The Black Ridge
HarperCollins / 2021
“Thrilling” The Guardian
“Riveting reading… unputdownable.”
The Spectator
“Delicious… a glorious book. Evokes the weather and the rocks and the people of the Skye I know better than anything else I’ve encountered.” Neil Gaiman
“Wonderful… beautifully written… will undoubtedly become a classic narrative of this magnificent part of Scotland.” Cameron McNeish, Herald Scotland
‘An utterly enthralling tale to read. About passion, love, mystery, human nature… an important addition to the canon of literature about Skye.’ Alex Roddie, The Great Outdoors
‘The depth of research is extensive, yet his writing is so poetic that the pages fly by.’ Rosie Morton, Scottish Field
RISING a kilometre out of the storm-scoured waters around Scotland’s Isle of Skye is a dark battlement of pinnacles and ridgelines: the Cuillin.
The Black Ridge is a journey through the history and into the heights of the Cuillin of Skye – from the ridge’s violent birth to the tales of its pioneers, its thrills, its myths and its monsters. From a night spent in a cave beneath its highest peak to the ascent of its most infamous pinnacle, this is an adventure on foot through all seasons across the most mesmerising mountain range in Britain.
Available as hardback, paperback, eBook and audiobook. For signed copies get in touch.
Between the Sunset and the Sea
HarperCollins / 2015
‘Almost Tolkienian in delivery … Between the Sunset and the Sea turns mountain climbs into a form of poetry.’
BBC Countryfile
‘I’ve been climbing mountains in Britain for twenty years but I don’t know if I really saw them until I read this book.’
Andrew Gilchrist, The Guardian
‘Painstainkingly researched, well written… an intrepid, original book.’
Patrick Hosking, The Times
‘A welcome and refreshing addition to the increasingly crowded field of New Nature Writing. Warm, poetic and humane yet shivery with the vertiginous thrill and allure that mountains cast over some of us.’
Stuart Maconie
‘Rich, thought-provoking and lyrical.’
Scotland Outdoors
IN THE LATE 18th century, mountains shifted from being universally reviled to becoming the most inspiring things on earth.
Simply put, the monsters became muses – and an entire artistic movement was born. This movement became a love affair, the love affair became an obsession, and gradually but surely, obsession became lifestyle as mountains became stitched into the fabric of the British cultural tapestry.
Simon Ingram explores how mountains became such a preoccupation for the modern western imagination, weaving his own adventures into a powerful narrative.
Available as hardback, paperback, eBook and audiobook. For signed copies get in touch.
Media + Interviews
Simon Ingram and Dame Fiona Reynolds on our natural landscapes;
The Guardian Books podcast
Clare Balding and Simon Ingram in the Lake District:
BBC Radio 4 – Ramblings
In Search of ‘Agreeable Horror’
Interview, the British Mountaineering Council