"Steppng Out Of The Ordinary" by Mike Hope

Book Review by Anthony Jones

ISBN 9781 39848757 Austin Macauley Publishers

In the now seemingly distant days pre- Covid, Mike Hope twice addressed Club members within our lecture programme, covering his lifelong passion for all things mountainous and physically active, dealing with his overall record and a couple of his more far-flung expeditions. While many of the rest of us sulked as lockdowns around the globe nailed us in place, Mike (retired from work and now a member of the Club) spent his time assembling and publishing a memoir of his life. Modestly, he declares he does not expect it “to run off the shelves at Waterstones!”. It is in fact a wide-ranging autobiography, covering his early life, career in industry, family, and his developing life-long enthusiasm for things athletic – running, walking, cycling, kayaking and, of course, climbing and mountaineering.

Chattily (and often colourfully) worded, he details his times on rock faces, hills, and mountains, covering both the welcome successes and, just as often, the frustrations as weather, limited leave from work, or route difficulties, forced abandonment of plans. Whether in Southern America, the North American arctic, or closer to home in the Alps, not to mention the Old Man of Hoy, or the Isle of Wight Needles, he reveals his pleasure in the experience whatever the outcome, and the satisfaction of efforts with close climbing partners. Doubtless cost pressures dictated black and white photos (at least in the paperback edition) but those of us who have seen his work in full colour at his lectures know what we are missing.

Anyone who is also getting rather long in the tooth can fully understand his wish to place on record, both for his own family and for the wider community of mountain-lovers, his impressively active life in the hills and elsewhere.

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