[edwin hubble]

Boris,

Any thoughts on Clarke's non-equatorial design from Fountains of Paradise?

In his analysis Clarke found the Andes equatorial peaks and Kilimanjaro on the equator to present unstable conditions. His solution was to go off equator by 7 degrees to Sri Lanka. (co-incidentally his home).

[edwin hubble]

I checked on Clarke's scheme for the space elevator in his book, Fountains of Paradise.

He used a trick...
He described the elevator anchor at what appeared to be the island of Sri Lanka, but he made it a fictional island ... at the equator. I had forgotten that glitch.

There you go.