Chessler Books
Rock Climbing - Mountaineering - Exploration
New - Used - Collectible - Signed
Chessler Books Accepts PAYPAL Chessler Books Accepts VISA Chessler Books Accepts MASTERCARD Chessler Books Accepts DISCOVER CARD Chessler Books Accepts AMERICAN EXPRESS
All Orders Shipped via United States Postal Service   Chessler Books Ships Via USPS
Author:
Title:
Keyword:
Item #:
A B C D E F G H I
J K L M Mc N O P Q
R S T U V W X Y Z
Item #: BK2174-968
THE ICE SOLDIER Paul Watkins 2005 1st UK ed Hardcover DJ Fine
By Watkins, Paul
Price: $9.95


Add to wish list


Detailed Product Description

London, Faber & Faber, 2005, 1st UK edition. Hardcover with dust jacket. Fine. 

Reminiscent of the adventure novels of Alistair McLean and even Joseph Conrad, Paul Watkins' the Ice Soldier is a rousing, stirring adventure tale, a story of heroism, comradeship and love that takes place high atop the windswept pinnacles of the Italian Alps. The novel opens in 1950 when ex-mountaineer William Bromley is trying to put the ghosts of the War behind him whilst quietly forging a career as a schoolteacher in central London.

For William, mountain climbing has been a lifelong fascination, he and his friends once indelibly drawn to 'the stony rafters of the world,' not just worlds of rock, snow and ice, but worlds of bleak and unforgettable beauty.' But when a war time expedition to place a radio beacon on Carton's Rock, the highest point on the Alps, goes horribly wrong, and results in the death of three of his mountaineering comrades, William's climbing days become a thing of the past.

All that is left are weekly drinking binges at the Montague Hotel where William and his best friend Stanley Carton, join the Society of Former Mountaineers, and reminisce about bygone days. Both realize they have become, each in their own way, outcasts from the mountaineering community.

William travels home to Gloucestershire, hoping his father's kindly advice will help him temper some of the regret and guilt. Yet he can't help but stand on the verge of oblivion, clinging to symbols of those old days when he had taken life for granted, certain that he would climb again and again. When Stanley's uncle, the feisty Henry Carton commits suicide, he makes a posthumous request, instructing his lawyer to tell William and Stanley they must climb, and that his body be returned to that fateful alpine peak named in his honor.

For Henry Carton, even in death, the Alps remains the ultimate proving ground, convinced that only by climbing the mountains again could William and Stanley find any hope of redemption and freedom from guilt. It is only through placing his body high atop Carton's rock - the view from the top one of the greatest wonders of the world - that these two men will be able to free themselves from the constrictions of the past, up here you are 'all that one could be,' and where all that one was becomes clear.

William and Stanley's adventures as they retrace their steps up through the rocky peaks, the desolate valleys and the snow-covered glaciers, are extraordinary and full of tension, far removed from the structures of their comfortable life of London. Both are upstanding and essentially 'British' chaps who value loyalty and integrity, fanatically hold onto their youthful dreams, and both are of the belief that up atop the mountains no climber can ever afford to be sheltered by his wealth, his social connections, or by his clever turns of phrase. On the mountains, 'you learned who you were, for better or for worse.'

Watkin's prose is vital, precise and accessible; he taps into the mechanics of mountain climbing, yet the novel never gets bogged down in excessive detail. There's clarity of thought that comes from climbing, from being in a world not clogged by a grid-work of roads and playing fields; where life is infinitely simplified. Aside from an ice axe, 'a few carabiner loops and a length of rope,' there is nothing to rely on but yourself and those with whom you climb.

The author also excels in describing the beautiful desolation and the unique grandeur of the mountains: The freezing night, the dripping icicles, true snow glittering like broken glass, the steel-blue light thrown down by the moon. On the glacier's ice there is 'only the angry sun or the blind eye of the moon,' enough to make a person feel as though they were marooned on an empty planet, alone.

The war and the changes it has bought to William's life remove any plan for the future, even the future itself, now the past and the future are endlessly spinning around like the streams of time itself. Only by returning to this sacred ground can William - and Stanley - come to terms with their newfound fears of climbing and perhaps take back their lives. 


Other Items You Might Like

  • Similar Items Available
  • Items From This Author
  • Items From This Category
THE ICE SOLDIER [Novel] Paul Watkins 2006 1st ed Hardcover DJ New Multiple Copies Available
By: Watkins, Paul
Price $4.99 ~ Regular $25.00, You Save $20.01 (80%)
- Item # BK2171-5837
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
ON TOP OF THE WORLD: MY ADVENTURES WITH MY MOUNTAIN-CLIMBING HUSBAND Patricia Petzoldt 1954 1st edition Hardcover DJ Near Fine SIGNED by Paul Petzoldt + ephemera
By: Petzoldt, Patricia
Price $225.00
- Item # OP613C-854
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
ANTARCTIC JOURNAL OF THE UNITED STATES OCTOBER 1977 Softcover Near Fine
By: National Science Foundation
Price $25.00 ~ Regular $75.00, You Save $50.00 (67%)
- Item # PL7573-883
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
ON BELAY! THE LIFE OF LEGENDARY MOUNTAINEER PAUL PETZOLDT Raye Ringholz 1998 1st edition Hardcover DJ New SIGNED by Paul Petzoldt + Signed Letter
By: Ringholz, Raye C.
Price $150.00
- Item # OP1268-853
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
CLIMBING MAGAZINE LIST OF ISSUES AND DATES: FOR REFERENCE TO TAKE INVENTORY & MAKE A SET
By: Climbing Magazine USA
Price $0.00
- Item # J152G
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
TONY STREATHER SOLDIER AND MOUNTAINEER 1926-2018 Turner, Edmundson 2021 1st ed Softcover New Multiple copies available
By: Turner, Robert and Henry Edmundson
Price $19.95 ~ Regular $40.00, You Save $20.05 (50%)
- Item # BK5515-8553
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
BRONCO LANE JOURNEY FROM MILITARY HEROISM TO EVEREST Elijah Mark 2024 1st ed Paperback
By: Mark, Elijah
Price $24.95
- Item # BK3459-861
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
TETON TALES AND OTHER PETZOLDT ANECDOTES 1995 1st edition New SIGNED by Paul Petzoldt
By: Petzoldt, Paul
Price $45.00 ~ Regular $150.00, You Save $105.00 (70%)
- Item # OP7827AB-884
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
MURDER ON EVEREST [Novel] Charles Irion and Ronald Watkins 2010 1st ed Softcover Fine 2 Copies Available
By: Irion Charles and Ronald Watkins
Price $4.95 ~ Regular $25.95, You Save $21.00 (81%)
- Item # BK61805-9352
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
AMERICAN ALPINE JOURNAL 2007 Multiple copies available
By: American Alpine Club 2007 Journal
Price $5.00 ~ Regular $35.00, You Save $30.00 (86%)
- Item # AAJ2007-23320
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
THE ICE SOLDIER [Novel] Paul Watkins 2006 1st ed Hardcover DJ New Multiple Copies Available
By: Watkins, Paul
Price $4.99 ~ Regular $25.00, You Save $20.01 (80%)
- Item # BK2171-5837
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
ABOVE ALL THINGS: A NOVEL OF GEORGE MALLORY & EVEREST Tanis Rideout 2012 1st Canada ed Hardcover DJ Fine
By: Rideout, Tanis
Price $49.95
- Item # BK0585C-860
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
SONGS OF SILENCE: A CLIMBING NOVEL Patricia Barrie 1999 1st ed New Paperback
By: Barrie, Patricia
Price $9.95 ~ Regular $24.95, You Save $15.00 (60%)
- Item # BK92-939
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
THE JUMBLIES AND OTHER NONSENSE VERSES Edward Lear c. 1964 Hardcover Very Good
By: Lear, Edward
Price $2.99 ~ Regular $50.00, You Save $47.01 (94%)
- Item # OP8253-882
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
THE ADVENTURES OF MR. LEDBURY AND HIS FRIEND JACK JOHNSON Albert Smith 1847 Hardcover Leather binding Near Fine
By: Smith, Albert
Price $149.95 ~ Regular $200.00, You Save $50.05 (25%)
- Item # OP3962-850
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
THOMAS STARR KING IN VERSE Oscar T. Shuck 1905 Hardcover Near Fine Scarce
By: Shuck, Oscar T.
Price $35.00 ~ Regular $99.95, You Save $64.95 (65%)
- Item # OP6494-935
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
THE ASCENT: A NOVEL Jeff Long 1992 1st US ed Hardcover DJ Fine SIGNED by Jeff Long Multiple Copies Available Winner of the Boardman Tasker Prize
By: Long, Jeff
Price $45.00
- Item # BK884B-8583
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
LE ROI DES MONTAGNES [The King of the Mountains] Edmond About 1903 Hardcover Fine
By: About, Edmond, Adapted and Edited by Ernest Weekley
Price $9.99 ~ Regular $250.00, You Save $240.01 (96%)
- Item # OP4653-893
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
THE WHITE TOWER (Novel) James Ramsey Ullman 1945 Reprint Hardcover Very Good-Near Fine
By: Ullman, James Ramsey
Price $4.99 ~ Regular $25.00, You Save $20.01 (80%)
- Item # OP1168-957
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
MOONRISE OVER DENALI (Poems) 1998 1st ed Softcover Fine INSCRIBED by Art Davidson
By: Davidson, Art
Price $29.99
- Item # BK7766-940
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
K2 THE ULTIMATE HIGH DVD based on true events of Americans on K2
By: K2 THE ULTIMATE HIGH DVD
Price $19.95 ~ Regular $29.95, You Save $10.00 (33%)
- Item # V2029-834
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart