
Reference: RAD
Radical Sports: Caving
An introduction to the sport of caving, for youngsters between the ages of ten and early teens, by Chris Howes
Fine prose and imaginative writings from a master of the genre, Ellis.
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Take a journey into a black, underground wilderness. Traverse voids, scale walls, drop shafts, crawl deep into crevices. Twist through dark passages, carrying a light to reveal the magnificence of calcite flows and endless rock, until it is over and you return to the airy surface above. Your excursion – your expedition – is over for the moment, but the words and pictures contained within In Sight of Light will awaken your senses and inspire you for your next voyage beneath the earth.
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TO adequately put into words the many and varied thoughts, observations and actions experienced during the course of a caving trip is difficult enough. To compose poetry that can capture and convey those experiences must be a great deal more difficult. And yet that is exactly what Ellis (Ian Chandler), a member of the International Society for Spelaeological Art (ISSA), has managed to do in this intriguing volume.
Drawing upon his long and varied caving career, the author carries the reader through sections of popular UK caves while also calling upon his experience of foreign expeditions for inspiration. This is not a book that is easily read from cover to cover in one sitting. The topics and styles are sufficiently varied that, as a minimum, a pause for contemplation is needed before the next episode of adventure.
Many of the poems or stories deal with discrete aspects of caving, such as a caver’s reliance on his lamp, the varied techniques of moving through different passages, passing a squeeze, traversing, free-diving a sump, and so on. Others lead you to consider aspects of speleogenesis or conservation. Yet more describe feelings at the point of breakthrough following a dig or visiting a caving club hut for the first time. There is even one piece which describes the actions of donning and removing an old caving wetsuit!
In all there are 29 poems and sections of prose, all of a different length and flavour, and these are punctuated by more than a dozen of the author’s photographs in an attractive layout. Some of the pieces are simply fun; others are written in a style that requires careful and considered digestion – sometimes having to chew over individual phrases or choice of words in order to gain the full flavour of the situation.
What is perhaps most appealing about this volume is that it utilises an alternative medium to express very personal caving experiences, in a manner that allows the reader to align his or her own thoughts with those of the author. This will therefore, in all likelihood, result in as many different perspectives as there are readers. I often found myself pausing for reflection as faint memories of near-forgotten trips and situations were awakened.
While not providing an ‘easy read’, this book certainly rewards the effort of taking up the challenge of devouring the text and thinking about its meanings, and it will not be out of place on any caver’s bookshelf or in a club library. It would make an ideal inexpensive gift for friends at Christmas and I, for one, hope that the author continues to find inspiration for his work; perhaps this will encourage others to publish similar material.No customer reviews for the moment.
Reference: RAD
An introduction to the sport of caving, for youngsters between the ages of ten and early teens, by Chris Howes
Reference: IOAG
Jim Eyre was a legend in his own lifetime – a hard caver and ardent cave rescuer, but also a talented cartoonist and outrageous raconteur. His two-part autobiography opens with It's Only a Game.
Reference: sh1156
The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook
Reference: TPD
The history and development of underground and flash photography, by Chris Howes EU customers must read the notes under the Non-UK Orders tab before ordering
Reference: SH-1167
A manual of underground and flash photography: cave photography for cavers, by Chris HowesEU customers must read the notes below before ordering
Reference: Bedside
Cavers ... Folk with attitude. At least, any that are over seventy years old have attitude (of the good sort!), says John Gillett as he maintains a positive approach to life.
Reference: IB
A manual of underground and flash photography: cave photography for cavers, by Chris HowesEU customers please read the 'non-UK orders' notes below before ordering
Reference: NC
Northern Caves by Sam Allshorn and Paul SwireEU customers please read the notes under the Non-UK Orders tab before ordering
Reference: n976
Here, There and Everywhere - the autobiography of Jim Curran
Reference: sh-1168
The history and development of underground and flash photography, by Chris HowesEU customers must read the notes under the Non-UK Orders tab before ordering
Reference: GGO(def)
Jim Eyre's classic autobiography, part two, taking him from the caving expeditions of the 1960s through trials and tribulations to India in the 2000s. In it, Jim produced another masterpiece by turn both solemn and outrageously funny.This is a reduced price, single copy with a manufacturing defect