Distant Snows

In Distant Snows, mountaineer John Harding recollects his worldwide adventures spanning sixty years across Europe, Iran, East Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the Arctic. He climbed many classic peaks including Mont Blanc, Mount Kenya, and Mount Cook, explored obscure ranges, and pioneered ski mountaineering expeditions in Turkey, Spain and Greece. Written with candour, a sharp eye for the tragicomic and with a sympathetic insight into the history and culture of indigenous mountain peoples, Harding's compelling narrative proclaims the power of nature, the glory of landscape and the spirit of the mountains. Distant Snows is a window into the mind and passions of a mountaineer while faithfully preserving the memory of the many characters who accompanied him on his mountain odyssey. With a foreword by the celebrated explorer Robin Hanbury-Tenison, Distant Snows offers tales of serious undertakings as well as more leisurely exploits, complemented by Harding's personal photographs and hand-drawn maps. This is a must-read for mountaineers, lovers of the natural world and those with aspirations of adventure.

John Harding was born in 1934 and educated at Stowe and Trinity College, Cambridge. He did his National Service with the Welsh Guards and from 1960 to 1965 served as an administrator and political officer in Aden and the Aden Protectorate. After a spell working in an Australian university, he returned to England to qualify as a solicitor to follow a full-time legal career with City law firm Norton Rose. A former vice president of the Alpine Club and president of both the Alpine and Eagle ski clubs, he has written and lectured extensively about mountain adventure. His book Pyrenean High Route, an account of the first British ski traverse of the Pyrenees, was shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature, while his Roads to Nowhere, recording his service in South Arabia, was described in Asian Affairs as a 'classic'. John and his wife Georgina live on the Gower Peninsula and have three daughters and ten grandchildren.