Table of Contents

Table of contents
1. About the editors
2. Acknowledgements: Rupert Pullee
3. Introduction: Jan Morris
4. Walks from the Pen y Gwryd Hotel: Geoffrey Pocock
5. World mountaineering's 'holy grail': Neeraj Rana
6. PyG—long may it never change: Chris Bonington
7. Keep on a path: Rosemary Hocking
8. A barman's tale: Desmond Hall
9. There was an aura: Michael Ward
10. The hotel on the corner: John Blackmore
11. Blodwen of Pen y Gwryd: Ken Jones
12. Blodwen Pen y Gwryd: Ken Jones (in Welsh)
13. Going to extremes to understand critical illness—Xtreme Everest: Kay Mitchell
14. You will just have to read Ed's book: Peter Hillary
15. Peter Spencer Coppock—the man behind the camera: Katharine Anne Lerman
16. Climbers, walkers and …: Ffion White
17. 'Grandly present are their memories still': Tony Astill
18. And there we stayed: Rebecca Stephens
19. Throne of the Gods: Paul Newby
20. A lace-trimmed apron and a feather duster: Eliza Winkler
21. Arthur Lockwood and the Pen y Gwryd: Rosie Lloyd
22. The Pen y Gwryd Hotel—functional antiquity: Neil Robertson
23. PyG—Reflections from Raggedass Road: Jim Perrin
24. The Pen y Gwryd Hotel—girls and boys and bicycles: Betty Humphreys
25. The Snowdon Club: Alice Burton
26. 'I'll phone Joe Brown, he'll know what to do': Joe Brown
27. The Alpine Club and the Pen y Gwryd Hotel: Anna Lawford
28. PyG ... Rick Stein ... Jamie Oliver: Dane Tobias
29. Pen y Gwryd memories: Rob Collister
30. Chasing after giants: Ed Webster
31. Wartime Pen y Gwryd: Elaine Travis
32. Where great memories are always present: William ‘Bill’ Roache
33. 'Hats orff in the house!': Caradoc 'Crag' Jones
34. Wetter inside than out: Ben Reedy
35. The PyG, undeniably the centre of British climbing life: Doug Scott
36. In memory of Chris Briggs: John Neill
37. Pen y Gwryd days: Ann Verity
38. The Rucksack Club—Concerning inns: Mike Dent
39. Walking Snowdonia: Andy Harbach
40. 'Whatever Mr Briggs says is true': Chuck Evans
41. Pen y Gwryd recollections: Joseph Blackburn
42. In memory of Jo Briggs: John Disley
43. All you need is love, love … and a television set: Chris Warren
44. PyG anecdotes: David Matthews
45. A Longland family affair: Nick Longland
46. The PyG has … gone to the dogs: Nicola Maysmor
47. The PyG site—from Legio XX Valeria Victrix to the Luftwaffe: Harvey Lloyd
48. Dipping into the Locked Book, 1884–1953: Harvey Lloyd
49. Reach higher and seek the strength within: H.P.S. Ahluwalia
50. People are talking: Gwyn Berry
51. The Welsh 3000s challenge: Gordon Lindsay Jones
52. Flying in to the PyG: Norbu Tenzing Norgay
53. Reminiscences of a PyG maid—a fictional account the founding of the Pinnacle Club, 1921: Margaret Clennett
54. 'Put up a flare … the people will come from the mountains': Chris Lloyd
55. Chris Brasher: Hugh Brasher
56. The man upon the stair: Paul Carling
57. The PyG-Andalusian sherry connection: Miryam MacPherson
58. Charles Kingsley and the Pen y Gwryd: Piers J. Hale
59. Remember to take abseil gear to the bedroom: Julian Freeman-Attwood
60. The Everest Room: Christine Birch
61. Everest Room key
62. The smallest churches in Snowdonia: Ken Smith
63. The Yorkshire Ramblers' Club and the Pen y Gwryd: Michael Smith
64. Moulam's rules: Jim Milledge
65. Notes on conducting essential mountaineering background research: Mike Conlon
66. The PyG—a home for all climbers: Emily Pitts

Reviews

When Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first stood on the top of Mount Everest, only a handful of people knew the debt of gratitude they owed not only to the mountains of North Wales but also to a little hotel in the lee of Snowdon. It was at the Pen y Gwryd Hotel (or 'PyG') that the members of the 1953 Everest Expedition stayed during their training for that historic adventure, and it subsequently became – and remains – a place of pilgrimage for mountaineers the world over. With an introduction by Jan Morris, the Times reporter who accompanied that first successful expedition and broke the story to the world, The Pen y Gwryd Hotel - Tales from the Smoke Room tells the story of 'one of the great climbing inns of Europe' through a series of anecdotes, reminiscences and tributes, including contributions by a veritable who's who of walkers, climbers and writers.
*Publisher: Gomer@Lolfa*

This book has been designed, produced and edited to the highest standards and is a delight to handle. It furnishes a multi-faceted pen-portrait of the celebrated Pen y Gwryd Hotel, an old coaching inn which presides over remote moorland on the junction of two historic roads in the very heart of Snowdonia. It has been there since 1810 and already had a rich and fascinating history before it was famously colonised by the team that first climbed Everest as they prepared for their expedition of 1953. Since then it has become a site of pilgrimage for many, and a cosy retreat for others, a quirky place for climbers and walkers to find like-minded friends and to meet interesting characters whilst paying homage to the famous mountaineers, climbers and celebrities whose signatures adorn the ceiling of the residents' lounge – known as the ‘smoke room’ or, in these more enlightened times, the ‘Everest room’. The editors have solicited disparate contributions from a wide range of people with connections to the hostelry. Taken in total, they give a varied, mosaic picture of the place from many angles – including staff, both long and short term, frequent residents, and those who occasionally called in to slake their thirst after a hard day on the hills. It holds a fascination and magnetic attraction for all of these people. The section on the Everest room gives us short biographies of the august characters whose signatures grace the ceiling – a veritable who's-who of world mountaineering. The hotel has had an amazing number of famous visitors, including Charles Kingsley, Thomas Hughes (of Tom Brown's Schooldays) Ed Hillary, Jan Morris, Sherpa Tenzing and his son, John Hunt, Roger Bannister, Chris Brasher and Joe Brown, to name but a few. Even the Beatles passed through, it seems. Most of the vignettes are somewhat reverential, and it is evident that there was a certain elitist, if not snobbish, regard for the eminent professional types who frequented the premises. I suspect that this has now gone. Of course, Jim Perrin's contribution provides a counterbalance. At the same time erudite, irreverent, cocky and kindly, it stands out as a piece of masterly writing among some of the more pedestrian accounts. The hotel served as a mountain rescue centre from 1904 to around 1959. From the effective efforts of early altruistic amateurs, a highly technical and successful service has evolved, and the Pen y Gwryd Hotel has made a significant contribution to today's sophisticated methods of saving those who get into difficulty in challenging terrain. Like the hotel itself, the book does a good job of humanising the climbing fraternity, which can seem so rarefied and exclusive as to leave the mere walker or naturalist demoralised, humbled or exasperated. The tales in this sumptuous and well-illustrated volume cover all these aspects and more. If you don't know this unique institution, you will be tempted to visit. If you are familiar with the PyG, you will enjoy the sheer variety of these tales, and no doubt learn something new about its disparate denizens.
*Richard Hartnup @ www.gwales.com*