Mark the Mountain Guide, a childrens book by Mark Seaton
A Scene from Mark the Mountain Guide
British Mountain Guide Mark Seaton has written a childrens book called Mark the Mountain Guide in his own words
"The characters reflect 'real' people I have met while working as a Mountain Guide. There is Mark’s constant companion Leo the Mountain Dog© who despite being able to talk, is just like my own Bernese Mountain Dog. Mary Marmot© who is the Mountain Hut keeper, Ralph Ravencopter© and the star character who is a mixture of many mountaineers I have met: Epic Eddy©."
We asked Mark how the book came about. While preparing for a Mont Blanc ascent with illustrator David Bennett talked turned to book ideas, Mark takes up the story;
David started to empty his rucksack. He unloaded the normal things like an anorak, over- trousers, spare sweater, sandwiches, but then it started to get a little strange (well strange for an ascent of Mt Blanc:) Out came a huge block of paper the size of a telephone directory, then a big box of water colour paints followed by an easel.
I asked the question “what the Hell are you going to do with that lot?” “Well I’m an Illustrator by profession and I thought that if I got the odd few minutes then I could do some painting.” David said defensively. I stood there scratching my head for a second or two and then said “Well you’ve got to decide whether you’re going to climb Mt Blanc or your going to paint! You can’t lug that lot around.”
David and his friend Andrew had just finished their first day on the Mer de Glace glacier learning the how to use their ice axes and crampons. Preparation for our attempt on Mt Blanc at the end of the week. The day had been a success and despite David and Andrew having no experience of Mountaineering what so ever I could tell that they would have no problems climbing Mt Blanc, providing the weather was kind and they reduced the weight of their rucksacks. The plan for the next few days was to get some practise climbing simple peaks, staying in high mountain huts and importantly gaining valuable acclimatisation. Vital for a safe ascent of a very high mountain such as Mt Blanc.
By far one of the most interesting aspects of my job as a Guide is meeting many different people and learning about their jobs. I was particularly interested to learn about David’s work as a children’s book designer and illustrator. It was during one of these conversations that David said I’m always on the look out for new ideas…..So while sitting on the terrace of Trient Mountain Hut drinking beers [and acclimatising] David said “well you should have ago at a kids story!”
After several more beers a few ideas started to flow and by the evening there was the form of the character Mark the Mountaineer. Over the next few days we talked about all sorts of things but never losing sight of the fact that we had to climb Mt Blanc. Our preparation had been good and we had a good weather forecast. The ascent went like clockwork and we were on the summit by 8.00am. And to cap it all David could celebrate his 50th birthday on the summit of Mt Blanc. As we climbed down from Mt Blanc I was thinking more and more about writing a book with David’s help but I still wanted to know a lot more so I asked him what he had done in the past which I might of heard of?
Well about 20 years ago I commissioned the “Where’s Wally?” Series. David offered modestly. Ignorantly I asked “did they sell well?” David must have loved this question: He said, “At the last count, Walker Books (for whom he was an art director) sold around 40 million copies. At its height it was perhaps the biggest selling book after the Bible.”
Hence I concluded David had a nose for a good story . A few days after returning to the UK we were exchanging e-mails. Characters and story plots began to emerge. Mark the Mountaineer became “Mark the Mountain Guide©” so that it described his job in line with characters in major children’s stories. Initially we worked on two books “Mark the Mountain Guide Avalanche” and the “Cuckoo Clock” David then brought into the team the highly regarded artist, Graham Philpott to illustrate the books. Graham is well known for Antony Ant.
The characters reflect 'real' people I have met while working as a Mountain Guide. There is Mark’s constant companion Leo the Mountain Dog© who despite being able to talk, is just like my own Bernese Mountain Dog. Mary Marmot© who is the Mountain Hut keeper, Ralph Ravencopter© and the star character who is a mixture of many mountaineers I have met: Epic Eddy©.
The book has been a great success is endorsed by the IFMGA and is available through the Amazon widget on our community page.
