REMARKABLE FEATS OF EXPLORATION AND ADVENTURE 1950-2000

Jet travel, instant communication via satellite and new horizons in the air have all combined to shrink our image of earth in the second half of the twentieth century. But the quest for adventure is as alive today as it ever was in the great periods of exploration.

In this collection of exhilarating and page-turning adventures. Chris Bonington looks at what has inspired men and women to accomplish remarkable feats. He has travelled extensively to talk to the adventurers whose stories are retold in this book, writing from a very real personal understanding and feeling for the springs of adventure.

He examines the motivation of Thesiger, as compared with Chichester, explores the degree of risk accepted by Knox-Johnston in the Southern Ocean and the teams climbing Changabang. There is peril by bandit, crocodile and cataract in two contrasting expeditions down the Blue Nile, the discipline and rigours of ocean rowing and cave diving dramas at Keld Head.

In the section on Mountains, Chris Bonington traces the evolution of post-war climbing from the ascent of Annapurna, the first 8000 metre peak scaled by Maurice Herzog, and the author’s own expedition to its daunting South Face twenty years later. He describes Messner’s achievements on Nana Parbat and the first ascent of Everest by Hillary and Tenzing. Quest for Adventure is a personal and remarkable celebration of exploration and adventure by a man who has done much to keep its spirit alive today.