GearFlogger

Glacier Mountaineering book

We're a big fan of books by Andy and Mike, so we were excited to see a "revised" edition of Glacier Mountaineering: An Illustrated Guide to Glacier Travel and Crevasse Rescue out this year. The original was published in 2000, and we figured a 2009 edition would have new and expanded material.

The bad news is there's nothing new except the cover, presumably to reflect its publication by Falcon Guides instead of original publisher Climbing Magazine. The good news is, it's still a highly readable and relevant title on the most important subject in the history of FloggerKind: 140 pages divided into ten chapters on technique and equipment to keep us knuckle-dragging climbers from the early extinction we would otherwise almost certainly be facing. Well worth inclusion in the seminal list at GearFlogger's Backcountry Bookshelf.

What sets Andy and Mike books apart are the unpretentious, fun writing style that is paired with cartoon-style illustrations of amazing clarity and detail. Better than any photographs, the illustrations invite and repay careful study, often communicating subtle tricks of the trade. See how to escape a belay for an example. In the book the final illustration on page 140 that shows a glacier traveller fully rigged with thirty callouts packed with good advice.  Picking up this along with their Backcountry Ski Book - some overlap, but hey, they're cheap! - and you are good to go.

$11.53 at Amazon

The Mountaineering Handbook

There's old school and then there's Connally's school. As in Craig Connally, author of The Mountaineering Handbook: Modern Tools and Techniques That Will Take You to the Top. This book is the perfect balance to Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills. Between the two you'll get both sides of the story, and really they agree more often than not. Both books are inaugural members of GearFlogger's Backcountry Bookshelf.

Connally doesn't hesitate to heap scorn on gear and techniques that don't in his opinion measure up. He has little use for things like the figure eight knot (he prefers the Yosemite bowline), snow flukes ("aren't worth their weight on the pack") and high-tech fibers ("nylon is proving pretty hard to beat"). What sets his book apart from all the opinion out there is his dedication to evidence. Exhaustive discussions of fall forces, materials technology and other evidence are everywhere.

It's hard to overstate the amount of information in this book; you'll just have to read it - and re-read it - yourself. It's the book I go back to the most to review his tricks for tying various knots, opinions on fast and light methods, and prescriptions for training. Connally brings an engineer's mind to topics that are long overdue for such dissection, and if you don't always agree you still won't be disappointed with the passion he brings to mountaineering.

$12.89 at Amazon.com

Wilderness First Responder, 2nd Edition

This is hard for most of us backcountry bandits to admit, but there are people out there who aren't navel-gazing while dreaming of tick-list nirvana all the time. These people have bigger concerns, like saving your ass when your next epic gets effed.

For those who go above and beyond basic wilderness first aid, since 1984 there has been Woofer: Wilderness First Responder certification, usually an 80-hour, two week course that trains participants in legal issues (yes you do need to know), patient assessment, traumatic injuries, and environmental, medical and special emergencies.

Wilderness First Responder, 2nd Edition is a standard textbook for the course wherever it's offered. Updated in 2004 from its original 1998 first edition it's well organized: each chapter begins with "it could happen to you," a brief overview of a scenario, and concludes with outcomes of the scenario after covering the subject in between.

It's got good stuff for the general outdoors crowd: basic wound management, heat/cold/altitude injuries, and a subject everyone should know and prepare for: chapter 36, wilderness transportation of the sick and injured. Note the CPR recommendations are out of date: they call for 15 compressions to 2 breaths, but current CPR guidelines call for 30:2 or even, as the American Heart Association recommends, eliminating the mouth-to-mouth entirely and simply maintaining the 100 compressions a minute rate.

$25.51 (with free shipping) at Amazon.com

Cascade Alpine Guide, Rainy Pass to Fraser River

Fred Beckey seems to be cramming multiple lives into one. It's not enough for him that he has more first ascents than any other American, he's also a prolific author. And still going strong at 85!

Beckey's contributions to the climbing community are enshrined in his three-volume manifesto, Cascade Alpine Guide: Climbing & High Routes. Volume One covered Columbia River to Stevens Pass, Volume Two Stevens Pass to Rainy Pass, and now an updated 3rd Edition of Volume Three, Rainy Pass to Fraser River. Don't expect florid prose; Beckey's writing style makes Hemingway seem vulgarly verbose. Expect straight-ahead information transfer, and lots of it.

The area covers the coast to the Okanogan River and includes Mts. Shuksan, Baker, and Liberty Bell as well as the Twin Sisters, Cathedral Peak and many others. There is discussion of geology, history and climbing ethics. Maps are plentiful and clear, and route photos are presented from multiple angles with exhaustive coverage of variations. For the low-down on the high-up, Beckey sets the standard.

$34.95 at Mountaineers Books

Triathlon Revolution book

So you all know what I think about running. And swimming. Biking I actually like, but two out of three, with apologies to Meatloaf, is not all it's cracked up to be. And yet I feel compelled to train for a triathlon, which is latin for "sucks to be you."

Luckily there's Triathlon Revolution: Training, Technique, and Inspiration by Terri Schneider, the latest in the Mountaineers Outdoor Expert series. I'll tell you up front this is not a technique book, with the exception of the running chapter, which is the only one of the three sport-specific chapters that actually does contain a good chunk of valuable info on running technique.

The strength of this book lies in the wealth of information covering all the non-technique subjects: gear, nutrition, training, motivation, psychology and the all important transitions. There are sample routines and schedules, and frequent guest blurbs from accomplished triathletes about the finer points of all of the above. Rounding it all out is a very useful glossary and bibliography. Triathlon Revolution belongs on the bookshelf of anyone, novice or master, crazy enough to want to participate in this peculiar yet seductive form of self-abuse.

$13.57 at Amazon

Climbing: Training for Peak Performance

Clyde Soles has written a number of excellent climbing books including another Mountaineers Outdoor Expert series title, Expedition Planning. The 2008 second edition of Climbing: Training for Peak Performance updates his 2002 effort with "30% more content." Sounds like a breakfast cereal ad, but have no fear, this is much more substantial.

TfPP bills itself as "a book for climbers with limited time, pre-existing injuries, or - you know - a life." The book covers a dizzying array of topics: nutrition, physical conditioning, mental preparation, flexibility, recovery and even specific routines for specific pursuits. A particularly helpful chapter is Climbing at Altitude, which includes quick hits on various supplements and drugs, worthwhile and not.

Evidently Clyde has nothing better to do than read through tons of reports and studies and synthesize them for our benefit. He does a good job of sticking with advice that is scientifically grounded and rarely if ever ventures onto evidence-scarce ground. He takes pains to point out common myths and misconceptions in sections with titles like "Diet Chicanery," "Dubious Supplements," and "Resistance Training Myths." There are even anatomical charts. Overall, TfPP is a valuable synthesis of state-of-the-art advice across all the important areas of athletic training related to climbing and other outdoor pursuits.

$12.89 at Amazon

Flatiron Classics 2nd Edition book

OK, full disclosure: I've never climbed in the Colorado Flatirons, and I've never read the 1987 first edition of Flatiron Classics by Gerry Roach. Wow, that's the kind of honesty I'm talking about! Usually I don't get that kind of catharsis until the morning after a plate of jalopeno poppers and a few pints of Moose's Tooth IPA.

Roach is the second person to have climbed the seven summits, a list that is currently only 229 names long. This pedigree might lead you to believe that he would take the "you ain't squat until you've climbed like me" attitude, but he does just the opposite: "I grew up climbing with the following definition of difficulty: 5.7 is hard climbing, 5.8 is where you are really worried about falling off, and 5.9 is where you are falling off." That fits the subtitle of the book, Easy Rock Climbs Above Boulder, and no climb in the book is harder than 5.8. Amen, brother!

After a chapter on peaks, trailheads and trails the book dives straight into nine chapters organized by peak. Route descriptions and photos of more than 20 vertical miles of routes (!!!) are comprehensive with particular detail paid to descents. The book has some major omissions: there are no maps, there is no reference to gear required (are all the climbs bolted?), and although Roach designates 51 routes as "Classic" and includes a Top Ten list the lists are not actually... well... listed. You have to make your own list from the route descriptions and index. Still, if reading Flatiron Classics doesn't make you check ticket prices to Denver then you're not paying attention.

$14.21 at Amazon

Allen & Mike's Really Cool Backcountry Ski Book, Revised

We're huge fans of everything Mike & Al, and so it was a good day to be a GearFlogger when they revised and released an updated version of their classic Backcountry Ski Book. If you're unfamiliar with Mike and Al's books, you're really missing out: both the writing and the illustrations are clear, concise and unpretentious, making for truly enjoyable reading and learning.

Not just for skiiers, about half the book contains great information on general backcountry safety, camping, and ethics that will be useful to anyone going out to them thar hills. The skiing specific chapters include plenty o' tips on equipment and technique. The authors give equal treatment to AT and tele gear, avoiding completely the totally useless arguments about which is better

I didn't compare this edition to the last one, so I can't tell you what's new. I just picked it up and reread the whole thing. If you're like me and you can't remember what you had for breakfast, it's ten bucks well spent. Buy it on Amazon together with Backcountry Skiing and you are fully informed.

$10.36 at Amazon

Digital Photography Outdoors book

In Some Like It Hot Jack Lemmon describes watching Marilyn Monroe walk as "like jell-o on springs!" That type of unpredictable motion also happens to describe my photographs, and that mental association may explain why I want to lick them... but I digress.

Optical image stabilization helps with the jell-o shots - mmm, jell-o shots - but there is a heck of lot else to learn about shooting good pics. Breathe easily, because it's all here: Digital Photography Outdoors (second edition) is a graduate class for all us waffle-stompers. It starts with the basics in a chapter aptly titled "The old rules of photography still apply" that covers composition, light and some other ground rules.

The book marches on through equipment, advanced techniques and getting the most out of your "digital darkroom." It's all extremely well-organized and informative, with plenty of clearly illustrated examples. One example of the detail you get is in the treatment of "workflow," the process of moving an image from capture to output and all the in-between steps that can affect final image quality. Photographs are a vital part of post-adventure enjoyment, and Digital Photography Outdoors will help you make the most of them.

$12.70 at Amazon

The Beckoning Silence book

I get bored enough listening to my own climbing stories, why would I want to read about the experience of others? For good reason, it turns out: Joe Simpson's The Beckoning Silence is a page turner.

Yes, Simpson is the one who was on the wrong end of a cut rope in Touching the Void, but Beckoning is a much more interesting story. He recounts highlights of his climbing career with a focus first on psychology and relationships and only second on actual climbing. It would be easy for a climber writing about where his head happened to be at any given day to sound self-absorbed and shallow, but Simpson really pulls it off: everyone I've talked to who has read Beckoning says it resonates.

Climbing is a head game where you are constantly on your guard against self-doubt and other demons that travel with you. Pretending they don't exist is not the best tactic, and can lead you into situations that you really would rather avoid. Simpson is refreshingly frank in acknowledging and developing this theme, and Beckoning will connect with any climber who has ever wondered, why am I doing this?

$12.89 at Amazon