Inspirational can be an overused word when it comes to literature and particularly mountain literature, where in fact the epic tale isn't going to inspire you to go out and climb some far flung peak that's so far out of your ability range you couldn't even do it in your dreams. The Wild Within, however, deserves the term. The author has achieved something that IS achievable. Sure there's a pile of fine new lines on both known and virgin peaks that may be beyond the readers' limits but the book, and the author's decade, is not about the grades and the technicalities it's about fulfilling a burning desire for wilderness within the limitations of his lifestyle in an ever shrinking world. Mountaineering is in many ways a means to an end in The Wild Within, a way where even in an overcrowded world you can find a place to be alone with nature.

Travelling the world seeking out wild places may sound like an idyllic life, particularly if you're fortunate enough to still be in your twenties, but it doesn't come easy. Quite apart from the "family issues" such a lifestyle can create there's the cost of it. Fortunately the author has a talent for speaking that he actually seems to enjoy, travelling the UK each year performing to audiences ranging from village halls to international mountain festivals, and a growing list of books to his name. In many ways this highlights the contradictory nature of the author; His talks and lectures are meticulously planned yet once underway become natural and fluid, he gets involved in the tiniest of pre-expedition planning yet seeks out the unknown with a passion, he hates the way the wilderness is shrinking yet leads commercial treks. The thing is that's what real people are like! We all haver those contradictions, maybe not those specific ones but similar, and what the author does is prove that you can live with such contradictions. Not just live with them, not just balance them but use them to turn inspiration into reality. The lectures and talks have become a way of spreading the message that there's wilderness still out there, you just have to go and find it, that he enjoys in their own right. The fine detail of the planning allows for the unpredictables that are guaranteed to happen and give character to each trip while the commercial treks not only finance the more remote trips but also provide a more relaxed period and a chance to share his passion.

From an opening in Patagonia The Wild Within is a whistle stop tour of the remotest mountain ranges on the planet, taking in the Karakorum, Greenland and Alaska amongst others. Modern communications have encroached on this world over the author's 25+ years of wilderness mountaineering, an "advance" that has led Yates to question the reality and meaning of "wild" and helped define not only where he goes but his whole lifestyle. In some ways The Wild Within is a lament for a lost world of wilderness and the reader leaves with a tinge of sadness that the world is so linked up, but it's also a celebration that the spirit of wilderness John Muir so eloquently described as being essential to the human soul. It's a big departure from previous books Against the Wall and The Flame of Adventure, but a departure that's more than succeeded.

Note: This article was restored from the archives. It's published creation date is inaccurate.