He assembles a team of climbers to play all the roles seen in the parodied literature: It rapidly develops that each of the climbers is utterly inept in his nominal field of competence, as they demonstrate in a series of chaotic adventures en route to Yogistan; for example, Prone endures a never-ending series of illnesses, while Constant mispronounces a Yogistani word (the language hinges on variously "pronounced" belches and gastrointestinal rumbles) and offends a "short but powerful" Yogistani wielding a knife, having informed him that he lusted for the man's wife — not his intention at all.

Hijinks ensue, as the expedition cook, "Pong", produces food so inedible that the expedition tries (unsuccessfully) to continue on up the mountain without him; the inevitable fall into a crevasse leads to the consumption of the party's champagne (brought along to celebrate reaching the summit and for "medicinal purposes") during the rescue attempt; and scientist Wish embarks on a never-ending quest for "Wharton's warple", an endangered species indigenous to the mountains.

A bar and restaurant in Kathmandu, called Rum Doodle and decorated with pictures from the book, has become a popular staging point for expeditions to Mount Everest, and which gives free dinners to those who successfully climb it.

There is a hidden couloir in the Vanoise National Park in the French Alps, also unofficially known as the Rum Doodle, and named by one of the firsts to discover and ski down it, Will Eaton.

[citation needed] Floyd C. Gale of Galaxy Science Fiction praised Rum Doodle: "If this misAdventure book doesn't make you forget your cares, see your doctor at once!