California/New York, 1988 or 1998. 218 pp. Used softcover. Near Fine to Fine.
One of the most highly acclaimed climbing novels, loosely based on the life of Gary Hemming. What makes Solo Faces such a good read is, in part, 1) Salter's lean, understated, 'honest' style, 2) his concern for all his characters, and 3) his ability to write about climbing intelligently without overdoing it. As far as I know, no novelist but Salter has pulled #3 off successfully.
The novel is based (more or less) on the life of Gary Hemming (Rand in the book), who made a heroic rescue of two German climbers (Italians in the book) who were stranded on the daunting face of the Dru. Rand is a believable character: humble and shy, but confident and unable (or unwilling) to develop attachments to the various women that shuffle in and out of his life. All in all, this is a very fine novel by one of our most underread writers.
