UKH

Hi all
I'm looking for expedition books (mostly interested in climbing/mountaineering but suggestions from other adventure sports are also welcome) that talk about the dynamic within the team in terms of leadership, decision-making and getting along with each other.
Any ideas are welcome. I'll look through books to see if they fit with what I'm after, but it'd be a huge help to get some suggestions of titles I may not know about.

In reply to Cathy:

If you want examples of how not to do things, have a look at any expedition book from an American Himalayan expedition from the 60s or 70s. For what I've read, they all seemed to be almost completely dysfunctional, with poor decision-making processes and flawed leadership. Given the way the trips were managed, it's remarkable they managed to get past Base Camp, never mind to the tops of some of the hardest mountains in the world.
John Roskelly's account of the 1976 trip to Nanda Devi is particularly tragic, relating the death of Nanda Devi Unsoeld, daughter of Willi Unsoeld. Willi Unsoeld was one of the expedition leaders and he took an astonishingly cavalier attitude towards his daughters health issues. He also doesn't come out very well from Thomas Hornbein's 'Everest: The West Ridge' about the 1963 traverse of Everest.
Rick Ridgeway's account of the 1978 trip to K2 is quite painful too, as is Galen Rowell's 'In the Throne Room of the Mountain Gods' about K2.

In reply to tony:

Hang on. Isn't the American Everest expedition of 1963 widely regarded as one of the best organized and most successful expeditions in the whole of Himalayan climbing history?

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

It started with two very different objectives - one to get an American to the top of Everest by any means possible, which meant the South Col route, and the other was to attempt the West Ridge, which had never been done before. There was considerable conflict between supporters of the two objectives, particularly with respect to the allocation of resources. That it was a very successful trip in terms of the summit successes and the traverse overshadows the fact that it wasn't far from falling apart.

In reply to Cathy:

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In reply to deepstar:


It's also highly biased against Scott and should be regarded with some scepticism at least.

In reply to Pedro50:


That's one view of it. Another is that it highlights some fundamental errors made by Scott. Not knowing how to ski, not having enough pairs of skis, ...

In reply to tony:


I'm inclined to agree but it;s not all black and white. Ranulph Fiennes make a stout defence which is at least worth reading

In reply to tony:


The second was then surely excellent tactics.

In reply to tony:


Taking ponies - which had already been tried and failed in the Arctic. Etc.

Huntford's book was really the first revisionary biography of Scott, and was a very necessary correction to the preceding Boy's Own myth of Heroic British Failure.

Amundsen knew what he was doing: he had *lived* in the Arctic with Unuits for a couple of Winters in the course of his North West Passage expedition, and had learned from them what works, and what doesn't.

In reply to Cathy:

"Deborah" by David Roberts might fit the bill, I found it a very interesting account of two guys not climbing a mountain and the breakdown of their relationship. The double bill of it with The Mountain of My Fear" gives you another really good book which also adds context to "Deborah".

In reply to Rob Parsons:

Whether or not Amundsen was better at Antarctic travel than Scott, which he clearly was, has little bearing on Scott's leadership abilities.
Huntford's book is so over the top that it becomes absurd. Fiennes tends to the opposite. Try David Crane.
Given so many voluntarily followed Scott twice to the Antarctic he can't have been a bad leader.

He also had a far larger and diverse expedition to manage than simply an effort to reach the pole.

In reply to rogerwebb:


I wasn't commenting on his general leadership abilities ( although I do realise that such matters are the subject of the original post of this thread.)


As I wrote: Huntford's was the first revisionary book, and was a very necessary correction to seventy odd years of misty-eyed British dreaming. Fiennes book is his effort at a revision of the revision!

In reply to Cathy:

Try Chris Bonington's book about climbing the South West face of Everest; old school, but has stuff that fits what you're looking for. In truth many of Bonington's books have something about team leadership and dynamics in them.

T.

In reply to Pursued by a bear:

so going back to cathys post is there anything specifically written about this? even chapters in books or articles? its a crucial and important topic.

In reply to philipjardine:

I may have mis-remembered. I don't have the SW face book to hand but in The Games Climber's Play there's a piece by Mike Thompson titled 'Out with the boys again' that deals with leadership issues on the SW Face expedition. I'll have a look on the bookshelves later too.

T.

In reply to tony:


It's one of the best books I've ever read. IMO it's really worth reading, and it also has stuff the OP was asking for.

In reply to Pursued by a bear:

Indeed I had mis-remembered. The Bonington book about the 1975 ascent is called 'Everest the hard way'. Worth a read for the OP though, as might anything to do with fractious and unsuccessful international expeditions earlier in ther 1970s; Walt Unsworth's 'Everest' would be a good starting point for these.

T.

In reply to Cathy:

Shackleton's Way by Morel & Capparell is a book about Shackleton's leadership style, how it was instrumental in saving his expedition (as told in his book South) and about how modern day leaders could try to apply it.

In reply to Cathy:

'that talk about the dynamic within the team in terms of leadership, decision-making and getting along with each other. '

'The Ascent of Rum Doodle' by W.E. Bowman is the book you are looking for

In reply to Cathy:
I'd go with Eiger Direct and then quickly followed by Extreme Eiger both by Peter Gillman. Both written about the same expedition 'led' by John Harlin to climb the Eiger Direct in the winter of '66.

Eiger Direct was written straight after the expedition with the help of Dougal Haston. It is a fantastic read, very much a story of Hero's, Villans, life, death and a race to the top all under the glare of a media (all be it old skool) spotlight - and Media expenses account...

Extreme Eiger was written 40yrs later by the same Author with the benefit of hindsight and meticulous research of both of the teams. Fills in a lot of the blanks and gives a lot more detail of what was happening on AND off the cliff. Brilliantly written (disgracefully overlooked for the BT Award) brilliantly researched.

In reply to Jim Walton:

The Ascent of Rum Doodle by WE Bowman

Detailed description of a carefully organised expedition to climb the world's only forty thousand and a half foot mountain.

In reply to NeilBoyd:

Beat me!

In reply to Cathy:

I liked Jim Currran's book Suspended Sentences where he accompanies the climbing giants of the time (Whillans, Scott, Boysen etc) but, as a mere bumbly cameraman had a bit of an outside view into the expedition. Funny as well.

Savage Arena?

In reply to Cathy:

Annapurna South Face (Bonington). Obviously it comes from CB's own perspective so probably skates over some of the more vituperative confrontations and criticisms, nevertheless it does address the challenges of leading and coordinating a big expedition consisting of a number of "big" characters..

In reply to Cathy:

I really enjoyed Ranulph Fienne's Cold and Steve House - Beyond the Mountain. Very different styles of writing but both had me hooked from start to end. Highly recommend. Both cover personal and team relationships in the harshest and most extreme climates/conditions on earth, which sounds like what you're looking for.