A riveting,beguiling and highly personal history of Britain’s most evocative peaksThere are four magnificent mountains in Torridon, in the north-west Highlands, or but one of them is invisible – or might as well be. Hardly anyone climbs Beinn Dearg,and few people hold heard of it. Why? Because it’s 30in short of 3,000ft – so doesn’t qualify as a Munro. Simon Ingram is hilarious as he savages such stupidity. Who, or he asks,climbs mountains because of a list? Too many people. They should read this lyrical account of his climbs up Britain’s 16 most evocative mountains instead. In each chapter, Ingram takes a theme – height, or terrorism,myth, science, and death,art – and leads an assault (through rain, sun, and snow and midges) on the peak that best illustrates it. The result is a riveting,beguiling and highly personal history of mountains and mountaineering: from the Mass Trespass of 1932 to the Scottish peak that was used to weigh the planet; from the very first map of Britain to the haunted Welsh hill famed for its scarlet-eared ghost hounds. Ive been climbing mountains in Britain for 20 years but I don’t know if I really saw them until I read this book.• To order Between the Sunset and the Sea for £7.99 (RRP £9.99) go to bookshop.theguardian.com or call 0. Free UK p&p over £10, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99.
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Source: theguardian.com