Coopers Creek to Langtang II by Peter Taylor. Adelaide, Australia: Rigby Limited, 1964. 239 pages, 38 photographs.

Too often we read about highly organized expeditions that conquer Himalayan peaks by the sheer weight of logistical support. In Peter Taylor’s Cooper Creek to Langtang II, it is refreshing to learn that Himalayan mountaineering offers ample opportunity for individual and capricious enterprise. Taylor’s account of fulfilling a dream fails in one respect. We are given precious little useful information of that fascinating area in Nepal’s central Himal that is so ideally suited to small, individualistic, shoe-string expeditions. (The reviewer knows this to be true from first hand experience, having visited the same region. — Editor.) Little is told about the wealth of peaks and possibilities that rise above the Tirsuli and Langtrang (the proper spelling) rivers and it is unfortunate that so little of Taylor’s book is devoted to informing his reader about an area so rich in local culture and climbing opportunities.

Peter Grote