B ook R eviews
Book R eview s E d it e d
List. 150
by
D a v id S t e v e n
so n
F ifty Favorite Climbs: The U ltim a te N o rth A m erican Tick 2001.
M a rk K ro e se . S e a ttle : T h e M o u n ta in e e rs B o o k s, c o l o r p h o to s .
224
pages.
$32.95.
My bet is that w ithin a year Fifty Favorite Climbs (henceforth FFC) will be found next to Fifty Classic Climbs (FCC) on th e b o o k shelves o f m ost clim bers in N o rth A m erica. W hile FCC was the inspiration for FFC, the two have little in com m on beyond “Fifty” and “Climbs.” Indeed, the contrast is m ore striking than the com parison, not surprising given the changes in th e sp o rt over the 22 years between their respective publications. O nly about a Fifth o f the clim bs in FCC were 5.9 o r h igher (a few, having been freed, were subsequently raised to 5.10), and an am b itio u s young clim ber m ight aspire to repeat all o f the routes w ith the possible exception o f Mt. Logan’s H um m ingbird Ridge. Maybe there are those who contem plate ticking off the list in FFC, but not only will they have to clim b at a higher standard (about a fifth o f the clim bs are 5.12 o r 5.13), they will also have to be m asters o f an increasing range o f co n d itio n s and techniques, from big walls in alpine c o n d itio n s to difficult rock clim bing w ith ice tools to the co n to rtin g dem ands o f sp o rt clim bing. T his said, FFC still presents m any clim bs that to d ay ’s com petent clim ber could be inspired to attem pt, depending on his o r her bent. Instead o f updatin g FCC (as if “classic” could be u pdated), Kroese sought o u t fifty o f the m ost accom plished clim bers o f the last 20 o r so years and interview ed them on their favorite climbs. O n the one hand, he follows a very strict form at for each clim ber/clim b, and on the oth er he has selected climbers who pursue a wide variety o f styles, philosophies, playgrounds, and tech niques. The result is a broad picture o f the great diversity o f the sport as well as specific accounts o f the trials and rewards th at clim bing offers— b oth panoram a an d close-up if you will. As to the form at, each u n it consists o f four pages, starting w ith a full-page color p h o to o f a clim ber (usually, b u t n o t always, the featured clim ber) on the clim b. T he facing page has a small portrait and a brief bio o f the clim ber followed by the history o f the climb (if it isn’t a first ascent) and an account o f th e clim b er’s ascent. N ot all clim bs, by the way, are first ascents o r extremely difficult. T he variety m entioned above also suggests that m any different qualities can make a clim b a favorite one (“scared the shit o u t o f m e” som etim es seems to be one). The third page continues the account and also has an o th er fairly large pho to th at shows the route. If need be, the account carries over to the fo u rth page and is followed by in fo rm atio n on first ascent, elevations, difficulty, tim e required, eq uipm ent, special considerations, references, and beta on how to get to the area, the route, the descent, and a detailed topo o f the route in case you w ant to give it a go. The use o f large photos and th e beta section necessarily restrict th e a m o u n t o f text, and
to my m in d this is an advantage. Kroese has decided to w rite th e bio an d account o f the climb him self, based on extensive interview s, rath er th an have the clim bers do their own. W hile this m ay deprive us o f the clim ber’s voice, it results in a consistently high quality o f w riting. In the m ain, Kroese’s prose is rem arkably efficient at getting the largest am o u n t o f in fo rm atio n pos sible in the space he has allotted him self, and, while he tries to be objective and avoid sweating palm histrionics, he also delights w ith th e occasional tu rn o f p hrase o r insight o r im age th at m akes one sm ile. T he reader m ig h t n ote th a t in th e b io graphy section each o f the clim bers is presented as so m ething o f a su p erp erso n , b u t th en u p o n reading the acco u n t o f th e clim b it seem s quite likely th at he o r she really is, at least w ith respect to clim bing. I suspect that the nam es o f som ew here betw een 40 and 45 o f the clim bers will be fam il iar to m ost readers. Given the h istory o f the sport, m ost are m en, b u t eight w om en grace these pages. M ost are A m erican, an d all c u rren tly reside in th e U.S. Jim D o n in i an d Jim Bridwell ap pear to be the oldest clim bers in th e collection. M ost o f the others are seasoned veterans in th e ir 30s o r 40s, along w ith a few young h o t shots. A few have highly h o n ed egos, b u t m ost com e across as desirable rope com panions. Are th ere accom plished, even prestigious clim bers w ho are n o t included? M ight one w o n d er why X was included b u t n o t Y? O f course, b u t 50 is 50, and if it’s my bat it’s my rules. As rem arked above, th e diversity o f th e ro u tes is rem arkable, from N abisco Wall in Yosemite (soloed by John B achar) to Belligerence, a 36 pitch m ixed ro u te on M t. C o m b atan t (Greg C hild); from Gorillas in the Mist, m o d ern mixed clim bing in the A dirondacks (Jeff Lowe) to Hall o f M irrors on Glacier Point A pron (Johnny W oodw ard). As m ight be expected, Alaska an d N o rth ern C anada are hom e to nine o f the climbs, th e C anadian Rockies an d C oast Range to a n o th er nine, Yosemite to eight, b u t th e n we are treated to areas th a t have been developed since the days o f FCC: N ew foundland, Baffin Island, Red Rocks near Las Vegas, the Needles in the so u th ern Sierra Nevada, Zion, an d C anyonlands. Two climbs especially appealed to m y im agination, perhaps because b o th are im aginative in th eir conception. O ne is Ron K auk’s traverse on M iddle C ath ed ra l Rock. If solo clim bing appeals to you, surely this is y o u r route. Since you are never m ore th a n fifteen feet o ff the g ro u n d , if you d o n ’t feel up to th e 5.12 th a t day, clim b dow n, w alk on a little, resum e. If you w ant a longer climb, do laps. I should interject here th at Kroese, and presum ably the clim bers concerned, take a som ew hat relaxed ap p ro ach to clim bing style. O n e w ould n o t go to the C ookie C liff w ith an aid rack, b u t on som e o f th e longer, h ard er clim bs one will find a rating like 5.9 A2, or 5.12b. If the clim b is ju st rated at 5.12d, I guess you know w hat to expect. As to style, one clim ber also caught m y atten tio n w hen he was q u o ted as saying, “The first tim e I saw th e P ortrero, I saw a b o u t 150 lines I w an ted to b o lt”— in o rd e r to p ro tec t su b seq u en t free ascents it tu rn s out. M ore diversity. T he o th e r clim b th a t fairly sh o u ted (b u t so tto voce) “w h at a great day” is Peter C ro ft’s solo traverse o f nine sum m its spaced along an eight-m ile ridge in th e Evolution Range o f the Sierra N evada. C roft did it in a long day, b u t the b eta suggests tw o to five days. O ne could do it w ith a partner. O ne could do just three o r four sum m its. It is a w onderful place to be. My p o in t ing o u t these two routes should n o t be taken as slighting any o f th e others. A n u m b e r o f th em are notable in their boldness, b u t then boldness is always notable. A n u m b er o f them seem quite challenging b u t also fun. A nd if you d o n ’t w ant to do a p a rtic u la r clim b, there are always the pleasures o f reading the account in this book. J o e F it s c h e n
List. 150
by
D a v id S t e v e n
so n
F ifty Favorite Climbs: The U ltim a te N o rth A m erican Tick 2001.
M a rk K ro e se . S e a ttle : T h e M o u n ta in e e rs B o o k s, c o l o r p h o to s .
224
pages.
$32.95.
My bet is that w ithin a year Fifty Favorite Climbs (henceforth FFC) will be found next to Fifty Classic Climbs (FCC) on th e b o o k shelves o f m ost clim bers in N o rth A m erica. W hile FCC was the inspiration for FFC, the two have little in com m on beyond “Fifty” and “Climbs.” Indeed, the contrast is m ore striking than the com parison, not surprising given the changes in th e sp o rt over the 22 years between their respective publications. O nly about a Fifth o f the clim bs in FCC were 5.9 o r h igher (a few, having been freed, were subsequently raised to 5.10), and an am b itio u s young clim ber m ight aspire to repeat all o f the routes w ith the possible exception o f Mt. Logan’s H um m ingbird Ridge. Maybe there are those who contem plate ticking off the list in FFC, but not only will they have to clim b at a higher standard (about a fifth o f the clim bs are 5.12 o r 5.13), they will also have to be m asters o f an increasing range o f co n d itio n s and techniques, from big walls in alpine c o n d itio n s to difficult rock clim bing w ith ice tools to the co n to rtin g dem ands o f sp o rt clim bing. T his said, FFC still presents m any clim bs that to d ay ’s com petent clim ber could be inspired to attem pt, depending on his o r her bent. Instead o f updatin g FCC (as if “classic” could be u pdated), Kroese sought o u t fifty o f the m ost accom plished clim bers o f the last 20 o r so years and interview ed them on their favorite climbs. O n the one hand, he follows a very strict form at for each clim ber/clim b, and on the oth er he has selected climbers who pursue a wide variety o f styles, philosophies, playgrounds, and tech niques. The result is a broad picture o f the great diversity o f the sport as well as specific accounts o f the trials and rewards th at clim bing offers— b oth panoram a an d close-up if you will. As to the form at, each u n it consists o f four pages, starting w ith a full-page color p h o to o f a clim ber (usually, b u t n o t always, the featured clim ber) on the clim b. T he facing page has a small portrait and a brief bio o f the clim ber followed by the history o f the climb (if it isn’t a first ascent) and an account o f th e clim b er’s ascent. N ot all clim bs, by the way, are first ascents o r extremely difficult. T he variety m entioned above also suggests that m any different qualities can make a clim b a favorite one (“scared the shit o u t o f m e” som etim es seems to be one). The third page continues the account and also has an o th er fairly large pho to th at shows the route. If need be, the account carries over to the fo u rth page and is followed by in fo rm atio n on first ascent, elevations, difficulty, tim e required, eq uipm ent, special considerations, references, and beta on how to get to the area, the route, the descent, and a detailed topo o f the route in case you w ant to give it a go. The use o f large photos and th e beta section necessarily restrict th e a m o u n t o f text, and
to my m in d this is an advantage. Kroese has decided to w rite th e bio an d account o f the climb him self, based on extensive interview s, rath er th an have the clim bers do their own. W hile this m ay deprive us o f the clim ber’s voice, it results in a consistently high quality o f w riting. In the m ain, Kroese’s prose is rem arkably efficient at getting the largest am o u n t o f in fo rm atio n pos sible in the space he has allotted him self, and, while he tries to be objective and avoid sweating palm histrionics, he also delights w ith th e occasional tu rn o f p hrase o r insight o r im age th at m akes one sm ile. T he reader m ig h t n ote th a t in th e b io graphy section each o f the clim bers is presented as so m ething o f a su p erp erso n , b u t th en u p o n reading the acco u n t o f th e clim b it seem s quite likely th at he o r she really is, at least w ith respect to clim bing. I suspect that the nam es o f som ew here betw een 40 and 45 o f the clim bers will be fam il iar to m ost readers. Given the h istory o f the sport, m ost are m en, b u t eight w om en grace these pages. M ost are A m erican, an d all c u rren tly reside in th e U.S. Jim D o n in i an d Jim Bridwell ap pear to be the oldest clim bers in th e collection. M ost o f the others are seasoned veterans in th e ir 30s o r 40s, along w ith a few young h o t shots. A few have highly h o n ed egos, b u t m ost com e across as desirable rope com panions. Are th ere accom plished, even prestigious clim bers w ho are n o t included? M ight one w o n d er why X was included b u t n o t Y? O f course, b u t 50 is 50, and if it’s my bat it’s my rules. As rem arked above, th e diversity o f th e ro u tes is rem arkable, from N abisco Wall in Yosemite (soloed by John B achar) to Belligerence, a 36 pitch m ixed ro u te on M t. C o m b atan t (Greg C hild); from Gorillas in the Mist, m o d ern mixed clim bing in the A dirondacks (Jeff Lowe) to Hall o f M irrors on Glacier Point A pron (Johnny W oodw ard). As m ight be expected, Alaska an d N o rth ern C anada are hom e to nine o f the climbs, th e C anadian Rockies an d C oast Range to a n o th er nine, Yosemite to eight, b u t th e n we are treated to areas th a t have been developed since the days o f FCC: N ew foundland, Baffin Island, Red Rocks near Las Vegas, the Needles in the so u th ern Sierra Nevada, Zion, an d C anyonlands. Two climbs especially appealed to m y im agination, perhaps because b o th are im aginative in th eir conception. O ne is Ron K auk’s traverse on M iddle C ath ed ra l Rock. If solo clim bing appeals to you, surely this is y o u r route. Since you are never m ore th a n fifteen feet o ff the g ro u n d , if you d o n ’t feel up to th e 5.12 th a t day, clim b dow n, w alk on a little, resum e. If you w ant a longer climb, do laps. I should interject here th at Kroese, and presum ably the clim bers concerned, take a som ew hat relaxed ap p ro ach to clim bing style. O n e w ould n o t go to the C ookie C liff w ith an aid rack, b u t on som e o f th e longer, h ard er clim bs one will find a rating like 5.9 A2, or 5.12b. If the clim b is ju st rated at 5.12d, I guess you know w hat to expect. As to style, one clim ber also caught m y atten tio n w hen he was q u o ted as saying, “The first tim e I saw th e P ortrero, I saw a b o u t 150 lines I w an ted to b o lt”— in o rd e r to p ro tec t su b seq u en t free ascents it tu rn s out. M ore diversity. T he o th e r clim b th a t fairly sh o u ted (b u t so tto voce) “w h at a great day” is Peter C ro ft’s solo traverse o f nine sum m its spaced along an eight-m ile ridge in th e Evolution Range o f the Sierra N evada. C roft did it in a long day, b u t the b eta suggests tw o to five days. O ne could do it w ith a partner. O ne could do just three o r four sum m its. It is a w onderful place to be. My p o in t ing o u t these two routes should n o t be taken as slighting any o f th e others. A n u m b e r o f th em are notable in their boldness, b u t then boldness is always notable. A n u m b er o f them seem quite challenging b u t also fun. A nd if you d o n ’t w ant to do a p a rtic u la r clim b, there are always the pleasures o f reading the account in this book. J o e F it s c h e n
