A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush

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I have nine fingers; you have ten', 'A dwarf has come to ask for food' and 'I have an intention to kill you', which made me laugh so hard I actually dropped my copy of the book. They are an haute couture salesman and a career diplomat, respectively, whose only serious climbing experience prior to setting off for Afghanistan is a two-day crash course in Wales. Reading A Short Walk on the heels of Thesiger’s Arabian Sands, as I did, one notices a stark difference in tone. I was delighted to find A Short Walk now on Audible, though I have read it in print many, many times.

In January 2012, an expedition under the auspices of the British Mountaineering Council, citing the "popular adventure book", attempted the first winter ascent of Mir Samir, but it was cut short by an equipment theft and "very deep snow conditions and route finding difficulties".

We Americans don't use that term so much, but consider that the Khyber Pass is part of the Hindu Kush. By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. They find a man "with his skull smashed to pulp"; the head driver suggests they should leave the place immediately. First of all, he's grossly unprepared for the trip, which involves climbing a hitherto-unscaled (and very daunting) mountain.

Needless to say, this leaves them woefully unprepared for the majesty of Mir Samir, a tall and windy peak they have vowed to climb. Miss Candlemass was about nine feet high and hidden behind smoked glasses in mauve frames studded with semi-precious metal.

They have to take a detour to Wales for a crash hands-on education led by a trainer they hire and supplemented by peer guidance from a zany pair of intrepid college-age women climbers.

After three years at the FCO in London, then as head of chancery at Budapest, there followed a sabbatical year in the department of politics at Glasgow University. Instead of presenting himself and his partner Hugh Carless as mountain conquering heroes, he honestly depicts themselves for what they really were - two self-indulgent clueless men who impose themselves on locals in a poor nation. A gifted linguist and a voracious reader, admired for his integrity and intellect, he was charmingly modest, yet fascinating to talk to. I read this book in a rather desultory way picking it up and putting it down for several weeks but it really began to resonate with me during a recent camping trip in the Lake District after putting 2 tents up in the pouring rain late at night and then discovering I had no way of boiling a kettle or making a hot meal. By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions.If I have any quibbles with the book, they concern the ending, which is rather abrupt and leaves a lot of questions unanswered.

Self-deprecation is the supreme redeeming factor of Newby’s tradition of British humor, which otherwise can challenge its becoming an acquired taste. The first embarrassing reality he has to deal with is that Carless may be an obsessive wonder in outfitting their expedition but he has exaggerated his skills in mountain climbing based on a brief excursion to Nuristan when he was with the Kabul embassy.To be an explorer means different things to each of us, but they were aiming to shortcut their way into exploration history with a jaunt up a neglected mountain in an utterly unmapped part of the Afghan world. The Daily Telegraph too enjoyed the English humour of the book, including it in a list of favourite travel books, and describing Newby and Carless's meeting with the explorer Wilfred Thesiger as a "hilarious segment".