The Ascent of Rum Doodle

This book is a well known parody on mountaineering stories, written about a fictional mountain named Rum Doodle, altitude 40,000-and-a-half feet - around one third again as high as Everest. Set in the Himalaya, in a land that is not Nepal, but very like Nepal, with porters who are ‘Yogastani'.

The team, established by the Rum Doodle committee is led by the narrator, known as Binder (not sure we ever learn his real name, as Binder is his radio callsign). As a leader he is the least insightful - unaware of what transpires around him most of the time, but totally dedicated to the party and the task. He is joined by a crew who become somewhat more obvious as the list grows - Tom Burley ex-military, the oversized, endurance man who is a constant victim of an array of lassitudes (heat, valley, etc), radio callsign - Deadweight.
Christopher Wish, scientist, who is constantly carrying out experiments which all seem to be boiling water to determine altitude (inaccurately) - radio callsign - Fiddler
Donald Shute, photographer, who specialises in exposing film and ruining any recorded imagery - radio callsign - Dickie Bird.
Humphrey Jungle - radio expert and route finder, who is constantly lost and requires rescue frequently - radio callsign - Wanderer (although he proposed pathfinder for himself which was not accepted).
Lancelot Constant - linguist, who struggles with the language of the porters creating havoc in the giving of instructions - radio callsign Applecart.
Ridley Prone - doctor, who is constantly struck down with illness, radio callsign - Ailing.

As well as the team, there are the aforementioned porters, numbering 3000 at commencement, but gradually whittled down in number to suit the food stores available and maintain the expedition budget. There are a few main character Yogistanis, who include Pong the expedition cook (who manages to turn any ingredients into inedible filth for the duration of the expedition), Bing, who was the Bang (head porter), Bung a particularly strong porter, So Lo and Lo Too, who stick with Binder for much of the expedition.

As you can see from the above, there is plenty of absurdity, plenty of slapstick, lots of play on words and situations (translations, of course when two words in Yogistani are indistinguishable ‘except for a gurgle at the end', inevitable navigation issues, hallucinations, medical situations, a crevasse to escape from, fiance stories to be learned from all the team, porter revolts and much acclimatization to be done. There are basecamps, advanced basecamps, camps 1-5 and all manner of arrangements to be made.

So at 153 pages, it wouldn't have wanted to be any longer, but it was a funny and readable parody. Probably more Goon Show than Monty Python, but very British in its self-mockery.

Worthy of noting - Bill Bryson wrote the introduction, most useful for its background to the book (including explaining the significance of the repeated uses of the number 153 in the text).

Also worth a mention is the Rum Doodle Restaurant in Kathmandu, which carries on the tradition, albeit apparently relocated from its original location in Thamel. I have visited the restaurant when it was in Thamel (I believe I had a yak steak (which is nearly always water buffalo, apparently)), and had a vague understanding of the book, but had not read it.

Somewhere between 3 and 4 stars, rounded up.