Virgin on Insanity

Outwardly, ‘Britain’s most experienced teenage Alpinist’ is a brave young mountaineer. But he’s not experienced at all, at least not in the way he really wants to be. Behind his death-defying climbs there lurks a great deal of fear – fear of the opposite sex, fear of failure, fear of not being ‘man enough’.

He seeks manhood in the mountains, yet he believes he will only truly gain it by losing something. Harrowing escapades in Scotland, the Alps and Alaska are interspersed by excruciating sexual encounters and unsettling hitch-hiking rides. When the mountains fail him, he seeks meaning with a religious cult in Colorado. Eventually he succeeds in his quest, only to find that he’s lost more than he bargained for.

Virgin on Insanity by Steve Bell is a coming-of-age story of high adventure, youthful insecurity and immature love. The situations might be extreme, but the deeper issues will be familiar to many.

Steve Bell is a former Antarctic field-worker, Royal Marines Officer, and high-altitude Mountain Guide. He was a pioneer of the commercial expedition phenomenon, leading the first British guided ascent of Everest in 1993. He founded the UK mountaineering company, Jagged Globe, and has led expeditions to all of the seven continental summits. Since emigrating to Australia in 2004, he has hung up his ice-axe and sifted through his life for stories which have made him a sought-after keynote speaker. Steve Bell lives four rope-lengths from the ocean on South Australia's Fleurieu Peninsula with his wife, Rossy, with whom he shares seven children.

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Dispatch

Update: September 2022. Most orders received through the Vertebrate Publishing Adventure Books website are dispatched from Gardners in Eastbourne, UK; some orders (such as signed copies of pre-orders, or limited stock items) are sent from our office in Sheffield, UK. If your order is for multiple items, you may receive more than one package, though we try to avoid this (if applicable, you would only be charged once for shipping). Orders received before 11 a.m. are dispatched the same day; orders received after 11 a.m. are usually dispatched the following business day. You will be sent a notification email when your order has been dispatched. If we are temporarily out of stock of a title we will advise by email.

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