A biography of British alpinist Alex MacIntyre, whose short, influential career helped define a faster and lighter style of Himalayan climbing.In the autumn of 1982, a falling stone struck Alex MacIntyre on the south face of Annapurna and killed him instantly. He was only twenty-eight, but had already become one of the leading figures in a remarkable generation of British mountaineers.
MacIntyre’s climbing ranged from difficult new routes in the Alps and Andes to major Himalayan ascents on peaks including Dhaulagiri and Changabang. Yet his importance lay not only in the routes he completed, but also in the way he approached the mountains. With partners such as Voytek Kurtyka, he pursued a lighter, faster and more committed style on the world’s highest peaks, helping shift expectations about what small teams could attempt.
One Day As A Tiger places MacIntyre’s life within the culture of British and Himalayan alpinism, tracing the ambition, friendships, ideas and risks behind a career that ended early but left a lasting influence on modern mountaineering.