In the early 1970s while in college I caught the climbing bug.
During this time, I learned to rappel out of third story dorm windows. I commandeered a study carrel in the library next to the mountaineering section. I went to the gunks, Adirondacks, or White Mountains when I could. I camped out on Commonwealth Avenue for the big annual EMS gear sale. I was suspended from the lacrosse team because I did not attend our vacation training trip to Florida, and spent a week ice climbing at Chapel Pond instead.
After college I spent all my free time thinking, training, dreaming, and actually climbing. I spent an entire Fall climbing in the Canadian Rockies, and most of two summers in the Tetons. Finally, in my first year-long leave of absence from teaching I headed across the big pond ... three months climbing in: England, Wales, Scotland, Dolomites, Zermatt, and Chamonix. All this was followed by a Fall climbing in Yosemite, a winter living and climbing in Huntington Ravine (with side trips to Katahdin, Scotland, and Chamonix), a Spring on Denali, and part of the summer back in the Tetons.
But it was my time in the Alps which opened my eyes big and wide. Learning to go light and fast, how to bivy, getting a glimpse of the fitness level required to do routes of that scale, and balancing risk with the reward of speed were all part of my schooling. Backing off routes in the Dolomites, then moving together on the big snow and ice north faces of Lyskamm, Breithorn, and Dent d'Herens, gave way to a few hours at the bivouac hut on the Col de Fourche and a big solo of the Sentinelle Rouge on the Brenva Face of Mont Blanc.
I have not read this book yet - only available in Britain - but I can tell you that the triptych that T. Graham Brown climbed are classic and critically important in mountaineering history. The Sentinelle Rouge, Route Major, and the Pear, still are considered serious undertakings. This book review on the Footless Crow website is a great introduction to the life and times of this important, and idiosyncratic climber.
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