A bona fide classic, originally published in 1872, Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada is still exciting reading. It describes the perils and pleasures experienced by Clarence King (1842-1901) while conducting the first geological survey of California in the 1860s. His language was equal to the marvels he found, and here with unfading brilliance are his accounts of scaling such mountains as Tyndall, Shasta, and Whitney. The chapters on the Yosemite Valley and surrounding High Sierras were written while he was surveying the boundaries of a newly designated national park. There are also delightful vignettes of western characters, including a Sierra artist and a family of Pike County hog farmers. Clarence King, who in 1879 became the first director of the United States Geological Survey, will always be remembered for Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada, which was praised by Wallace Stegner, Van Wyck Brooks, and Henry Seidel Canby as a watermark of frontier literature.This 1935 edition was introduced and edited by Francis P. Farquhar, editor of the Sierra Club Bulletin from 1926 to 1946.

This volume includes Bachar's best techniques for face and crack climbing, practicing with bouldering and top roping, physical and mental training plans, and Bachar's views of free soloing and ethics.

Revised and updated, this guide covers the myriad boulders that provide convenient climbing from Santa Barbara to San Diego.

Climber Andy Kirkpatrick's book is, by turns, gut-wrenching, entertaining and challenging. It will appeal to the adventurer in all of us.
WINNER OF THE BOARDMAN TASKER PRIZE 2008
Metro magazine recently wrote that Andy Kirk-patrick makes Ray Mears look like Paris Hilton. Words like boldness, adventure and risk were surely coined especially for him. As one of the world's most accomplished mountaineers and big-wall climbers, he goes vertically where other climbers fear to tread.
For the first time, this cult hero of vertical rock has written a book, in which his thirteen-day ascent of Reticent Wall on El Capitan in California -- the hardest big-wall climb ever soloed by a Briton -- frames a challenging autobiography.
From childhood on a grim inner-city housing estate in Hull, the story moves through horrific encounters and unique athletic achievements at the extremes of the earth. As he writes, "Climbs like this make no sense . . . the chances of dying on the route are high." Yet Andy, in his thirties with young children, has everything to live for. This is the paradox at the heart of the story.

A graphic-adventure that delves into why we pursue the wild outdoors. Shivering in a cave beneath Mount Fitz Roy in Patagonia, artist and rock climber Jeremy Collins had an intense and anxious vision, "both geographic and artistic," about his life and what he was doing with it. As a result, he left Argentina and commenced on a four-year journey that took him in the four cardinal directions from his home in Kansas City, north, south, east, west, to create art in the wild, climb new routes, and "live out his own map." Drawn: The Art of Ascent shares his exploits, his art, and what he discovered about balancing wilderness adventure with peace and home.

At the age of sixteen, Andy Cave followed in his father's and grandfather's footsteps and became a miner - one of the last recruits into a dying world. Every day he would descend 3,000 feet into Grimethorpe pit. But at weekends Andy escaped from the pithead to a very different world - testing his nerve on the cliffs and mountains around Britain, and forging endearing friendships with his new companions. Enduring the 1984-5 miners' strike - the guilt, the broken friendships, the poverty - Andy continued to indulge his passion. In 1986, after much soul searching, he quit his job as a miner in order to devote himself to mountaineering. At the same time he decided to educate himself, acquiring almost from a standing start academic qualifications including a PhD in socio-linguistics. This extraordinary twin odyssey is graphically recalled in this remarkable book. In the Himalaya in 1997 Andy achieved a courageous first ascent on one of the steepest and most difficult summits in the world - the North Face of Changabang. Seventeen days later, he and only two of his team-mates crawled into base camp, frostbitten, emaciated and traumatised. His account of this terrifying experience provides a dramatic climax to this compelling story.

In 1924 Mount Everest remained unclimbed. Two British expeditions had already tackled what was known to be the highest mountain on Earth. The first, in 1921, found a route to the base. The second, in 1922, attempted the summit, reaching a record height of 27,300 feet before retreating. Two years later, a team that included Colonel E.F. Norton, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine returned to the Himalaya. Armed with greater knowledge and experience, confidence was high. But they were still climbing into the unknown. How high could they climb without supplementary oxygen? Would the cumbersome oxygen equipment help them climb higher? Could they succeed where others had failed, and make the first ascent of the highest mountain on earth? Before they could find out, tragedy struck - George Mallory and Andrew Irvine, climbing high on the mountain, vanished into the clouds. First published in 1925, The Fight for Everest 1924 is the official record of this third expedition to Everest. The compelling narrative by Norton and other expedition members, and Mallory's vivid letters home, present a gripping picture of life in the Himalaya. Notes and observations from the entire team show how far knowledge of the mountain and of high-altitude climbing had advanced by 1924, and make recommendations for future Everest attempts. As well as the full original text and illustrations, this edition reproduces some of Norton's superb pencil sketches and watercolours along with previously unpublished materials from his private archive. These include original planning documents from the expedition, Mallory's last note to Norton, and a moving letter to Norton from Mallory's widow. Together, they add up to one of the most fascinating mountaineering books ever written.

Baffies’ Easy Munro Guide to the Cairngorms is the third volume in Ralph Storer’s inspirational series of guidebooks dedicated to finding the easiest way up Scotland’s highest mountains. This latest volume covers the Cairngorms National Park.

The Great Mountain Crags of Scotland is a celebration of climbing in Scotland's wild places, compiled by Guy Robertson and Adrian Crofton. Featuring contributions from many of Scottish mountaineering's great writers and climbers, and beautifully illustrated with breathtaking photography, it delves deep into the heart of some of the oldest mountains on Earth. This is a book for anyone with an interest in Scotland's wild places, where the mountains and cliffs, rather than the climbs, take centre stage, transporting the reader far from towns and cities, and deep into the wilderness. The crags are the tallest, steepest and most majestic anywhere in the British Isles. They are all situated in a high mountain environment, and always a good hike from the nearest road. A visit to any of these great crags is therefore a worthy end in itself. For those wishing to venture onto the crags, all the climbs described are highly adventurous, relying solely upon leader-placed protection. Many of the crags and climbs are described and illustrated here in detail for the very first time. Among these pages are accounts of some of Scottish mountaineering's greatest triumphs, but also accounts of necessary failures - chasing elusive conditions, knowing when to go down, when to return. The authors relate their personal experiences of these cliffs and the climbing, and contained here are real treasures: schoolboy Dave MacLeod soloing on The Cobbler in winter after catching the train from Dumbarton, Mark McGowan's gripping first-hand account of soloing Shibboleth on Slime Wall of Buachaille Etive Mor, Grant Farquhar's recollections of a cherished first ascent on the Great Prow of Skye's Bla Bheinn, Es Tresidder falling under the spell of Creag Meagaidh's Pinnacle Face, and Brian Davison's 15-year waiting game for the first winter ascent of Mort on the Tough-Brown Face of Lochnagar. Split into four sections - The South West Highlands, The North West Highlands, The Islands and The Cairngorms & Central Highlands - this book features unique contributions from, amongst others, Nick Bullock, Rick Campbell, Jason Currie, Brian Davison, Kevin Howett, Julian Lines, Martin Moran, Andy Nisbet, Simon Richardson and Tony Stone. Each section is accompanied by an original poem by Stuart Campbell, and renowned author and mountaineer Andy Cave has contributed the foreword.

'A book of heart-stopping bravery and endurance' -- Helen Macdonald 'A great read - incredible adventures and a dramatic new perspective' -- Chris Packham '[A] delightful, endlessly fascinating book' -- Daily Mail BOOK OF THE WEEK This is the story of a professional British tree climber, cameraman and adventurer, who has made a career out of travelling the world, filming wildlife for the BBC and climbing trees with people like David Attenborough, Chris Packham and Helen Macdonald. James's climbs take him to breathtaking locations as he scales the most incredible and majestic trees on the planet. On the way he meets native tribes, gets attacked by African bees, climbs alongside gorillas, chased by elephants, and spends his nights in a hammock pitched high in the branches with only the stars above him. This book blends incredible stories of scrapes and bruises in the branches with a new way of looking at life high above the daily grind, up into the canopy of the forest.

Every day, the path up the South Col route to the summit of Everest becomes a little more worn by the tread of dozens of package-tour climbers, but few dare to try the East, or Kangshung, Face, a sheer, avalanche-swept wall of snow and ice only first conquered in 1983. Five years later, Stephen Venables intensified the challenge by leading three unknown American climbers up the East Face - this time without oxygen. The question to most climbing experts wasn't whether they would summit, but whether they would live. They nearly didn't Everest: Alone at the Summit is Venables' rousing account of one of the greatest feats of twentieth century mountaineering, a triumph over doubt, the elements and the limits of human endurance that has never been repeated. "Climbers or not, all will be interested in this mountaineering thriller of a tiny band pulling off an incredible victory-an account so stirring it will be put down only to obtain a moment's breather." -- American Alpine Journal

Scrambling is a hands-on sport and without the stop-start of rock climbing, the joy of it can be appreciated more freely. Here, Alan Tees guides mountaineers to exhilarating scrambles in some of the most beautiful parts of the country. All abilities are catered for in these graded routes, from straightforward scrambles to serious routes where the ability to abseil is required. Each route is described concisely and simply so you can keep your head up to enjoy the stunning surroundings. Clear maps and photos showing the ascent line complement descriptions that include historical trivia and all the necessary information: grid references, time and equipment needed, height gain, OS map references, directions and what to expect as you climb. Visiting these invigorating places is an adventure in its own right, but reaching them by scrambling adds to the euphoria of experiencing a rarely visited place.

In 1992, an Indian climber was left to die on the South Col of Mount Everest by other climbers who watched his feebly waving hand from their tent. He was filmed in his last hours for a television feature.Why did onlookers not hold the dying man's hand and comfort him? The answer appals Joe Simpson, who was himself left for dead in a cervassein Peru in 1985 - 'because it might compromise their summit bid'. It is an ethical question that Joe is forced to confront as he climbs a hazardous route on Pumori.

Now that Everest has become the playgroundof the rich, where commercial operators offer guided tours to the top,camping admist the detritus and unburied corpses of previous less fortunate climbers, Joe wonders if the noble instincts that once characterised mountaineering have been irrevocably displaced - as in politics, in business, in the media and in other facets of society.

"Finding Jim" describes Susan Oakey-Baker's struggle to confront the realities of life after the death of her husband, renowned mountain guide Jim Haberl, the first Canadian to summit the most difficult mountain in the world: K2. For fifteen years they had spent time adventuring together around the world: skiing the Himalaya, rafting in Nepal and mountaineering in North America. In time, they got married, solidified a home for themselves in Whistler, British Columbia, and planned on starting a family. But the future Susan had imagined was not meant to be, and when Jim was killed in an avalanche in the University Range of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in Alaska, she was faced with a loss greater than anything she ever could have expected.After Jim's death, Susan spent time retracing the adventures they took together, in a desperate and obsessive attempt to gather and hold on to as many memories of him as she could. She travelled to the place in Alaska where he lost his life; searched the Queen Charlotte Islands where they had first met; trekked to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro where they had journeyed the year before his death; and scoured the hills around their Whistler home for traces of the man she had expected to spend the rest of her life with.In the spirit of books like Joan Didion's"The Year of Magical Thinking" and Maria Coffey's "Fragile Edge," Susan Oakey-Baker writes eloquently of her efforts to relive and reanalyze her husband's death, to defy the pain that such a loss causes and embrace the healing power of mountains, adventure and wilderness as she reimagines her new life.

In Distant Snows, mountaineer John Harding recollects his worldwide adventures spanning sixty years across Europe, Iran, East Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the Arctic. He climbed many classic peaks including Mont Blanc, Mount Kenya, and Mount Cook, explored obscure ranges, and pioneered ski mountaineering expeditions in Turkey, Spain and Greece. Written with candour, a sharp eye for the tragicomic and with a sympathetic insight into the history and culture of indigenous mountain peoples, Harding's compelling narrative proclaims the power of nature, the glory of landscape and the spirit of the mountains. Distant Snows is a window into the mind and passions of a mountaineer while faithfully preserving the memory of the many characters who accompanied him on his mountain odyssey. With a foreword by the celebrated explorer Robin Hanbury-Tenison, Distant Snows offers tales of serious undertakings as well as more leisurely exploits, complemented by Harding's personal photographs and hand-drawn maps. This is a must-read for mountaineers, lovers of the natural world and those with aspirations of adventure.

WINNER OF THE TIMES BIOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR PRIZE AT THE CROSS BRITISH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2017 In the spring of 1901 a teenager stood on top of a hill, gazed out in wonderment at the Australian landscape and decided he wanted to be a mountaineer. Two decades later, the same man stood in a blizzard beneath the summit of Mount Everest, within sight of his goal to be the first to stand on the roof of the world. George Finch was at the highest point ever reached by a human being and only his decision to save the life of his stricken companion stopped him from reaching the summit. George Finch was a rebel of the first order, a man who dared to challenge the British establishment who disliked his independence, background, long hair and lack of an Oxbridge education. Despite this, he not only became one of the world's greatest alpinists, earning the grudging respect of his rival George Mallory, but pioneered the use of the artificial oxygen that enabled Everest to finally be conquered thirty years after his own attempt. A renowned scientist, a World War I hero and a Fellow of the Royal Society, involved in the development of some of the twentieth century's most important inventions, his skills helped save London from burning to the ground during the Blitz. Finch's public accomplishments, however, were shadowed by his complicated private life and his fraught relationship with his son, the actor Peter Finch. Acclaimed biographer Robert Wainwright restores George Finch to his rightful place in history with this remarkable tribute to one of the twentieth century's most eccentric anti-heroes. 'One of the two best Alpinists of his time - Mallory was the other.' The Times

""This then is a book of mountaineering, not presenting the Canadian Rockies in their entirety -- no single volume will ever do that -- but including many of the finest things. It is also a book of mountain travel, under conditions such as perhaps the European traveller experienced in the Alps during the Eighteenth Century. Finally, it is a book of mountain history; for here is Geography in the making, and with a tradition behind it -- a story that has never been properly gathered together, and whose details, in part at least, are gone forever."" -- from the Preface by J. Monroe Thorington Cloth bound in slipcase. Archival illustrations, photos and maps throughout; 4 panoramic, fold-out plates and 1 large map. Limited to 200 copies. Completely re-edited, re-designed and containing with an impressive collection of archival photos and maps, "The Glittering Mountains of Canada" is a must-read for anyone interested in mountain literature. The book's position in the pantheon of outdoor writing as a "classic" is only further enhanced and supported by the passionate Foreword by well-known mountain historian and environmental writer Robert William Sandford, who urges the contemporary reader to embrace Thorington's belief in the importance of landscape and the poetry of place. This is a book that deserves to be read and appreciated alongside the work of Wallace Stegner, Henry David Thoreau and Sid Marty.

Conrad Kain is a titan amongst climbers in Canada and is well-known in mountaineering circles all over the world. His letters to Amelie Malek-a life-long friend-offer a candid view into the deepest thoughts of the Austrian mountain guide, and are a perfect complement to his autobiography, Where the Clouds Can Go. The 144 letters provide a unique and personal view of what it meant to immigrate to Canada in the early part of the twentieth century. Kain's letters are ordered chronologically with annotations, keeping the sections in English untouched, while those in German have been carefully translated. Historians and mountain culture enthusiasts worldwide will appreciate Kain's genius for description, his passion for nature, his opinions, and his musings about his life.

The mountain parks are for all Canadians for all time and their value cannot be measured in terms of how many access roads, motels, souvenir shops and golf courses we've provided. -Bob Jordan, 1971 The Alpine Club of Canada imagined the Rockies and neighbouring ranges to the west and the north as a "climber's paradise." Through a century of adventure and advocacy, the ACC led the way to mountain pursuits in spectacular regions. Historian and mountain studies specialist PearlAnn Reichwein's research is informed by her experiences mountaineering and by her interest in mountain culture. She presents a compelling case for understanding wild spaces and human activity within them as parts of a whole. A work of invaluable scholarship in the areas of environmental history, public policy, sport studies, recreation, and tourism, Climber's Paradise will appeal to many non-specialists, mountaineers, environmentalists, and travellers across Canada and beyond.