When bad things happen to good climbers, they are recorded for posterity in the American Alpine Club's annual Accidents in North American Mountaineering. Published by Mountaineers Books, page after gut-wrenching page describe poor decision making and random acts of fate that make you never want to strap on your crampons again.
This book is best read in small pieces. Treat each scenario as a case study: what would you have done differently? Approached this way the book fulfills its purpose, to educate climbers about the risks, avoidable and otherwise, inherent to mountaineering. One of the most common causes of trauma: rappel screw-ups, including anchor failure, rappeling off the end of the rope and improper use of rappel devices.
Your goal is to transform this education into better risk assessment and decision making when out in the vertical world. Read this book, so that you don't end up being read about.
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