Climbing Books

OVERALL: As a mountaineer, I found it hard to put down this book, which gives wonderful details about some famous (and not-so-famous) pioneering climbs.

STORIES: It covers a guy with no climbing experience trying to solo climb Everest. A deceiver called Cook who claimed to be the first on Denali. Two amazing trips up K2. The conquering of the Matterhorn.

PROS: Great detail, good pacing, good prose.

CONS: Needed more photos and maps, which would have made it a 5 star book.

CONCLUSION: You don't have to be a mountaineer to appreciate this book. You just need to have an interest in history and mountain climbing.

"This is exciting true adventure about the first westerners to scale Mt. Everest, K2, Mt. McKinley and the Matterhorn."

I found this to be an engrossing, well paced novel. The setting, characters, and plot line are nicely developed resulting in a good read. I look forward to enjoying more books from Peter Gibbs.

Addictive, high powered action story -- fast paced without being frantic. Author has a penetrating feel for his surroundings that could only come from personal on-the-ground experience. Perfect summer reading! Indulge your taste for the exotic with this inventively written tale of two innocent college boys caught up in the adventure of their young lives.......

... in a small package.

This book was first published in 1946, and has been revised eight times since. Every revision adds new material and updates information from the previous edition. I picked up the eighth edition (1969) on my first attempt to summit Longs Peak in 1978, and learned more from it than from any other book on the subject. In 1999, when I tried to summit a third time, I bought the 10th edition (1990), and enjoyed the new material and revisions it contains.

The back cover has a detailed map of the Longs Peak Keyhole route trail from the ranger station to the summit. Page 59 begins listing over 100 different routes that spans the next three pages. Page 63 begins a listing of notable events related to Longs Peak, beginning in 1820, sorted by date.

Truly, if you want a concise, yet very meaty book on Longs Peak, Nesbit's small volume is something you should add to your library.

This is a nice brief book on some of the historical aspects of Long's as well as some climbing information. The good news is that this book is so thin you can take it with you on a backpacking trek. The bad news is that because it's so small, it contains limited information, hence the 3 star rating. Overall the book is very interesting and informative about Long's Peak. For a first time visitor to the mountain, this would be a good book to purchase.

In my elementary school days; I enjoyed several authors; among them; Edward Packard; Beverly Cleary; and Particia Reilly Giff.

In this installment of "Kids at Polk Street School", the focal point is on Richard; afraid of climbing ropes. Giff successfully emphasizes with a common fear of elementary students--I never scrounged up the courage to climb the ropes at my elementary school--and I may go back some day to do so.

While I see where Giff is coming from; points off for the "cliche" of bad school lunches, and mean substitute teachers.

Still, the series is decent for those in grades 2-5.

I read this about 11 yrs back in 4th grade. I could relate to it because the school gym at my school had a climbing rope, too. This story helps kids to face their everyday fears. RIchard learns a lot about himself and even about the school's "mean" sub, who helps Richard face his fears!

I found this book exciting and encouraging to a beginner in the wonderful world of topiary. The ideas cover a wide range of shapes and ideas offering ideas for a quick start as well as more complex projects. The instructions are clearly written and easy to follow. The book also includes discussion on the preferable types of plants to use for the various shapes and designs presented. I continue to refer to this book often as I begin new projects.

Boxwood (buxus sempervirens) is probably the most versatile and popular of topiary plants and the oldest garden ornament known to man. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that the ancient Egyptians were using box for topiary 6000 years ago.

Quick and Easy Topiary and Green Sculpture, quickly gets in, and quickly gets out without much substantive information to offer the reader beyond a perfunctory overview on this exciting, and ancient historic clipped form of statuary. Verbal brevity and conciseness characterize the scant text. The photography is attractive. The modern shaping suggestions with overly simple armature may be entirely too kitsch for some.

Like most of Falcon's regional climbing guides, this book focuses on selected climbs at major climbing areas. Often these are harder climbs, but Farris includes enough moderate routes to make this at least worth consideration for a newer leader.

The downside of a best-of guide is that it worsens crowding and erosion problems at the better lines. It tends to replace and discourage some local guides (which usually channel revenue back to the climbing area), and at other areas climbers will soon need a more comprehensive guide. Farris makes the best of the format by giving good coverage where local guides are hard to find, and plainly stating in the Devil's Lake section that climber seeking solitude (and about 1400 more routes) should get the easy-to-find local guide.

More importantly, Farris addresses ethics clearly and directly. He makes strong cases for local ethics, erosion control and good behavior where other authors waver. His writing is friendly but concise, and it comes across convincingly.

This book is not a good choice for those looking to climb mainly at a particular area (especially Devil's Lake) or with new climbers anywhere. But for visitors to the region or infrequent climbers, this is an unusually worthwhile best-of guide.

I though that this was a very usefull book for climbing. I used it primarily for climbing Blue Mounds in Minnesota. It had the majority of the known routes but unfortunatley not all of them. As far as the rattings are concerned they all seemed accurate and route descriptions were also great. The photos and detailed descriptions made finding the routes very easy. I give this book an A

If you're a climber, this book is a CLASSIC!
Beautiful photography from around the world- If you're looking for a rad coffee-table style book that showcases some beautiful routes with a great eye towards colors and composition, this is one of the best. Period.

A large format coffee table book. I only gave this an average rating because the pictures aren't that exciting. Most of the pictures show the author on extreme climbs, 5.12 and above, or soloing easier ones. Most of the pictures show more of the author and less of the climb. I'm more interested in seeing the climb and typically easier ones that are more within my ability. Most of the climbs shown are sport routes with the exception of some of the ones shown from England. Seeing the scary bolts they used in East Germany was interesting. The author gives short two page introductions to each country which I have to say was the best part of the whole book. His writing is very good for the genre. Overall I'd skip buying the book unless you want a coffee table book. There are better coffee table books on the subject out there.

This is a pretty good guidebook. The publisher (Chockstone Press) is the best I have used, and the durability of construction is second to none. The book contains a nice history, as well as some other essentials for the climber interested in visiting this area. I was disappointed with the topographic climbing maps (some routes have them, some do not), as they are not very detailed or easy to read, however, they are adequate and there is nothing better on this area out there (that I have seen). The text route descriptions are good enough to use with the topo's to find your way up and down. Overall, I think this is a good guidebook, yet it needs to be updated perhaps to include better climbing topo maps as well as one for each route listed. azdz@mindspring.com

The excellence of this book is due to three things, in addition to the fine quality of the writing.

First, by concentrating on an arguably "100 best climbs", not only does the reader learn useful route information but the authors have distilled here some of the best climbs the Sierra has to offer. Second, the format of a single page of route description and history, faced with a (usually outstanding) photograph of the mountain, really whets one's appetite for the climb! Third, most route descriptions are obviously left a little vague on purpose, leaving you some thrill of discovery if you attempt the climb.

I am familiar with a number of the routes described in the book, and the authors have done a fine job of selection. There are many excellent ones to choose from, no matter what your taste.

I first became aware of Ron Kauk through the article that Sports Illustrated published about him back around 1986, which I partly credit for sparking my own interest in rock climbing. I recently bought this book online, hoping to read more anecdotes and climbing tales of the sort I'd read in Sports Illustrated years ago (and like those contained in works by Roper, Long, Ament, Krakauer, et al). However, the text of the book consists mainly of philosophical fluff, tinged with native American attitudes toward nature, that has about as much substance as cotton candy. Not to belittle Kauk's viewpoint--I'm sure he's sincere, and in certain ways I envy him his lifestyle (not to mention his climbing ability)--but I was expecting literary meat and potatoes and was left salivating.

This book is a little gem: part poem, part personal story, part prayer. The photography is beautiful and innovative. Though the writing grows out of the author's rock climbing experiences, it is more about learning and loving nature, challenging oneself, and growing into a balanced, fully human life. The life lessons found in these pages seem influenced by Native American and zen thought: the earth is sacred, we are all connected, difficulty brings opportunity, life is full of joy. Reading this book is uplifting, though I wouldn't call it a "feel good" work. It challenges and affirms the best parts of our humanity. It inspires me to do better: for the world and for myself.

This book about a quest to climb the 7 summits (highest mountain on each of 7 contingents) solo is a mixed bag. The photography is stunning, and rates this book right up there with any coffee table travelogue. This book is in large format and is indeed a coffee table type. The photography expands well beyond the typical mountaineering subjects and focuses as much on the travel and locales as it does on the mountain climbing.

The mountain climbing and the text is the weak link. Perhaps it should be excused by the format, which isn't conducive to extended text. But the brevity of the text leads to problems including lack of exposition and in some cases, apparent truncation of the story.

All in all, this is a book worth having, but it isn't a mountaineering read.

Peak of a climber's career

7 Summits Solo, (Summit, USA) by Robert Mads Anderson To Everest via Antarctica, Robert Mads Anderson Reviewed by Neil Nelson, The Evening Standard, Wellington, New Zealand Saturday, February 24, 1996

Having spent the past 20 years scaling some of the world's most difficult peaks, American-born Aucklander Robert Anderson set himself a new challenge: to climb the highest peak on each of the world's seven continents.

As an added challenge, he elected to climb them solo.

Ultimately, he failed in his bid, with Everest getting the better of him on two separate occasions. But failure to stand on the top of the world's highest peak doesn't diminish Anderson's achievement or the highly readable accounts he has written of his adventures.

As the price tags would suggest, the two books which have resulted from his seven summits project are totally different.

7 Summits Solo is a large-format, lavishly produced, 160-page volume which includes dozens of superb colour photographs taken by Joe Blackburn during the expedition (Note, nearly all photos in the book are Anderson's).

Anderson's account of the expedition is essentially a précis of the story he tells in To Everest via Antarctica. The 220 page Penguin book (Stackpole Books, USA) contains just a handful of photographs, but includes a far more detailed account of Anderson's adventures.

During the past decade or so, I've read numerous accounts of climbing expeditions: this one rates as one of the best.

Unlike some mountaineers, who feel compelled to describe in minute detail everything they did during the expedition, Anderson concentrates more on the adventures he had actually getting to the mountain.

He admits it is more of a travel book than a book about climbing and that he wrote it for a broader market.

Some chapters have little to do with climbing at all. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in Anderson's descriptions of his travels in Russia, late in 1992, after conquering Mt Elbrus, Europe's highest peak. With Elbrus out of the way, and three weeks left on his Russian visa, Anderson decided the opportunity to see some of Russia was too good an opportunity to miss.

With the Russia of old rapidly being split into a series of new countries, and new border crossings appearing at random, it was decided a large bus would be the easiest way of moving around. One was soon found and with several companions Anderson set off for a fascinating tour of parts of Russia which had seldom seen Western tourists. The tales he relates of his journey make for absorbing and humorous reading.

With a degree in writing and a career spent mainly in the advertising industry - the business he set up in New Zealand and subsequently sold helped fund his seven summits project - Anderson wastes few words. He has an economical, easy-to-read style and knows how to tell a good story.

While the price of 7 Summits Solo means it's unlikely to appear on best-seller lists, To Everest via Antarctica deserves to be. One of the most enjoyable books I read in 1995, I look forward to reading of Anderson's further adventures.