Page 42 - 2021 AMA Summer

REVIEWS
BEASTMAKING
BY NED FEEHALLY
Reviewed by Glenn Bloomer
Physical Training, and books about Physical Training, have been part and parcel of my personal life and
professional life for over twenty years as a member of the RAPTC. Weighty tomes such as ‘Essentials of Strength Training & Conditioning’ occupying a prominent part of my bookcase alongside my climbing and mountaineering guidebooks. As I’ve got older (and maybe a little wiser) other activity specific training books have been added to the bookcase, ‘Gimme Kraft’ and ‘Training for The Uphill Athlete’ being prime examples.
After suffering a recent finger injury (a grade 2/3 rupture of my A4 tendon pulley) the recent publication of ‘Beastmaking’, really caught my eye as something that could benefit my recovery. Similarly, it’s ‘cool’ title and cover shot alongside the provenance of the author adds to the credibility. Ned Feehally is one half of the team that designed and developed the Beastmaker finger boards, is a three-time British bouldering champion, competed at numerous World Cup finals and has been at the forefront of pushing UK bouldering standards. He has flashed Font 8b+ and has FAs of Font 8Cs .... oh, and his wife
is Shauna Coxsey, the Team GB Tokyo Olympic representa- tive!
From the off, and
straight out of the
packet, the book
reeks of quality, quite literally...there’s
nothing better than
the smell of a new
book (or is that just me?). The actual feel and texture of the paper used for the cover and pages suggests a premium product. A quick flick through of the book, the chapter titles, the action shots, diagrams and ‘pro tips’ from the world’s best climbers confirmed the feeling of a ‘top end’ product; I couldn’t wait to start reading!
I had the impression that the book would tell me exactly ‘what’ I need to do to get stronger fingers, and by and large, it does do that. However, the overall impression is more of what you ‘could’ do rather than what you ‘must’ do. The author frames much of his direction around what works for him and acknowledges this several times throughout the book by confirming that his wife, Shauna (the Olympian), does
something different. I found this contra- diction quite difficult to absorb, perhaps from my own precon- ceptions of the book, but also from a few instances where his description of certain aspects Anatomy of Physiology and Strength & Condition-
ing are at odds to mainstream (scientifi- cally backed) theories. The most obvious example being his definition of ‘mobility’. Perhaps because of these reasons, I started to slightly lose interest as I read the book and instead of intently studying the content, I started to look for contra- dictions or flaws in the detail and descrip- tions.
I see the book aimed at boulderers, and specifically strong and keen boulderers to aid and question their own training as opposed to a generalised climber who simply wants to get stronger at climbing. The book is so specific its even describes using a battery-operated fan to the crag to improve conditions. This is undoubtably a beautiful book to own and is obviously a labour of love, but for me slightly flawed.
THE WORLD BENEATH THEIR FEET
BY SCOTT ELLSWORTH
Reviewed by Al Mason,
Vice Chairman (Mountaineering)
Many of us will be familiar with the numerous films and books clearly illustrating the extreme suffering
experienced by high altitude mountain- eers at 8000m. Recently Nims Purja summitted all the worlds 8000m peaks in seven months – an extraordinary feat of endurance. However, now think back to earlieryearswhennoonehadevervisited these areas before, when Nepal and Tibet were forbidden kingdoms and the under- standing of what it took to cope at extreme altitudes was very little understood.This book takes us back to the pioneering days when daring groups and individuals set
out to conquer these lofty peaks for the glory of themselves, their country or their ideologyaswasthecaseoftheNazis. Tales abound of catastrophic national failures, heroic solo attempts evading capture of bureaucrats and pure national- istic ambition combine to make this book captivate and amaze the reader.
Whilst we many think that Mallory and Irvine or Tenzing and Hilary were the pioneers of high-altitude mountaineer- ing, many others have been pivotal to the Himalayan story and the slow process of ‘knocking off’ each of the world’s 8000m mountains. Legends such as Tilman, Shipton and many others form part of this intriguing and complex story and highlight
how much preparatory work and luck was needed to enable a final assault of the mountain.
For me personally, it was the story of a solo renegade maverick that decided to fly from the UK to Mt Everest, land on the glacier and then climb it, against all the might oftheBritishEmpire,thatcaptivatedthe pioneering spirit of adventure at the time. Whilst in many ways it was a futile effort, it does offer a stark and thought-pro- voking contrast to the huge commercial expeditions that are now commonplace in the region.
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