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This is a must have book. It covers all areas of climbing in great detail. Very happy and look forward to the 8th edition that will bring additions to new techniques developed in the last few years.The book arrived Super quick and I am an expat living in South Korea. Very happy.
A must for any new or old mountaineer. After years of climbing I find myself diving back into this reference for all my Freedom of the Hills needs. 5 stars all the way.
Someone once told me "Mountaineering is just like backpacking with less margin for error". Of course the reality is that there are additional skills, concepts, and so on that you absolutely need to know before hauling yourself onto a rock face or glacier. This book contains all of that - the accumulated wealth of knowledge based on the experience of more than 40 of the world's best mountaineers. What makes this book so unrivaled.- Topics are effectively separated into chapters that allow you to find what you need fast- Information is presented with photos and diagrams to clarify each and every detail- The writing style is pleasant to read - neither frivolous nor obfuscating- Everything you ever wanted to know (about mountaineering) is in the bookBuy several copies, sleep with one as a pillow in the hopes the information will naturally osmose into your brain, love mountaineering, be safe, and in your many travels please respect our natural resources.
Before about 1990 there was no deliniation in mountaineering sports. at home spread over three decades. In sum this book is for the all-rounder who seeks to not just max out on his 5.14 move 3 inches off the deck, but also wants to know how to stay alive on a long 3 day 5.4 route along a mountain crest when bad weather closes in.
This book was spawned in that era and as such covers just about everything you need to know to climb and stay alive on the slopes. If more people buy it and use it this breed will not dissapear. There was none of this, "I am an indoor climber" or "I am a boulder" or "I only do Winter Climbing" etc -- if you climbed you did the lot reasonably proficiently.
With the desconstruction of society and knowledge getting boxed and marketed in smaller and smaller areas of specialisation, you have people who are competent crag climbers, but who have absolutely no basic skills when it comes to knowing the mountains -- in this sense this book is geared towards more that increasingly rarer of species, the mountain man. You won't find tremendous descriptions of all the redundant systems for anchoring, or every sort of arrest for glacier travel, but you will find a good intro to them in this book. There is also a great section on mountain travel and the basics of rescue as well.
I have three editions. It is also a wonderful reference and good bathroom reading material.
Good book, very informative. Im actually selling this under my Amazon, I have learned almost everything I need to know about rock climbing.
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