Climbing Books

This book has everything one would want for climbing on the Railey peninsula (...and more). Very helpful information.

Sam's guide for Thailand is very useful for the first time visitor with lots of information and stories on locations, getting around and local culture.

there are a few routes missing in this book by now and the layout can be a little frustrating at times, with photo maps that are not as accurate as I would like. It is generally well laid out and freindly to use.

Alot of my mates had the updated 2007 guide from wee's and this seemed more up to date, crag wise, but I found the information on Thailand, language tid bits and hints on how to get around etc, it was perfect for someone who hadn't visited Ton Sai before and didnt know what to expect.

I got this book and Wee Changrua/Elke Schmitz's "Rock Climbing in Thailand" (3rd ed, Dec 2005) guidebook. Sam's book is good in giving you background and route descriptions but it is hard sometimes to find climbs with his photos. Also some data is out of date. For example the Diamond Cave area, only 2-3 climbs go the full height of the wall to the roof but looking at Sam's book it looks like they all go to the roof. Wee's book is upto date on this. Also Wee has a new edition, availible in Railay and Tonsai with the newest info; such as Stalagasaurus losing it's defining stalactite.

Otherwise it's an ok book.

There are no fewer than four climbing guides for Thailand of which I am aware. Sirichai Pongsopon's "Thailand Rock Climbing Guide Book" (2005), Wee Changrua/Elke Schmitz's "Rock Climbing in Thailand" (3rd ed, Dec 2005), the King Climber's guidebook (not certain the date on this one), and, of course, Sam Lightner, Jr.'s "Thailand: A Climbing Guide" (2005).

Of all these guidebooks, Sam's guide is by far the thickest, weighing in at nearly 340 pages. Wee's/Elke's and Sirichai's come in in the mid-200s (the King Climber guidebook I opted not to pick up because it was my understanding from a number of other climbers that it was essentially a direct copy of an earlier edition of Wee's/Elke's, errors and all - so I have no hard supporting data for comparisons as with the other three; besides, I only had only so many bahts with which to buy guidebooks!). Sirichai's black and rad-like photo cover guide cuts right to the point: after about 20 pages of "fluff", his book breaks right into topos and listings of routes. There are no route descriptions, however, anywhere. If you come to a tricky spot, you'll have to puzzle it out for yourself (and just go for the next bolt/sling). He does include some notes about rebolting of routes when and where known (at the time of his writing).

Wee's and Elke's black cover guide has a bit more up-front fluff for the traveling climber: about 40 pages worth. But from there the guide dives straight into topos and route listings, with a few routes having brief notes. The book is also sprinkled with a few more fluff pages and advertisements in the routes section.

Sam's book has a bright, spring/aqua-green cover, with a photo of a climber on a route in Dum's Kitchen. His guide spends the first five full chapters - 95 pages - on "fluff", before he begins covering the climbing in general. He goes into a lot of detail for the traveling climber, much of it invaluable for the first-time visitor to Thailand (but already some of it out of date, as is the bane of all guides - information goes out of date before the books hit the stands) (for example, there are easily twice as many bungalow operations in Tonsai than what Sam lists, perhaps even three times as many; good to know for when you arrive and find nothing available at the listed ones). Good reading material for the plane flight to Thailand. For someone who has been to Thailand a couple of times, much of the material is still helpful, esp if you have not had the opportunity to experience everything that Sam has. For those climbers who more or less live in Thailand during the Northern Hemisphere winter months, it is probably superfluous information. Unless you haven't been paying much attention to the culture or environment around you...

One bit of fluff that Sam's guide has which the other guides do not is a section of color photos. While these do not give more information of the climbing walls/routes, they nicely add to the atmosphere of the region, giving a taste of what you might get to see/experience while you are there.

Unlike Wee's/Elke's and Sirichai's, Sam uses primarily photos for his topos (the other guys use exclusively drawings). In some cases the photo topos are quite helpful. In other cases, especially when some of the pertinent details are lost to inconsequential details, or to flat lighting, the drawings of the other guides are a better help for finding routes. If all else fails, one can always ask someone nearby what they are on in order to help orient oneself to the cliffs one is about to climb.

Sam's guide gives more route information than either Wee's/Elke's or Sirichai's, more of what U.S. climbers might expect in a guidebook. Personally I like a route description rather than "just follow the bolts, for crying out loud!" Occasionally, however, he bails on route descriptions in favor of some background information on the route and you're left to either follow the topo, the bolts/slings, and/or the chalk marks to climb it.

As with any guide, not all of Sam's info is accurate or correct (for the 2006 season, increase all the prices - such as longtail rides or bungalow costs - by 10-20 percent). Some of these are just typos, but a few could prove serious. For example, if you arrive with just one 60-meter rope, you are unlikely to try jumping on "The Groove Tube" (or it's neighboring two climbs) without a second rope as Sam notes it is 35-meters tall. However, upon arriving at the base of the climb you'll likely note everyone easily lowers off (or top-ropes) these three routes with a single 60-meter rope. While not critical, had the typo been the other way around...

One of the most negative aspects of Sam's book is his disparaging and often upturned-nose position of most of the easier routes in the region. His guide discriminates against people who don't climb "hard" stuff. He leaves the reader with the impression that if you don't climb 6a or harder, there's really not much there for you to do (and he's not always kind to the 6a routes, either). One area in particular, Shadow Wall, Sam completely dumps on, and refuses to even mention what routes lie within. While Wee/Elke and Sirichai also mention it's not a very nice area, they at least give topos and list routes for the wall. Upon visiting, I found that yes, some routes there are not worth climbing, and yes, the area is most definitely not Dum's Kitchen or Thaiwand, but there are still routes that are perfectly fine to climb - especially for the climber who does NOT climb at the lofty 7a or harder! For the most part Sam treats routes easier than 6a as unworthy and you shouldn't bother (if he even mentions them at all). Sam seems to forget that many climbers, however, only climb at the level of 4s and 5s, and might squeak onto 6a's, but don't do harder routes. Prior to my trip to Thailand I had only Sam's book to go by, and had the VERY wrong impression my climbing time there would be short and brief (as I don't climb 6a/6b in general; however, grades are soft out there, and I was able to get on a number of 6a's and 6b's). Upon picking up Sirichai's and Wee's/Elke's guides, I quickly understood there are a number of moderate level routes the non-elite/non-hardcore climber can get on and still enjoy oneself. And so between those and the 6a's/6b's I climbed, I managed to squeeze in 7 full and enjoyable days of climbing, and still not touch everything I wanted to get on.

Sam does maintain a webpage for updates to the guide (http://www.thailandclimbingguide.com/). However, he does clarify that he will only consider feedback from other climbers on corrections/updates, and will "eventually" put up that he deems worthy. Something to keep in mind when checking for updates (or sending in feedback).

Overall, as a standalone book for the general climber, I would rate Sam's guide 3.5 on a scale of 1-5 (but Amazon doesn't do half-stars, so I rated it '4'). The saving grace is all the extra fluff. If you were to use it as a supplement to Sirichai's or Wee's/Elke's guide (or both), or you climb exclusively at 7a and harder, it's a 4.5.

I live right down the street fomr stoney point and have never seen as complete a route book as this. Oh sure there are more, but this is the most complete book on stoney point. Although some routes change constantly because of the sandstone shaleing, it still give a general description of the routes and some VERY helpful tips on climbing. I got past a 5 12a that I had been working on for 3 months thanks to this book. Highly reccommended.

How lucky we are to be so close to a great area for top roping. Chris Owen is clear about the climbs and routes. He has great topos and looking through other guides over the years proves that this is no small feat. I am so glad I have this guide, almost as glad as I am that I have Stoney Point.

This book provides valuable information (topos and ratings) on all the climbs at Stoney. Mostly TR and boulders with very few leads. I have yet to find another book with descriptions of these climbs. The nice thing about a guide like this is the consistent ratings provided for all the routes.

Lots of information here about the actual climbs, nice diagrams with well written, interesting and sometimes funny descriptions of the routes. Quite extensive, especially for top-roping.

This book gives a brief overview of the various regions in Alaska to consider, but focuses more on providing knowledge needed to backpack successfully in the state. The chapters on techniques (including river crossing, snowfield travel, and glacial travel) and wildlife are particularly useful. There is also a chapter on navigating via compass and map, which is helpful since there are very few trails in Alaska. This is a good first read for someone planning their initial backpacking expedition in the nation's largest state. For the more advanced Alaskan, it probably would not be too helpful.

THis book is almost perfact for those people who are looking for an Alaska guide book. Some information good be more specific though..

As always, Molvar gives us an in-depth look at what we need to know: the weather, the terrain, the animals and their normal habitats, reading from maps, packing supplies, essentials on clothing, what foods on the trail to avoid and what to watch for, how to interpret the forests, etc. There is very little in the book that a backpacker or angler would not find pertinent to his visit to Alaska. The writing flows smoothly and evenly, and no part gets greater treatment than the rest. I recommend this as a useful manual to hikers and campers ready to visit Alaska, both novice and veteran. Molvar's firsthand experience shows on every page.

The book is fantastic but there are at least the lack of two great names: 1) Loretan 2) Maurizio Zanolla ( called Manolo),wha has the following incredible curriculum: a) 1980: "supermatita", 1200 mt with minimum 6c+ by using only 7(!!) protection. b) 1981: 7c+ rotkpunt, 40 mt with 6 protections. c) 1985: 8a, 20 mt with 3 protections d) 1986: 8b, 25 mt with 4 protections and many others exploits, long path ( up to 1000 mt) always using a very little protections. some climbers says to have seen him climbing 8a already before 1981.

The seventeen people interviewed by author O'Connell have one thing in common: climbing. For most it's the love of their life. Yet as I read through each segment, beginning with a short but comprehensive biography (never more than a few pages of text) and continuing with the actual interview, I was struck by how many of these climbers strive to make it plain to O'Connell and all who read his book that climbing by itself isn't what matters most. It's what climbing does for the person - what the person brings to the climb - or both.

Perhaps above all others, this is a "sport" that's about individualism. Although the forming of close friendships and the intimacy of depending on team mates for one's very life get plenty of attention, the place most of these climbers come back to is the same: It's about self-reliance. Self-discipline, and reaching one's own goals instead of goals set by others.

There are some moving tales of survival and sacrifice, tragedy and triumph, contained in these pages. Each segment, though, is not a condensed "life of XXXX XXXXXX who first summited such-and-such a peak." Each is a genuine conversation, talking about the mundane aspects of life and of climbing just as often as about the events that made these people famous.

A good, solid read for anyone who's interested in what makes climbers tick; but a bit of a slog, for readers expecting something in the "true adventure" genre.

The best collection of interviews of climbers I have ever read. If you want to understand why climbers climb, read this book. Whenever a non-climber asks why I climb, I've never felt like I gave an adequate answer. Now I can. These climbers each in their own way described why they climb. I found my answers about myself in that book. A must read for any climber and a good read for anyone interested in a climber's mindset.

As the previous reviewer notes, the 1995 edition is most useful. Unless you buy used from Amazon, you WILL get the 1995 edition. It contains many crucial updates and additions.

Route descriptions are surprisingly detailed for a guidebook. Most important peaks have multiple routes described. Seeing as how there is effectively zero route information on the internet, you're stuck with it. Luckily, the book is very good!

Be sure you get the 1995 revised edition of this book. I received the original 1984 edition, and it is heavy on text and light on route maps and photos. Many of the peaks and routes have no supporting photos. I suspect the 1995 revision has corrected this. Climbing guidebooks need to be visual.

This guide covers most of the peaks in the park. Many of the mountains not covered here are at least mentioned and Edwards proclaims the apparent ease of these climbs. My experience agrees with this surmission. I have been on the mountains of the park with, and without the guide. When the guide was in possession, the climb was greatly simplified. Well done and a must for those interested in climbing mountains in Glacier National Park!

You can't really learn climbing, or any sport, from a book. You have to get out there and do it. But a book can inspire you and give you the basics so you won't embarrass yourself! This book was all that and more -- the encouragement for women, even those who aren't "athletic" and the guidelines for dealing with common fears were the best. I'd recommend it to anyone.

As a climbing illiterate, this book covers everything I could want to know...and more. (how to pee with a harness on!) An easy read with tons of information. Not just for women (except the part mentioned above). As a professional coach in a different sport, I can tell you that some of the ideas are written well enough to be used in other sports. With a little motivation and this book by my side, I think I will climb. Nice job.

Climbing A Woman's Guide by Shelley Presson is a comprehensive guide for women who want to get started and progress in the sport of climbing, either in indoor climbing gyms or on outdoor rock faces. The book has an excellent layout and design. It features good pictures and illustrations, and comprehensive step by step guidance for the reader. A terrific feature is the mental tricks. Shelley has provided a well written book that provides clear guidance for the beginner and the more advanced climber. She has thought of everything the climber will need from gear, clothing, safety, training, signals and holds, techniques and exercises. It is informative and inspiring.

I bought this book to plan a week-long backpacking trip. It is very similar in concept to Secor's "High Sierra" guide for CA's Sierra Nevada: Adequate description of the trails and off-trail passes, and comprehensive information for climbers on about everything climbable. I am not a technical climber and cannot judge the book's usefulness as a real "climbing guide", but I like to take off-trail excursions, shortcuts, and scrambles. Together with the "Earthwalk" topos (which are excellent) this book was just the right thing for planning a backpacking trip with "side adventures". If you stay strictly on the trail, you might find a pure trail guide more useful, as trail descriptions only make up 10 or 20% of the text. Off-trail travel turned out to be easy in the Wind Rivers, though.
The book has a short and very interesting account of the history of Wind River exploration.

This book outlines hundreds of different routes up all of the Wind's well-known peaks (as well as several not-so-well-know ones). He did a phenomenal job amassing all of this information. There is enough here for a short lifetime of awesome mountain trekking.

The information Kelsey gives is mean, lean, and straight to the point. Novices beware, this book makes no attempts to come down to anyone's level. It is written for those grounded in that arts of route-finding, technical climbing, and alpine survival. It is not a hiking book. If you are uncomfortable with this, either buy a more toned-down Wind River guide, or pick up a book to build your skills like "Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills" and start psyching yourself up for some world class backcountry.

Joe Kelsey has taken the old trail book of Finis Mitchell's and turned it into a Trail and Mountain Guide that leads you to every nook and crany, you would want to go.

Many years before Joe's book, I would hike the Winds with Mitchells book in hand as if I was following an old adventurers pencil notebook. Today, Joe Kelsey's "Wind River Hiking/Climbing Guide" is as necessary as the matches.

For haveing such a small space I wanted a book that could show me that you don't need to have a large ground space you need to just look up. This book shows you great how-to's and what will come back and what's best for your space. It also has awsome pictures that give you a great ideas of what to look for, like more green or more flower. It also lets you know how to control the growth and promote a certain design with in your garden.

Barash's book is beautiful, over 100 pages of color photos, many of them taken in her own garden. Extreamly informative gardening guide

You don't have to have a small work area to develop a vertical garden, but Cathy Barash, author of THE CLIMBING GARDEN wrote her book to address the needs of those who work with limited spaces. She says she grew up in an area of New York where folks had postage sized lots and were constantly seeking ways to ensure privacy without resorting to 20 foot walls. Her book is the result of a lifetime of gardening on the vertical, a practice that has proved so popular that owners of large lots now create small intimate vertical enclosures.

Barash's book is beautiful, over 100 pages of color photos, many of them taken in her own garden. She's a knowledgeable gardener too. She knows her "Vines and Climbers" (former title of the book). For example, she writes that Ivy can destroy masonry, Wisteria can destroy walls, and Porcelain Berry has become an invasive weed in some places (Zone 7-8). She recommends the three lobed Boston Ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata) or the five-leaved Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) in place of English Ivy (Hedera helix). The Parthenocissus vines have little suction cups that support their tendrils, unlike the invasive rootlets of Hedera that insinuate themselves into the cracks of the masonry and work it away grain by grain.

Barash says if you live in a temparate area (or maybe any area in the U.S. except the desert) resist the urge to plant Porcelain Berry (Ampelopsis brevipedunculata). This invasive native of Asia, along with it's cousins, Kudzu, Wisteria, and Honeysuckle, has nearly strangled the life from U.S. native plants. One of the saddest sights in the Washington D.C. "natural" areas (nature preserves, parkland, bike trails, etc.) is the sight of English Ivy, Honeysuckle, Porcelain Berry, and Wisteria strangling native trees.

THE CLIMBING GARDEN contains a nice section on climbing plants, both annuals and perennials and woody plants. Roses are considered climbing vines, and Barash provides some information on climbing roses but not the sort of detail a rosarian would seek. She also discusses the architecture of the garden, trellises, pergolas, and other structural supports for vines. You don't have to have an ancient retaining wall to plant climbers. She provides a section of 5-6 pages on various planting designs in the back of the book.

I bought the book to generate ideas about how I might block out the areas beyond my garden fences, including my neighbors deck. I've seen ideas about vertical screens here and there in the various gardening magazines, but this book brings all the ideas together in one volume.

over the last 2 years i've read almost everybook i could lay my hands on do to with depression, in the search to find a cure for me.

by far the best one to date is called

climbing out of depression by sue atkinson.

i carry it everywhere with me, and when i need help i can open it anywhere and read a chapter, its like she knows exactly what i'm going through its been a life line for me. i guess she should cause she has suffered with depression and came out the other side.

This book is incredible. Having had depression since I was six years old, I thought I would never be free of it. When I first read this book, I cried because I'd never before come across anyone who knew how it felt. It was like the author was inside my head.
The advice and practical solutions are fantastic and really work. Now I am able to catch my depression before I get suicidal, which is brilliant.
I keep it by my bed and read it whenever I am feeling I am slipping.
If you have depression you must get this book. It could save your life.

A brilliant, informative book that is divided into small chapters, charts and activities. It is very reader-friendly, and can be used as a reference book rather than a read-back-to-front novel....
Sue Atkinson isn't a psychotherapist or doctor, but a regular person like you or me, who has experienced depression first hand and has lived to tell the tale and offer practical advice to sufferers. I found the activities particularly helpful, because they encourage soul-searching and self-understanding. Sue Atkinson encourages us to tune into our feelings, rather than masking them. She believes that hardships, both situational and emotional, should be brought to the fore and dealt with. She does not write in a condescending tone; and she is a highly literate author, especially considering this is her debut book.
My only problem with this book is the abundant references to Christianity, as the author of this book is a devout Christian. She means well, by telling us that religion was her savior and ray of light in the pit of darkness.....but I would find that most discouraging if I was Atheist or Agnostic. She preaches, ever-so-subtley, that Jesus saved her soul, and this comes across as blind faith rather than an intellectual realization, and is most inconsistant with the other messages in the book.
If you can look past her religious references, you will be rewarded with a very practical guide to recovery from depression. It is delivered with understanding, empathy, and hope. I recommend this book for any and all sufferers of depression, guilt, anxiety, and phobia, as well as those seeking to be informed about such conditions.

Zdon does a great job of listing hikes in the southern Nevada and California desert. The descriptions and directions he gives are highly accurate. I've done a few dozen of the hikes listed in the book (some before and some since seeing the book) and can attest that the book is highly reliable. One feature that Zdon works into his hike descriptions which I like a lot is a description of the plants in the area. For instance, in describing the Kingston Range (an area I have not yet got to explore) he tells of a yucca-like plant called the nolina and of a "relict stand of white firs" on this desert peak. Details like this make me want to get out and explore that area! (He also mentions that the hiker should keep a watch out for ticks while climbing Kingston Peak, but that's important advice too!) Another interesting area Zdon covers is the Sheep Mountains which are northeast of Las Vegas. Zdon goes beyond the typical Joshua Tree and Death Valley hikes that are covered in dozens of books and includes the lesser hiked areas in the deserts of southern Nevada and California.

Although I'm waiting try the new hikes detailed in this book (I'll wait till summer passes, thanks), I have found it to be a great read on its own merits. The physical descriptions of the areas covered are detailed and evocative without being flowery; the driving and trail directions are as exact as they can be given the remoteness of some of these areas. Mr. Zdon knows these places inside and out, and he goes well beyond the obvious choices into some wild and relatively unexplored terrain. This book introduced me to some new places I want to experience, and made me realize I don't know my "familiar" spots as well as I thought. The volume is also very handsomely illustrated and produced.

Andy Zdon has done a very thorough job researching the approaches and hiking/climbing routes in this guide book. I especially liked the fact that he warns the reader against taking passenger cars up roads which he feels require 4WD capability. The inclusion of general area maps and actual photographs make the book even more useful. Descriptions are great but someone said "a picture is worth a thousand words". Included in the descriptions are such useful topics as the anticipated round trip elevation gain and hiking distance. In some instances Andy has added his personal comments regarding safety issue or things like "don't underestimate the difficulty of this hike". The personal touch gives the guide book user more of a "hands on" feel to the overall hike. I recommend Desert Summits to all of those folks who are planning to get out and hike/climb the areas described in the book. Hey, here's another "list" to get you out of the house this winter.