Psychovertical

Psychovertical is a powerful if intensely personal book, well written, sometimes brilliantly so. It charts Kirkpatrick’s fractured upbringing and subsequent escape to a life of extreme climbing and close calls… He is a clear, spare writer, and a highly visual one. The descriptions of climbing are among the best I’ve ever read… Kirkpatrick chooses words with the same care that he chooses a wire. – Ed Douglas * Climber *Kirkpatrick’s autobiography sparkles with black humour…He writes with great eloquence on the fears of an extreme craftsman pursuing his crazy self-imposed task * Mail on Sunday *Thrilling … Most compelling are his psychological battles, as self-belief and a dry sense of humour ultimately propel him to the top * Financial Times *Andy is one of the funniest of Britain’s top climbers and represents what is best in modern British climbing: boldness, innovation, sense of humour, irreverence, commitment, and an appetite for risk. * Chris Bonington *Entertaining, funny and a bit mental * Zoo *Kirkpatrick never shies from the terror and self-doubt that seem to foreshadow his every move, and the daunting psychological and physical tasks he sets himself are always in danger of smothering him. But it is his wit and an effusive enthusiasm for climbing and travelling to regions totally inaccessible to the average punter that make this so readable. The man seems to have an insatiable appetite for putting himself in preposterous danger, which rewards the armchair reader very nicely. * Irish Times *A book that makes you shiver, certainly. But much more profound than I expected. * Evening Standard *

Andy Kirkpatrick has climbed the hardest routes in the Alps and has mountaineered around the world, including Patagonia in winter. His film Cold Haul, about his and Ian Parnell’s ascent of the Lafaille Route on the Dru, won first prize at the Graz Festival. He is a popular climbing journalist.