The Way That We Climbed, book review

            The history of the Irish mountaineering tradition is disclosed in absolute detail by Paddy O’Leary in The Way That We Climbed: A History of Irish Hillwalking, Climbing, and Mountaineering. O’Leary lends authority to this history as he himself was one of the pillars of the Irish climbing community from the late nineteen-fifties through the late nineteen-seventies.O’Leary’s narrative begins with a description of the history of hiking in Ireland (which is in the colloquial Irish English “hillwalking”). Hillwalking had been a pastime of the middleclass since the mid-eighteenth century. It was actually a competitive sport with some men, whom would attempt to cover hillwalks as long as seventy-five miles in two days.

Unlike the greater European tradition, however the Irish did not start to rock climb or take up mountaineering in the mid to late nineteenth century like so many of their European neighbors. O’Leary implies that the lack of Irish mountaineering endeavors was more or less the fault of the British. While the British are developing a strong and elitist climbing tradition the Irish are not allowed in this circle as an imperial holding of Britain. It is recounted that the hillwalkers and climbers in Ireland are not even close to the social standing of their British counterparts. The men who were beginning to develop the Irish school of rock climbing and their hillwalking brethren were almost all working middle class, few if any having a college education. O’Leary almost proudly describes the first climbing club in Ireland which was called “The Most Illustrious Brotherhood of the Lug”. Most of the members of MIBOL were middleclass Dubliners who met to drink just as much as they gathered together to climb and hillwalk. Some of the more serious Irish climbers however, while unable to breach the British elite social circle did venture to Wales and Scotland to undertake more challenging climbs then what could be found in Ireland. They are almost painted as martyrs in their portrayal.

As with any European history of mountaineering the effects of the World War I are recounted. The Irish climbing tradition like the rest of Europe’s’ was put on hold. The Irish Climbing School however did not just screech to a grinding halt for World War I but also long after that. In the midst of the First World War, Ireland decided to fight for its independence from Britain – a war that almost all of Ireland won, save for the small part of Northern Ireland left in British control. All was not over for the new Republic of Ireland however, there was a bloody civil war that immediately fallowed and after that conflict World War II hit. Although the Republic of Ireland was neutral during the war its economy was still grossly effected by both the war and the fact that Ireland was still a struggling new formed state.

            Serious mountaineering did not begin for the Republic of Ireland until the mid-nineteen-fifties. It was about this time that O’Leary himself was beginning to grasp climbing as well as the rest of the Irish Climbing community. The Irish Climbing School however was decades behind the rest of the world. There were simply no great mountains to climb in Ireland. As time progresses however the Irish branch out O’Leary describes his own personal exploits in great detail although in a very awkward manner. O’Leary narrates the vast majority of the book in the third person and refers to himself as “O’Leary” almost entirely throughout the work, but at times he suddenly breaks down and describes certain climbs in the first person plural with “we” and “us” but never an “I” or “me”.

O’Leary goes into great detail about the evolution of Irish Climbing. For the first time in 1953 there are Irish teams that attempt climbs in the Alps. Most of these are unsuccessful however, all while half way across the world Hillary is in the process of successfully summiting Everest. The Irish seems almost afraid of climbing in the Alps. There are several Irish teams that O’Leary describes (and many of which he was on) go to North and South America to climb. The Irish traverse and climb several peaks in the Appalachian Mountains, a few peaks in Alaska (they do not even attempt Denali) and towards the nineteen seventies O’Leary’s own team successful makes several first summits of peaks in the Peruvian Andes. The Himalaya are no were near on their minds. O’Leary all the while painting himself and his companions as trailblazers.

As O’Leary is nearing the end of his climbing career in the nineteen eighties different Irish Expeditions begin successfully climbing the more difficult peaks in the Alps. Several teams also continue to be the foremost climbers in the Peruvian Andes claiming many unclimbed peaks. Finally by the nineteen nineties there are Irish expeditions in the Himalaya and in 1993 there is a successful Irish summiting of Everest. These modern jumps in mountaineering are almost treated as afterthoughts in the text and indeed more attention is paid to the hillwalking of the Irish countryside.

O’Leary’s perspectives of Irish Climbing are no doubt unique. Imperialism and nationalism are two of the predominant themes of mountaineering history as a whole. O’Leary displays in an almost opposite perspectives to both of these themes. Ireland for a long time was under the Imperialist hold of Britain and the treatment of Irish climbers at the turn of the twentieth century heavily displays this. Nationalism on the other hand plays almost no role in the politics of Irish mountaineering, or at least that is how O’Leary paints it out to be. There is an image of middleclass mountaineers from climbing clubs venturing out into the mountaineering world independent of state sponsored support to climb for the pure joy of it.

Also unique the “world’s most literary sport” is not so literary in Ireland. The majority of O’Leary’s sources are academic works and his own memories, the great mountaineering literary tradition seems almost devoid in Ireland, with only two memoirs of climbers listed in the bibliography.

Overall this work is difficult to shift through from an American perspective. There are no maps in the book, yet numerous places and Irish climbing and hillwalking routes listed. These routes are merely and frequently described as being between two towns or cities and it is very difficult to follow without stopping to look at an outside map source. In all probability this book seems to be written for a primarily Irish audience, or at least an audience with a deep understanding of Irish geography.

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