Chris Bonington – Everest The Hard Way, The First Ascent Of The South West Face – SIGNED by Doug Scott, Charles Clarke, and Dougal Haston

Description

A first edition, first printing of Everest The Hard Way by Chris Bonington, published by Hodder and Stoughton in 1976. Octavo. Original blue cloth gilt. Dustwrapper. Pp. 239. Bonington’s narrative of the first successful ascent of Everest via the south-west face, a route that had already defeated the five prior expeditions. The first summiteers, Dougal Haston and Doug Scott, became the first Britons to set foot on the top of Everest. The book details their route to the summit and describes how following their successful ascent, they bivouacked with exhausted supplemental oxygen supplies at 28,700 feet spending a ‘night out in China’ over the border ridge at the South Summit. Illustrated throughout. Top edge slightly faded else a near fine, tight, clean copy in slightly creased and rubbed dustwrapper which has a very short closed tear to the rear panel but is in very good condition at least. SIGNED ON THE FRONT FREE ENDPAPER ‘TO MICHAEL’ BY DOUG SCOTT, CHARLES CLARKE AND DOUGAL HASTON. Charles Clarke was the expedition doctor and wrote Appendix 10 in the book on Medicine. Whilst copies signed by Bonington, Scott and other are relatively common and inexpensive, copies signed by the first summiteers together are very scarce. Dougal Haston lived abroad in his role as Director of the International School of Mountaineering in Leysin, Switzerland and tragically lost his life in an avalanche whilst skiing a steep couloir near his home in January 1977 soon after the book was published.