A Pint in the Pub Afterwards

Climbing, in all its aspects, is one of the fastest growing participation sports in the UK. It is indulged in by thousands or ordinary people on a regular basis. Theirs is not the world of "Into Thin Air" or "Touching the Void". They don't go out and die on Everest. They bumble about, having fun.

On the other hand, there is much more to their stories than can ever be conveyed within the space and style of the average outdoor magazine. The comics display the glamour of well-bronzed bodies on impossibly steep, sun-drenched rock. Where here are the tales of only marginally competent climbers swimming their way heroically up crags dripping with wet moss?

Even in its tamest incarnation, climbing offers the complete dramatic range from high tragedy to low comedy. Its theatre is international, but its plays are often worked out within the climbing equivalent of the local amateur dramatic society. The scope for love, death and pratt falls is endless, the stuff of stories around the campfire.

Judith Brown has been a climbing bumbly all her adult life. Most of the stories in this collection are inspired by real incidents. However, in the time honoured tradition of story-tellers everywhere, the reality grows with the telling. They draw upon a long and prestigious heritage of mountain writing and mountaineering humour, often of the gallows variety.

With both humour and pathos, these stories explore why climbers do it, the camaraderie, the rivalry, the relationships, the drama, the powerful call of the wild and untameable landscapes, and, most important of all….

the pint in the pub afterwards !!

This book is now available for £5.95 from

Needlesports, Keswick

The New Bookshop, Cockermouth,

The Outside, Hathersage

The Book Shop, Ambleside