James Ramsey Ullman (1907–71) was an American writer and mountaineer known for his vivid storytelling and adventurous spirit. Though not a professional climber, his works earned him an honorary place among the mountaineering elite. His books explored themes of exploration, perseverance, and ambition, making him a key figure in adventure literature.
Born in New York City, Ullman graduated from Princeton University (1929.) Initially a journalist and theatrical producer, he later shifted to writing and travel. His first major work, High Conquest: The Story of Mountaineering (1941,) provided a historical account of climbing. He gained recognition with The White Tower (1945,) a novel about post-war mountaineering, and Banner in the Sky (1954,) later adapted into Disney’s Third Man on the Mountain.
Ullman ghostwrote Man of Everest (1955,) the autobiography of Tenzing Norgay, published as Tiger of the Snows. His historical novel The Day on Fire (1958) was inspired by poet Arthur Rimbaud. As historian of the 1963 American Mount Everest Expedition, he documented the journey in Americans on Everest (1964.)
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It is the ultimate wisdom of the mountains that a man is never more a man than when he is striving for what is beyond his grasp.
—James Ramsey Ullman
Topics: Doing Your Best, Vision
Challenge is the core and the mainspring of all human activity. If there’s an ocean, we cross it; if there’s a disease, we cure it; if there’s a wrong, we right it; if there’s a record, we break it; and finally, if there’s a mountain, we climb it.
—James Ramsey Ullman
We are so clothed in rationalization and dissemblance that we can recognize but dimly the deep primal impulses that motivate us.
—James Ramsey Ullman
Topics: Instincts, Civilization, Reason
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