First Across the Roof of the World

First published in New Zealand in 1982, this is the record of a mountaineering first: a traverse of the Himalayan range. In alternate chapters, terse, practical, good-humored Dingle and loquacious, reflective, serious Hillary (son of the famous Sir Edmund) relate their impressions. Their trip, which lasted 10 months, was marked by a casual attitudeseen both in the pair's comments (personal conflicts are aired, and the descriptive vocabulary includes ""grotty'') and an alpine style that eschewed porters and elaborate equipment but also left the climbers without sufficient food, currency, maps or footwear (at points they were reduced to footgear consisting of torn running shoes). The vivid color photos retain something of the wave-at-the-camera tourist snapshot, which makes them casual yet immediate. (April)