TASKER, JOE — Savage Arena

London, Methuen. 1985. Hardcover with dust jacket, 24 Cm. Book, SAVAGE ARENA by Joe Tasker was published posthumously in 1982 but covers a span of his remarkable climbing career from the first British winter ascent of the Eigerwand, via Dunagiri South Face with Dick Renshaw (1975), Changabang West Wall with Peter Boardman (1976), Kangchenjunga North Ridge with Boardman, Scott and Bettembourg (1979), and two thwarted attempts on the West and the Abruzzi Ridges of K2 in 1978 and 1980. There are a very few mountaineering books that become both a representative expression of a certain era and, at the same time, inspirational bibles to the young climbers of that period. Two immensely important books for me in this context were W. H. Murray's Mountaineering in Scotland and Hermann Buhl's Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage. Savage Arena falls into this category and I am quite sure it also will become a classic. Tasker not only captures the mood of extreme climbing in the Himalayas, he also portrays his fellow climbers, particularly his two main climbing partners, Dick Renshaw and Peter Boardman, with great clarity and sensitivity. The writing is spare but wonderfully expressive and the book has a pace that is so gripping that you just don't want it to end." Chris Bonington, -Alpine Journal- 1983, p. 230-231 , Very Good/Very Good.