High hopes - Hardcover

Croucher, Norman

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0340205563 ISBN 13: 9780340205563

Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton, 1976

Synopsis

The Story of a Disabled Climber. In 1960, at the age of nineteen, Norman Croucher lost both legs below the knee in a railway accident. In his determination to fight back he walked from John o'Groats to Land's End for Oxfam on his new metal legs. Then he turned his attention to climbing - an interest for which his appetite had been whetted just before his accident. High Hopes is the story of how he learnt to climb and how, through following an obsession, he learnt to come to terms with himself. At first it was a matter of finding out what he could achieve, recognising his special difficulties, learning to adapt technique and improvise equipment to overcome them. Slowly he progressed from scrambling up his native Cornish sea cliffs on the end of a rope to thinking about mountains - first Tryfan and then the Alps, and the start of a long, patient, personal test which began with conquering the Monch and the Jungfrau, then progressed to Mont Blanc, the west flank of the Eiger and the Matterhorn. The setbacks were Alpine guides had to be persuaded to risk their professional reputations by climbing with him, there were the endless waits for long enough stretches of favourable weather, there was the time to know when to give up if his stumps had had enough punishment or the snow was becoming dangerous. There was also the time to know when to push himself into the mental attitude to conquer a new grade of climb and ultimately second and lead up to the Severe grade. Norman Croucher writes vividly and well about the mountains he has climbed and his enthusiasm is infectious. His is a story of grit and patience and ingenuity and humour and sheer bloody-minded single-mindedness. His enormous zest for life and refusal to give in will be a delight to climbers and an inspiration to disabled people who may get some idea of what they themselves might manage to achieve, not necessarily in the same field of activity. Norman Croucher was born in Cornwall...

Edition details

• Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton
• Publication date: 1976
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0340205563
• ISBN 13: 9780340205563
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160