Mountaineering in the Mont Blanc Range showcases the most beautiful lower grade snow, ice and mixed climbs (F to AD+) in the seemingly inexhaustible Mont Blanc Range. The routes described in this book should be within the capabilities of almost all mountaineers. Reflecting all recent changed topographical conditions due to the steady glacial retreat created by climate change, authors Jean-Louis Laroche and Florence Lelong have selected 36 climbs from across the range, which are easily accessible from well appointed mountain huts, useful telepheriques and mountain railways. The routes described are an ideal introduction to the climbing in this magnificent area. They are on snow or mixed ground and, distributed among the main glacier basins, they will enable you to visit a representative selection of summits along the full length of the range. Among them are some of the finest classics, including: the North Face of the Tete Blanche; the Whymper Route on the Aiguille d'Argentiere; the Cosmiques Ridge of the Aiguille du Midi; the Normal Route, Contamine-Grisolle, and Chere Couloir on the Mont Blanc du Tacul; and of course a choice of routes on Mont Blanc itself. Each route features a detailed and comprehensive route description, a sketch map and a route summary detailing the start point, difficulty, timings, height gain, best time of year and the gear required. Beautifully illustrated with photos that show both the lie of the land and also the haunting beauty of the fabulous peaks of the Mont Blanc Range, this guide clearly indicates alpinism's continued popularity to climbers of all ages.

Selected Climbs: Mont Blanc & the Aiguilles Rouges presents the best rock climbs in the Mont Blanc range and on the Aiguilles Rouges, from F4 to F6a+. The selection is based on purely hedonistic criteria, including the beauty of the cliff, the variety of the climbing and the quality of the rock. The emphasis is on enjoyable climbs with easy access and descents. The routes cover a variety of rock types, climbing styles and protection (natural and fixed). All the routes are of moderate difficulty and can be done comfortably in a day without the need to carry heavy or bulky gear. Written by local climbers Jean-Louis Laroche and Florence Lelong, this selection of sixty climbs on forty summits in seventeen areas around the Chamonix valley features established classics and recent additions. Included are Marchand de Sable on the Tour Rouge, the Rebuffat Route on the Aiguille du Midi, and the Frison-Roche route of the south-east face of the Brevent, plus many more. Each route features technical notes, a detailed topo and route description, and photos illustrating the climb's unique character.

Recent years have witnessed a surge in the number of via ferrata routes set up in the iconic mountains of the French Alps. With routes set on or near many classics including the massifs of Mont Blanc, the Vanoise and the Queyras, this guide shows the best of what is now available. The 66 routes in this guidebook are grouped by area - Geneva and the Northern Alps, Chambery, the Tarentaise and Maurienne valleys, Grenoble and Briancon - and run the full gamut of challenge, from very easy, protected routes suitable for children, through to extremely exposed and technical routes for experienced ferrataists only. Everything you need to know to take up this exciting sport is covered here, including techniques and equipment required and glossary of specialist terminology, and all the routes are graded for difficulty, exposure and seriousness. Routes are illustrated by topo diagrams on colour photographs, and simple sketch maps. Those used to the older Italian routes will find these French routes quite different, closer to scrambling or rock climbing and often seeking out the most vertigo-inducing terrain. But most routes should be within the reach of any strong hillwalker and protection is high and well maintained."

Mountaineering in the Pyrenees features twenty-five classic mountain routes and link-ups that will delight any mountaineer who enjoys getting off the beaten track. Author and mountain guide Francois Laurens has drawn upon his encyclopaedic knowledge of the Pyrenees, and recommendations from other mountaineers, to put together a diverse selection of climbs - many of them accessible from spring to autumn - along the entire Pyrenean chain, from the Mediterranean to the Basque country. The most characteristic feature of the Pyrenees is its hodgepodge of topographies, climates and lives, all jumbled together. Sometimes, moving just a short way across this patchwork landscape, perhaps from one side of a cliff to another, is enough to take you into a completely different environment. This diversity is reflected in the routes featured in this book. Ridge traverses and rock climbs dominate the selection, which includes only a few ephemeral snow climbs, but every route has its own unique character and provides a wonderful day out in the mountains. Featured routes include the Salenques-Tempestades Ridge on Pico de Aneto, the Espadas Ridge on Pic des Posets, and a selection of climbs on the renowned peaks of Monte Perdido, the Maladeta, the Balaitous, the Vignemale, and the Grand Astazous and Petit Astazous. Each route features technical notes, a topo and route description, and photos illustrating the character of the climbing.

The must-have handbook on rescue techniques for serious climbers Whether you need to assist your partner past a difficult section of a climb or rappel down a multipitch route with an injured climber, you owe it to yourself and your fellow climbers to be prepared. "How to Climb(TM) Self-Rescue" fully describes and illustrates a variety of techniques that every climber needs to know for safety and self-reliance. The first edition of this book was the authority on rescue techniques for rock climbers. Now completely updated and revised with the latest techniques--and accompanied by Mike Clelland's clear, detailed illustrations--David Fasulo's "How to Climb(TM) Self-Rescue" remains the definitive resource on the topic. Contents1. Transition Model2. Self-Rescue Concepts: Terrain, Technical Ledges, Baseline and Belay Escapes3. Tools and Primary Systems for Self-Rescue4. Knots and Hitches5. Anchors and Belays6. Patient Assessment7. Terrain Assessment8. Hands Free9. Course of Action - Descend10. Course of Action - Ascend11. Course of Action - Stabilize/Shelter in Place12. Top-Rope Rescue13. Second Rescue14. Leader Rescue15. Search and Rescue16. Analysis of Select Rescues and Accidents 17. Skills Assessment

This guidebook presents 60 routes covering some of the best day walks, scrambles, hut-to-hut walks, alpine mountaineering, sport climbing, via ferratas, mountain-biking routes, road rides, city and trail runs and family activities the Innsbruck area has to offer. Ideal for a multi-activity holiday or for the keen amateur seeking a summary of the local highlights, it includes suggestions to suit most abilities and ambitions, from gentle strolls to adrenalin-filled mountain adventures, suitable only for those with the appropriate equipment and experience. Nearly all the activities are accessible by public transport from Innsbruck and many take advantage of the region's fantastic network of alpine huts. Route descriptions are illustrated with maps, profiles and photo topos, and you'll also find practical advice on transport, accommodation and equipment. Long popular as a winter sports destination, Innsbruck also has much to offer the summer visitor, with many kilometres of paths and trails, sport climbing crags, via ferrata routes and engaging activity trails for children.

North Wales Trail Running is a comprehensive guide to off-road running across North Wales, including Snowdonia, Anglesey and into the Llyn Peninsula and the Clwyds. With 20 runs from 4km to 20.4km in length, this book is suitable for runners of all abilities. North Wales has some of the most diverse terrain in the UK, from rocky outcrops and large cwms to steep-sided valleys and magical llyns. It is a Mecca for the adventurous runner, and home to the 104km Paddy Buckley Round. In this book, author Steve Franklin has collected together many of his favourite runs, from low-lying loops around idyllic llyns and reservoirs, to serious hands-on-knees fell runs on some of Snowdonia's biggest mountains. Summit Snowdon, Cadair Idris and Conwy Mountain, and discover quieter corners of the country around Cnicht, the Northern Carneddau and the Crafnant valley. Each route features clear and easy-to-use Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 maps, easy-to-follow directions, details of distance and timings, and refreshment stops and local knowledge.

Over 9,000 feet up on the top of Mount Roraima is a twenty-five mile square plateau, at the point where Guyana's border meets Venezuela and Brazil. In 1973, Scottish mountaineering legend Hamish MacInnes alongside climbing notoriety Don Whillans, Mo Anthoine and Joe Brown trekked through dense rainforest and swamp, and climbed the sheer overhanging sandstone wall of the great prow in order to conquer this Conan Doyle fantasy summit. As one of the last unexplored corners of the world, in order to reach the foot of the prow the motley yet vastly experienced expedition trudged through a saturated world of bizarre vegetation, fantastically contorted slime-coated trees and deep white mud; a world dominated by bushmaster snakes, scorpions and giant bird-eating spiders. This wasn't the end of it, however. The stately prow itself posed extreme technical complications: the rock was streaming with water, and the few-and-far-between ledges were teeming with scorpion-haunted bromeliads. This was not a challenge to be taken lightly. However, if anyone was going to do it, it was going to be this group of UK climbing pioneers, backed by The Observer, supported by the Guyanan Government, and accompanied by a BBC camera team, their mission was very much in the public eye. Climb to the Lost World is a story of discovering an alien world of tortured rock formations, sunken gardens and magnificent waterfalls, combined with the trials and tribulations of day-to-day expedition life. MacInnes' dry humour and perceptive observations of his companions, flora and fauna relay the story of this first ascent with passion and in true explorer style.

Following on the heels of the critically acclaimed, "Sport Climbing+", "Trad Climbing+" is the first climbing text book focusing on modern traditional climbing from a British perspective. The aim of "Trad Climbing+" is to offer a balance of safety-focused ropework and protection skills with equally useful tactical and psychological ideas that drive the individual to succeed. "Trad Climbing+" is the first book of its kind ever to include in-depth coverage of coaching-derived ideas that will allow the reader to reach new levels of confidence and ability without embarking on lengthy training programmes.

'We had climbed a mountain and crossed a pass; been wet, cold, hungry, frightened, and withal happy. One more Himalayan season was over. It was time to begin thinking of the next. "Strenuousness is the immortal path, sloth is the way of death".' First published in 1946, the scope of H.W. 'Bill' Tilman's When Men & Mountains Meet is broad, covering his disastrous expedition to the Assam Himalaya, a small exploratory trip into Sikkim, and then his wartime heroics. In the thirties, Assam was largely unknown and unexplored. It proved a challenging environment for Tilman's party, the jungle leaving the men mosquito-bitten and suffering with tropical diseases, and thwarting their mountaineering success. Sikkim proved altogether more successful. Tilman, who is once again happy and healthy, enjoys some exploratory ice climbing and discovers Abominable Snowman tracks, particularly remarkable as the creature appeared to be wearing boots - 'there is no reason why he should not have picked up a discarded pair at the German Base Camp and put them to their obvious use'. And then, in 1939, war breaks out. With good humour and characteristic understatement we hear about Tilman's remarkable Second World War. After digging gun pits on the Belgian border and in Iraq, he was dropped by parachute behind enemy lines to fight alongside Albanian and Italian partisans. Tilman was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his efforts - and the keys to the city of Belluno, which he helped save from occupation and destruction. Tilman's comments on the German approach to Himalayan climbing could equally be applied to his guerrilla warfare ethos. 'They spent a lot of time and money and lost a lot of climbers and porters, through bad luck and more often through bad judgement.' While elsewhere the war machine rumbled on, Tilman's war was fast, exciting, lightweight and foolhardy - and makes for gripping reading.

The wide rolling hills, outcrops and quarries of sandstone and gritstone that pepper northern England have long been popular with the locals, though visitors are less common, except on the few better known cliffs. Although lacking the extravagantly draped grandeur of the spectacular Edges of the Peak District, there are many fine crags and hidden classics here waiting for the diligent explorer. This guidebook will help climbers get the most from this extensive area.

On 20 August 1980 Reinhold Messner reached the summit of Everest - alone and without the use of oxygen. This is an account of his extraordinary achievement. Messner describes his journey through Tibet and identifies with mountaineers who went before him, such as Mallory, Irvine and Wilson.

However many times it has been done, the act of casting off the warps and letting go one's last hold of the shore at the start of a voyage has about it something solemn and irrevocable, like marriage, for better or for worse. Mostly Mischief's ordinary title belies four more extraordinary voyages made by H.W. 'Bill' Tilman covering almost 25,000 miles in both Arctic and Antarctic waters. The first sees the pilot cutter Mischief retracing the steps of Elizabethan explorer John Davis to the eastern entrance to the Northwest Passage. Tilman and a companion land on the north coast and make the hazardous crossing of Bylot Island while the remainder of the crew make the eventful passage to the southern shore to recover the climbing party. Back in England, Tilman refuses to accept the condemnation of Mischief's surveyor, undertaking costly repairs before heading back to sea for a first encounter with the East Greenland ice. Between June 1964 and September 1965, Tilman is at sea almost without a break. Two eventful voyages to East Greenland in Mischief provide the entertaining bookends to his account of the five-month voyage in the Southern Ocean as skipper of the schooner Patanela. Tilman had been hand-picked by the expedition leader as the navigator best able to land a team of Australian and New Zealand climbers and scientists on Heard Island, a tiny volcanic speck in the Furious Fifties devoid of safe anchorages and capped by an unclimbed glaciated peak. In a separate account of this successful voyage, Colin Putt describes the expedition as unique - the first ascent of a mountain to start below sea level.

Shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature. 'As I sat cradling the man's head, with his blood and brains sticking to my hands, I heard a voice - my own voice. It was asking me something. Asking how I had ended up like this, desperate and lost among people who thought nothing of caving in a man's head and then standing back to watch him die.' Nick Bullock was a prison officer working in a maximum-security jail with some of Britain's most notorious criminals. Trapped in a world of aggression and fear, he felt frustrated and alone. Then he discovered the mountains. Making up for lost time, Bullock soon became one of Britain's best climbers, learning his trade in the mountains of Scotland and Wales, and travelling from Pakistan to Peru in his search for new routes and a new way of seeing the world - and ultimately an escape route from his life inside. Told that no one ever leaves the service - the security, the stability, the 'job for life' - Bullock focused his existence on a single goal: to walk free, with no shackles, into a mountain life. Echoes is a powerful and compelling exploration of freedom, and what it means to live life on your own terms.

Knots have been around for thousands of years – even Neolithic man tied the reef knot, clove hitch and running noose. There are several thousand knots in existence and an almost infinite number of variations. This reference manual and practical handbook presents over 200 of the most essential knots. All the key knot types are covered, including bends, hitches, bindings, loops, mats, plaits, rings and slings. You will find familiar knots, such as the simple overhand or thumb knot, and more challenging knots such as the seizing bend, boom hitch, Chinese button knot and variations of the square Turk’s head. Each set of instructions is accompanied by photographs taking you through every step of tying the knot. Includes a clear guide to the variety of cords and ropes; their breaking strengths, construction and application. Each one is clearly identified by its category of use: angling and fishing; boating and sailing; caving and climbing; and general purpose and outdoor pursuits, with easy-reference symbols denoting each knot’s use at the top of each page. Whether you are an eager beginner or a lifelong devotee of knot-tying, this will prove an absorbing and indispensable guide.

Lake District Bouldering is the long-awaited guide to bouldering in the Lake District National Park. Written by Greg Chapman, one of the pioneers of bouldering in the Lakes, it features almost 3,000 individually numbered problems and dozens of variations and linkups at over 70 venues. Greg created the LakesBloc website in 2003 with the sole aim of providing the very best online information relating to bouldering in the Lakes and surrounding areas. Lake District Bouldering builds on LakesBloc and brings together this huge amount of information in a comprehensive guidebook for the very first time. This guide is split into five sections: South-East, South-West, North-East, North-West and South Lakes Limestone. Featured crags include old-school venues such as the Langdale Boulders, the Bowderstone, Woodwell and Armathwaite; recently developed areas such as the Harter Gold Boulders in Dunnerdale and the Stirrup Stones in Wasdale, and nationally significant spots including Carrock Fell, Kentmere and St Bees Head. Each crag features detailed access and approach information, including GPS coordinates for parking and crag grid references, together with conditions information and local knowledge. Alongside superb action photography, there are over 700 colour photo topos, plus overview and topo maps. A reference section with Ordnance Survey maps is included for selected mountain crags, and a detailed appendix includes everything you need to plan a visit: tourist information centres, cafes and pubs, campsites and accommodation, gear shops, climbing walls, and useful websites.

The crash of the Indian plate into Asia is the biggest known collision in geological history, and it continues today. The result is the Himalaya and Karakoram - one of the largest mountain ranges on Earth. The Karakoram has half of the world's highest mountains and a reputation as being one of the most remote and savage ranges of all. In this beautifully illustrated book, Mike Searle, a geologist at the University of Oxford and one of the most experienced field geologists of our time, presents a rich account of the geological forces that were involved in creating these mountain ranges. Using his personal accounts of extreme mountaineering and research in the region, he pieces together the geological processes that formed such impressive peaks.

A 2009 edition of the rock climbing and bouldering guidebook on Staffordshire grit. It covers the Roaches; Hen Cloud; Ramshaw Rocks; Newstones to Black Forest; the Churnet; and outlying crags.

The history of mountaineering began on Denali with the legendary story of four gold miners (called "Sourdoughs" because they carried sourdough starter with them at all times) who claimed to have summited after climbing more than 8,000 feet of steep snow and ice, then back down again-all in a single and incredibly dangerous day in 1910. Lugging a 25-pound, 14-foot flagpole to mark their success, they took on North America's highest peak using sheet metal crampons, coal shovels, hatchets, and alpenstocks to balance their way up the mountain. Was the expedition a success or a hoax? Denali climber Jon Waterman brings this colorful mountaineering mystery to life.

'What a story and what an inspirational human. Ed is a total legend.' Joe Wicks 'A life-affirming story . . . inspirational' Tim Peake As seen in the Daily Mail From tragedy to triumph, one step at a time - an inspirational story of triumph over adversity against the odds At just 28 years old, Ed Jackson was told he would never walk again. After a miscalculated dive into a pool, he suffered multiple cardiac arrests, a broken neck and a partially severed spinal cord. Lying paralysed in intensive care, the former rugby player knew his life would never be the same. But he wasn't ready to give up hope. Driven by relentless determination, Ed embarked on an incredible journey to independence. Millimetre by millimetre, he began to regain movement in his fingers and toes. Defying the expectations of even the most optimistic doctors, step by step, Ed began to walk again. Fuelled by a renewed appreciation for life and a determination to help others suffering similar injuries to his own, Ed set his sights on a new challenge: mountaineering. Embarking on a gruelling climb to raise funds for a spinal unit in Kathmandu, Ed realises that, once again, the odds are stacked against him. Will he be able to overcome his own life-changing injury and transform others' lives for the better? Lucky is the story of how Ed faced the impossible when it seemed all hope was lost, and shows how you, too, can overcome the biggest challenges that life sends your way. Lucky was a Sunday Times bestseller in the w/b August 9th 2021

West Country Climbs covers around 1000 of the West Country's most popular and highest calibre climbs, which span the full spectrum of climbing styles and grades; from committing multipitch sea cliff routes, to easy-going inland sport climbs. The rock ranges from the moorland and sea cliff granites of Dartmoor and West Penwith, through the geological weirdness of North Devon and Cornwall, to the multitude of limestones on parade in Devon, Somerset, Avon and Dorset. West Country Climbs will be an essential reference book to the climbing available in the region. The guidebook will appeal to the holidaying or regular visitor to the West Country whilst also offering a vast amount of up-to-date and inspirational coverage for the local climber. Areas Covered Wye Valley, Avon and Somerset, North Devon, The Culm, Atlantic Coast, Inland Cornwall, West Penwith, The Lizard, Inland Devon, Torbay.