Aleister Crowley and Gilles de Rais

Put Aleister Crowley into an article and you can usually guarantee something of interest. Whether it’s about occultism, the Led Zeppelin connection or his mountaineering exploits, the so called ‘wickedest man in the world’ generates a good tale. Of course many dismiss him as a self-deluded charlatan but there’s no denying, as the latest Footless Crow posting shows, that in his youth Crowley was a bold and talented mountaineer. The blog reprints a Robin Cambell piece that originally appeared in Mountain magazine.

As ever, I was interested to see what contemporaneous news reports had to say about the man. Following the Guardian Book of Mountains thesis that at the beginning of the 20th century the Manchester Guardian was the paper of record for all things climbing, I was expecting at least something on the 1905 Kangchenjunga expedition. Unfortunately there was little apart from a few mentions. There were though some amusing reports of court cases, plus the following story about Crowley being banned from talking about the 15th century poet Gilles de Rais at Oxford University. Perhaps it was a quiet news day but the issue was thought important enough to warrant a leader column in the paper on February 4 1930. (Click images to enlarge)

Aleister Crowley

Aleister Crowley: A Passion for Evil is a new play by John Burns about the infamous occultist, poet, chess grand master, and rather good mountaineer. It can be seen at this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival from August 6-28. Hear Burns read from Crowley's Confessions, including a section on how he became a climber here. The site also features a trailer for the play, an excerpt, and a podcast on how it came to be written.

Perhaps not surprisingly, no mention of the fact that Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page used to own Boleskine House, Crowley's place on the south east shore of Loch Ness. There are all kinds of stories about what 'the wickedest man in the world', and indeed Page, allegedly got up to in the house. Perhaps it did hold some dark secrets, but part of the attraction must have simply been that it's a handsome looking residence set in stunning surroundings - not to mention the mountain of Meall Fuarvounie just across the water.

For a detailed description of Boleskine read Mick Wall's So Mote it be from When Giants Walked the Earth or listen to this BBC radio documentary.

In 1902 Crowley and Oscar Eckenstein made the first attempt on K2. Eckenstein and Crowley are sitting in the middle.

Thanks to UKClimbing for pointing me in the direction of the Crowley play.

A history of British mountaineering

British Mountaineering: Two Centuries of Firsts is an excellent 30-page special in this month's Trail Magazine. Featuring many of the great names - George Mallory, Eric Shipton, Chris Bonington et al, it includes some fine pictures plus a detailed timeline. This contains the infamous story of how well known Satanist, and rather good mountaineer, Aleister Crowley, pulled a gun on his fellow climbers during an attempt on K2, in 1902. There are also more book suggestions: