Layton Kor is pre-eminent in American mountaineering. He is considered the best rock climber of his generation, and his list of first ascents of technically difficult rock climbs, both free and aid, is perhaps unmatched by any American climber. In this book Kor tells the story in his own words of these groundbreaking and suspenseful climbs.
Supplementing Kor's narrative are twenty-three accounts written by other leading climbers of the 1960s and 1970s, describing ascents they did with Kor: Royal Robbins, Fred Beckey, Pat Ament, Chris Bonington, Steve Roper, Huntley Ingalls, and many more share their perspectives.
Kor's climbs have become some of the most famous routes in the world--the "Naked Edge" in Eldorado Canyon, the "Diamond "on Longs Peak, the "Salathe Wall" on El Capitan in Yosemite, the "North Face" of the Eiger in the Alps...the list goes on. Written in a straighforward and engaging style, and accompanied by stunning, historical color photographs, "Beyond the Vertical "is a must-have for all rock climbers and armchair mountaineers alike.

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.

The history of mountaineering has long served as a metaphor for civilization triumphant. Once upon a time, the Alps were an inaccessible habitat of specters and dragons, until heroic men-pioneers of enlightenment-scaled their summits, classified their strata and flora, and banished the phantoms forever. A fascinating interdisciplinary study of the first ascents of the major Alpine peaks and Mount Everest, The Summits of Modern Man surveys the far-ranging significance of our encounters with the world's most alluring and forbidding heights. Our obsession with "who got to the top first" may have begun in 1786, the year Jacques Balmat and Michel-Gabriel Paccard climbed Mont Blanc and inaugurated an era in which Romantic notions of the sublime spurred climbers' aspirations. In the following decades, climbing lost its revolutionary cachet as it became associated instead with bourgeois outdoor leisure. Still, the mythic stories of mountaineers, threaded through with themes of imperialism, masculinity, and ascendant Western science and culture, seized the imagination of artists and historians well into the twentieth century, providing grist for stage shows, poetry, films, and landscape paintings. Today, we live on the threshold of a hot planet, where melting glaciers and rising sea levels create ambivalence about the conquest of nature. Long after Hillary and Tenzing's ascent of Everest, though, the image of modern man supreme on the mountaintop retains its currency. Peter Hansen's exploration of these persistent images indicates how difficult it is to imagine our relationship with nature in terms other than domination.

The White Spider dramatically recreates not only the harrowing, successful ascent made by Harrer and his comrades in 1938, but also the previous, tragic attempts at a wall of rock that was recently enshrined in mountaineer Jon Krakauer's first work, Eiger Dreams. For a generation of American climbers, The White Spider has been a formative book--yet it has long been out-of-print in America. This edition awaits discovery by Harrer's new legion of readers.

The birthplace of American rock climbing, Colorado provides a greater variety of rock and routes than any other state—and Rock Climbing Colorado is the only guidebook available to all its major climbing areas. This updated edition includes hundreds of routes. Included are the big cliffs and faces of Rocky Mountain National Park and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, as well as the smaller crags and outcrops of Pikes Peak, Boulder, Rifle, Shelf Road, Elevenmile Canyon, and many more. All areas covered include first-hand overviews, route descriptions, topos, and full-color photos. Rock Climbing Colorado is ideal for anyone aiming to discover, or rediscover, the diverse and wonderful rock climbing found in the Centennial State.

The ultimate guide to Peak District gritstone sets out to embrace the best climbs across the whole of this, the most beloved of all the climbing areas in the UK. From Eastern royalty - Stanage, Froggatt, Curbar and Millstone - to the Western bastions - the Roaches, Ramshaw and Hen Cloud. From the cosy edges of the Burbage Valley to the wild heights of Kinder, Bleaklow and the Chew Valley. It's all here. Big crags, small outcrops, famous climbs and shy classics. If you need to know about it, chances are you'll find it in here. Published by the British Mountaineering Council in collaboration with the Wired Group, the book contains 2,500 routes from MOD to E10 from Eastern and Western Grit and is packed full of action shots, quality maps and topos, and contains comprehensive information.