Library

Borrowing details

The contents of the Canterbury Westland Section library can be found online here
(Note: There is a list of DVDs on the second tab of the spreadsheet)

If you would like to borrow a book or DVD then please email John Roper-Lindsay and he can arrange a good time to meet (preferably at a Section meeting). You must have a current NZAC membership card to borrow and we will take a $10 refundable bond for each DVD borrowed.

Returns: Books/DVDs can be returned in one of 3 ways.  We expect books to be returned within 2 months of the date of borrowing, and DVDs within 2 weeks. 

Feature Book
Going up is easy – Lydia Bradey with Laurence Fearnley

Going up is easy – Lydia Bradey with Laurence Fearnley

Review by John Roper-Lindsay


This book is really essential reading for anyone interested in the story of arguably NZ’s most famous current climber. It’s an autobiography, but written with Laurence Fearnley who, apart from being one of NZ’s best writers, is also a friend of Lydia’s, with the two of them flatting together for a while.


Lydia grew up in Christchurch and her description of her early life and first life-changing trip to Arthur’s Pass aged 14 will resonate with a lot of people. You really feel involved in her stories of early trips to the mountains, and her gratitude to the older climbers who mentored her as she did more and more adventurous trips.


You really feel the book gives a great idea of Lydia’s personality, with the single-minded ambition of becoming a top mountaineer dominating her life, and Laurence’s side-notes are very interesting too. Although the book was only written in 2015, most of it covers Lydia’s expeditions and trips carried out before she was 30 and is an incredible list of achievements.


One difference between this book and other climbing books is that much of it is about her friendships and interaction with other people, from her mother to mentors and other climbers. A strongly recurring theme is how difficult it was to be a woman climber, and how much Lydia missed the company of other women in the mountains.


Lydia’s most famous for her oxygenless ascent of Everest, which is covered very well in two sections, the first of which deals with the physical climb in a way similar to the descriptive manner of other climbing books. The second section is fascinating and deals with all the non-climbing aspects of the Everest expedition, and feels to be very evenly presented. Laurence Fearnley makes the comments that Lydia, 20 years after the event, is quite low-key about the hassles, arguments and friction with other climbers, which contrasts considerably with her angry and emotional descriptions n her diaries from the time! Regrettably NZAC’s role in the controversy post-Everest was pretty negative for a while, but hopefully all that is in the past, and Lydia’s ascent is now officially recognized all over the world.


It’s a great read, and certainly much more than just another climbing book – you certainly feel involved in the emotions behind the adventures, and a certain amount of sadness and speculation about the post-Everest period in Lydia’s life.


The book’s last chapters cover Lydia’s current life as a guide, and a few trips in the late 2000’s. It was nice to see that these were mostly all-women trips, and I could imagine they were the sort of trips Lydia had always looked for.


If you don’t own this book you should! And when you next see Lydia’s name in a hut book or down as a guide for a course you’ll appreciate the moment more.