Like a lot of people with physiological limitations and/or disabilities, the only way that I can "enjoy" strenuous physical activity is vicariously. I read or watch the exploits of others and, in my fantasy world, I am right there with them. In my mind, I face down the tiger in the bush or lift the Olympic winning weight over my head.
Of the many activities that I have fantasized about, ice climbing is not one of them. I have enough trouble navigating across ice on a flat surface; there is no way in the world that you would find me even interested in climbing on mountains of ice!! Not even in my dreams!!!
The irony in my lack of interest of ice climbing is that this is the underlying theme of Joe Simpson's book, The Game of Ghosts. I became interested in Simpson's life and travails after watching the docudramas (featured here in the Afternoon Matinee) Touching the Void and The Beckoning Silence.
In The Game of Ghosts, Simpson explores his life in the years following his nearly fatal accident in the Peruvian Andes. It is a tale of more accidents -- another almost fatal -- and the scores of mountaineers who died on mountains throughout the decade.
In many ways, reading this book was like reading something in a foreign language. The jargon of mountain climbers kept me constantly referring to a cheat sheet I had made to try to figure out precisely what he was referring to. Without my trusty cheat sheet, I would have been lost every time words and terms like crampons, abseil, piton, ice screw and belay were used!
On the one hand, the central activity that holds the book together really doesn't interest me in the least and yet, on the other hand, I couldn't put the book down. I found Simpson's prose compelling as he searched through his psyche to try to ascertain WHY this dangerous activity had become so important in his life. It is this interplay between his exploits in some of the world's highest mountains and his need to live a life on the edge that makes The Game of Ghosts a worthy and interesting read.
I look forward to reading some of his other books...despite the fact I don't give a wit about the insanity of climbing on ice!
Of the many activities that I have fantasized about, ice climbing is not one of them. I have enough trouble navigating across ice on a flat surface; there is no way in the world that you would find me even interested in climbing on mountains of ice!! Not even in my dreams!!!
The irony in my lack of interest of ice climbing is that this is the underlying theme of Joe Simpson's book, The Game of Ghosts. I became interested in Simpson's life and travails after watching the docudramas (featured here in the Afternoon Matinee) Touching the Void and The Beckoning Silence.
In The Game of Ghosts, Simpson explores his life in the years following his nearly fatal accident in the Peruvian Andes. It is a tale of more accidents -- another almost fatal -- and the scores of mountaineers who died on mountains throughout the decade.
In many ways, reading this book was like reading something in a foreign language. The jargon of mountain climbers kept me constantly referring to a cheat sheet I had made to try to figure out precisely what he was referring to. Without my trusty cheat sheet, I would have been lost every time words and terms like crampons, abseil, piton, ice screw and belay were used!
On the one hand, the central activity that holds the book together really doesn't interest me in the least and yet, on the other hand, I couldn't put the book down. I found Simpson's prose compelling as he searched through his psyche to try to ascertain WHY this dangerous activity had become so important in his life. It is this interplay between his exploits in some of the world's highest mountains and his need to live a life on the edge that makes The Game of Ghosts a worthy and interesting read.
I look forward to reading some of his other books...despite the fact I don't give a wit about the insanity of climbing on ice!
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