Trekking and Climbing in the Indian Himalaya

Review in HIGH magazine, December 2001 issue

On my first expedition to the Indian Himalaya in 1979, the only prior information we had was a sketch on the back of beer mat showing ‘our’ mountain and a river. It sounds romantic, but the reality was that we created many problems and crises for ourselves and others and missed much. Any fool can be ignorant.

Today, of course, there is much more information available and to not take full advantage of it will reduce the chances of success, enjoyment and learning about this fantastic part of the world, its mountains and people.

I must admit to some bias, to merely see the name of the author Harish Kapadia, one of India’s most experienced and knowledgeable mountaineers, attracted me to this book and gave me high expectations about its content but even so I was impressed when I opened the covers.

There have been many guidebooks to the Indian Himalaya before, but none like this, as far as I know. The book is in softback but with very high quality printing and reproduction. It is written in an attractive style, similar to some modern text books with information presented in blocks, paragraphs, pictures and maps that make it both interesting and digestible but also easy to search for information. It even has a guide to how to use the guide.  I imagine that some people will find it convenient to photocopy the relevant pages to take on their trip and leave the rest of the book at home. (Although I wouldn’t, of course).

The only unanswered question that this book raises is whether next year I should go back to Himachal Pradesh and cross the Pin Parvati pass or Ladakh and climb Kanamo, or then again Garhwal has lots of possibilities…..

Tom Richardson