Armchair Mountaineering

The 50th anniversary of the ascent of Mount Everest has led to commentators, both writers and broadcasters, climbing to the heights of stylistic eloquence. A penetrating article in The Economist, captioned as Writers with Altitude, captured the appeal of high places. It ended as follows: A growing number of people long for environments that do not respond to the flick of a switch or the twist of a dial. More than this, mountains seem increasingly to provide a much-needed spiritual resource. Even when flattened into book-form, they offer a viewpoint from which people can not only look across extraordinary and mysterious landscapes, but also down into themselves.