Learning to Breathe Book

At the age of sixteen Andy Cave followed in his father's and grandfather's footsteps and became a miner - one of the last recruits into a dying world. Every day he would descend 3 000 feet into Grimethorpe pit. But at weekends Andy escaped from the pithead to a very different world - testing his nerve on the cliffs and mountains around Britain and forging endearing friendships with his new companions. Enduring the 1984-85 miners' strike - the guilt the broken friendships the poverty - Andy continued to indulge his passion. In 1986 after much soul searching he quit his job as a miner in order to devote himself to mountaineering. At the same time he decided to educate himself acquiring almost from a standing start academic qualifications including a PhD in socio-linguistics. This extraordinary twin odyssey is graphically recalled in this remarkable book. In the Himalaya in 1997 Andy achieved a courageous first ascent on one of the steepest and most difficult summits in the world - the north face of Changabang. Seventeen days later he and only two of his team-mates crawled into base camp frostbitten emaciated and traumatised.His account of this terrifying experience provides a dramatic climax to this compelling story. "Learning to Breathe" is first and foremost a lively and humorous memoir written with energy and insight about two very different groups of people each navigating equally inhospitable worlds. Finally on a larger scale it is an examination of our ability to draw on inner reserves and the strength of others.