Armed with a 40% off coupon to Borders, I picked up Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills the other night. It’s a hefty 575 pages of anything you could possibly want to reference regarding rock climbing, ice climbing, and mountaineering. Need to know how to set up a hip belay and catch a fall with it? Check. Wondering about the pros and cons of different synthetic material for your underwear? Check. Want to learn 5-10 methods for unsticking a stuck rope on rappel? Check.
Some of the chapters are fun to read straight through, but there’s a lot of basic information that anyone with experience can skip over. When you really need it sometime, this book could really come in handy.
i remember some dude from Moosejaw told me this is the book that sets you apart from a poser mountain man…i wonder if one can retain 500+ pages of info. altho the 5-10 methods for unsticking a stuck rope on rappel would really have helped me last weekend. we had one rope stuck in a deep crack, and ended up having to rap off a 150’ pitch with one rope