The Kangchenjunga Adventure

By Frank Smythe,

Book cover of The Kangchenjunga Adventure: The 1930 Expedition to the Third Highest Mountain in the World

Book description

'We went to Kangchenjunga in response not to the dictates of science, but in obedience to that indefinable urge men call adventure.'

In 1930, an expedition set out to climb the world's third-highest mountain, Kangchenjunga. As yet unclimbed, a number of attempts had been made on the peak, including two…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Kangchenjunga Adventure as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I first read this among my father’s books as a child. I believe he had met Smythe in London in the early 30, thus his signed copy of The Valley of Flowers. This is the quintessential book of that era of passionate amateur climbing and exploration, the age of Shipton and Tilman, of highly knowledgeable and deeply eccentric personalities. The writing is lyrical, just this side of purple, earthed by Smythe’s passion for botany, photography, and close observation. In the true sense of amateur, Kanchenjunga is a great adventure expedition in a time that will not come again. This…

From Andrew's list on from the other side of the mountain.

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