boring.› Mainstream news reports about climbing are dominated by action
from the world’s highest mountains, more often than not focusing on tragedy
and controversy. Far removed from this high-altitude circus, a group of
visionary and specialist mountaineers are seeking out eye-catching objectives
in the most remote corners of the greater ranges and attempting first ascents
in lightweight style.

Mick Fowler is the master of the small and remote Himalayan expedition. He has
been at the forefront of this pioneering approach to alpinism for over thirty
years, balancing his family life, a full-time job at the tax office and his
annual trips to the greater ranges in order to attempt mountains that may
never have been seen before by Westerners, let alone climbed by them.

In No Easy Way, his third volume of climbing memoirs following Vertical
Pleasure and On Thin Ice, Fowler recounts a series of expeditions to stunning
mountains in China, India, Nepal and Tibet. Alongside partners including Paul
Ramsden, Dave Turnbull, Andy Cave and Victor Saunders, he attempts striking,
technically challenging unclimbed lines on Shiva, Gave Ding and Mugu Chuli –
with a number of ascents winning prestigious Piolets d’Or, the Oscars of the
mountaineering world. Written with his customary dry wit and understatement,
he manages challenges away – the art of securing a permit for Tibet – and at
home – his duties as Alpine Club president – all the while pursuing his
passion for exploratory mountaineering.

Paperback edition, 2020

Binding: Paperback (flapped)
Illustrations: 2 x 8pp colour plates