Fiona Clampin, a producer in Scotland from BBC World Service emailed me about a program they were making about mountains. Dawn Hollis, my friend and the author of Mountains Before Mountaineering (which I wrote about previously,) recommended they interview me.

I don’t get the chance to chat about mountain literature very often. I write about it, comment on social media about it, respond to unsolicited emails, and journal about it, but I rarely get to have a conversation. In fact, as Natalie will tell you, I started this blog because I needed the outlet. Honestly, usually when tell people I read a lot of mountaineering books most people either don’t know what else to say or bring up a news story, usually about a mishap on Mount Everest, which isn’t in the same vein.

Dawn is being interviewed by BBC World Service along with other experts on humans and mountains. The producer wanted me to talk about the connection with mountains and mountain books. So Fiona and I spent some time over a virtual call planning a thirty minute interview, then, I visited recording studio to conduct the actual recorded interview.

Responding to Fiona’s basic questions designed for a wide, international, non-climbing audience was better than my own writing prompts. For example, I was asked, Are people mainly attracted to “disaster porn”? What a great starting point!

The answer is not really, but such titles like Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air are a common gateway to finding other mountaineering books. I liked putting things into perspective for her. I explained, verbally, how many people come to mountain literature through disaster stories.

It also made me wonder if I am too harsh on myself when I make lists of topics to blog about. I could probably use a little focus group to help me know what subjects are best to pursue.

I have to hand it to Stuart Rhodes, of Climbing on the Bookshelf, for starting a podcast. He gets to talk with his subjects, and I hope for his sake he can find the time to keep it up and make the time. It’s worthwhile.

On another topic, I just received the “package” of mountaineering articles submitted for the 2024 Banff Mountain Book Competition’s article category. I’ll be reading those as I finish Hiking Your Feelings by Sydney Williams, and turning in a late review of Paul Pritchard’s The Longest Climb. I should have a couple more too.

If you listen to BBC World Service, Dawn and her fellow panelists, with a snippet from me, will be on late in July.

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