Feeding Rats: An Old-School Mountaineer's Style

｜Curated, Selected, and Introduced by Chan Wai-hung──meters Mountain Literature Series by Faces Publishing｜

Climbing for no other reason than to feed the rat within.

A Climber’s Climber
The Unsung Hero of Modern Climbing History – Mo Anthoine
The first Chinese edition of a classic Western mountaineer biography, 35 years after its original publication.
 

Wu Yuan-ho, Chairman of Taiwan Ancient Trails Association
Chiang Hsiu-chen, Chairperson of Taiwan Formosa Mountain Education Promotion Association
Lu Chung-han, Global Citizen and Explorer
Hsu Ming-chien, Deputy Executive Director of Taiwan Thousand Miles Trail Association, Senior Trail Expert
Chang Yuan-chih, Mountaineer
Snow Leopard Vision, Mountain Writer
──Recommended

Among Western mountaineers, "feed the rat" is a slang phrase referring to the craving for climbing, as if there's an invisible rat inside that mountaineers must constantly feed by conquering peaks to satisfy its hunger. The person who popularized this vivid expression is the protagonist of this book – British mountaineer Mo Anthoine (1939-1989).

Born during wartime, Anthoine began wandering the world at nineteen, traveling across the East and West, and climbing mountains everywhere. From the Alps, Italy's Dolomites, Patagonia in South America, the Peruvian Andes, to the 8,000-meter peaks of the Himalayas... Anthoine found his greatest joy in adventures that challenged the limits of human endurance. This passion for pushing boundaries made him an unsung hero in dozens of thrilling, epic mountain expeditions.

Al Alvarez, a British poet and literary writer, and Anthoine's long-time climbing partner, observed, interacted with, and understood Anthoine intimately. He recorded the understated climbing genius's mountaineering career and their profound friendship with sincere, unpretentious prose, publishing "Feed the Rat" in 1988. The following year, Anthoine passed away at the age of fifty due to a brain tumor. Since then, the book has been reissued multiple times in the Western world, becoming a classic in the global mountaineering community, and Mo Anthoine's life story has been celebrated ever since. Thirty-five years after his death, this is the first Chinese edition, allowing Chinese readers to discover the mind and life experiences of this mountaineer who dedicated his entire life to the mountains.

"Yes, expeditions are damn hard, and you'll have moments of fear, but the main part is still fun. If there's an element of publicity involved, then it becomes about who wants fame, who will disregard the team and go their own way, and everything can be sacrificed for the summit. Well, I really don't think reaching the summit is supremely important. You can always come back another day to summit. What you'll remember when you return from climbing isn't standing arrogantly on the summit, but the myriad small experiences along the route. The best feeling in that process is knowing you can rely on others, and others can rely on you one hundred percent."