BOOK REVIEWS / ROLY SMITH
why the often uncomfortable and long-winded method of sketching the scene first , instead of just taking a photograph ? The author ’ s response ? “… you see and learn so much more when spending even a few minutes sketching a subject .”
The result is without doubt the finest collection of paintings of the Arctic I have ever seen . Bellamy ’ s sensitive brush-work captures every nuance of mountain , glacier and fjord and leaves the reader with the intense desire to return to these magnificent , unspoilt wildernesses .
Rachel Crolla and Carl McKeating , covering 80 routes within the Snowdonia National Park .
All the old classics , such as the Snowdon Horseshoe , Tryfan , Bristly Ridge on the Glyders and the Cyfrwy Arete on Cadair , are included , but the authors also introduce 16 entirely new routes , which will undoubtedly be eagerly snapped up by the completists .
ARCTIC LIGHT
David Bellamy Search Press , £ 25 ( hb )
Like JMW Turner , the artist whom he admits to being his greatest influence , David Bellamy prefers to do his paintings outdoors and in all weathers . That ’ s why you can almost feel the biting wind and vicious spindrift squalls in the watercolours in his latest sumptuous offering , in which describes his experiences in the Scandinavian Arctic .
The author , who provides our Golden Eagle award painting every year , explains that his interest in the Arctic came late in life , following a trip to Iceland with his daughter Catherine . He soon found , as he explains , that his favoured medium of watercolour worked superbly well in “ rendering the subtle nuances and infinite variation of tone and colour in ice subjected to changing light and atmospheric conditions .”
As anyone who has been to Iceland or the Arctic can attest , weather conditions at those latitudes are every bit as changeable as the Government ’ s plan for Brexit . As the Icelanders are fond of telling you : “ If you don ’ t like our weather , hang on for five minutes and it ’ ll change .”
Bellamy ’ s top Arctic watercolour painting tip ? Use gin or vodka , with their low freezing points , instead of water . And
6 Outdoor focus | winter 2017
SCRAMBLES IN SNOWDONIA
Steve Ashton , Rachel Crolla and Carl McKeating Cicerone , £ 14.95 ( pb )
As the publisher rightly states , Steve Ashton ’ s Scrambles in Snowdonia has earned a very special place in the affections of many scramblers and climbers . Not only did Ashton ’ s pioneering 1980 guide inspire countless readers to discover the exhilaration of scrambling in the Snowdonia hills , it was also the first guide to introduce the nowstandard numerical grading system for scrambling .
This much-loved guide has now been fully updated and revised by experienced Yorkshire Dalesbased climbers and scramblers ,
ASCENT
Chris Bonington Simon & Schuster , £ 20 ( hb )
At the last count , this is the fourth autobiography by Britain ’ s best-known mountaineer and OWPG president Chris Bonington ( five if you count Jim Curran ’ s 1999 biography , High Achiever ).
But this one is different . It is a far more personal and moving account of his personal life , loves and losses during his 60-year career as one of Britain ’ s leading climbers and expedition leader .
The most moving sections include heartbreaking descriptions of how he coped with the tragic drowning of his three-year-old son Conrad while Bonington was climbing Sangay in Ecuador in 1966 ; and the long , debilitating illness of his beloved first wife Wendy , who sadly died of motor neuron disease in 2014 . But they also tell of his joyful reunion