Page 28 - 2000 AMA Millenium

Book Reviews Extreme Alpinism - Climbing Light, Fast and High
By Mark Twight and James Martin
Published by The Mountaineers ISBN 0-89886-654-5 Price $US 27.95 (RRP UK£16.99)
This is a very thought-provoking and entertaining book that encompasses every aspect of hard alpine mountaineering. Mark Twight is well qualified to write it, as he has climbed in every region where this type of climbing is possible and at the highest standard. His wisdom is distilled from a long and distinguished career. Small wonder, then, that he is able to use his vast rattlebag of experience to blow away some of the more persistent myths. Many of these affect crucial choices such as shell clothing, crampons, ice axes, belay devices, food and bivouac gear - things that we all use - but he also has much to say about the less tangible aspects - approach, mindset, sty le. His scientific bits debunk much of the pseudo-scientific mumbo jumbo pushed out by vendors and in contrast they are in language that you can understand.
His basic philosophy is climb light and climb fast and is amply reinforced by numerous stories of the author’s experiences. How many times have we been told to climb light and yet failed to take the advice? He wants us to think very carefully about our approach to each route: do we really need to take the rope; is climbing through the dark better than bivouacking; could wearing too much cause us to fail?
On the 1999 AGM weekend I recounted a story about the great French guide Lionel Terray. Reaching a bivouac ledge, he settled down
to read his large newspaper until dark. Then he stuffed it all round his body for insulation. In the morning he set light to it, warming
himself by its flames and started up the route. He had lost even the weight of the newspaper! The moral of the story is one that is rein­
forced by reading this book but I suspect that Mark Twight wouldn’t even have bothered with the bivouac - he would have pushed on
through. I am also re-reading ‘in Monte Viso’s Horizon’ at the moment, in preparation for AMA Alps 2000. In that excellent book by
Will McLewin on climbing the 4000 metre peaks of the Alps, the same message comes through; climb light, climb fast, speed is safety.
Of course an essential prerequisite for this style of climbing is competence - and the confidence that comes from knowing you are
competent. It does not mean that you have to be an E8/Scottish Grade VI climber. The same philosophy can be applied to all the grades.
This book is just as relevant to the moderate climber as to the extremist and I would commend it to anyone thinking of doing long, mixed climbs anywhere.
Classic Dolomite Climbs
By Anette Kohler and Norbert Memmel
Published by Baton Wicks £14.99. Price U.K. £14.99
This is a wonderful selection of 94 climbs from the Dolomite range. The book is a translation of a twice-revised original written in
German. The last revision was in 1998 so it is bang up-to-date. The large octavo format allows a lot to be packed in and makes it easy
to read but do not expect to carry it in your back pocket. Now for the climbs. Each one really is a classic, from the Comici route on the
Grosse Zinne down to the more reasonable Vajolet and Sella towers, there is plenty for climbers of all grades. For each climb there is a
full page topo guide and an annotated B&W photograph on the facing page. The route description covers first ascent details, gear,
parking, approach, start, the route itself and the descent. Each route description is accompanied by a passage on character, rock quality,
local weather, interesting historical notes and other useful information such as whether you are likely to be climbing in a queue! 1 liked
the double page treatment - you can see everything for the climb at a glance and when opened out it is only a little bigger than A4, so to
save weight you could scan and print your climb very easily. Each area has a very clear map and the book is dotted with inspirational colour photographs.
The index is at the front and at the back there is a useful biography, a foldout list of climbs grouped by grade and a colour road map showing the location of all the routes. The foldout is clearly intended as a bookmark but on my copy the back cover (which has the foldout piece) has been folded in only one of the two places necessary and so does not quite reach and protect the front edge of the book. My suggestion is to fold the back cover along the other line as soon as you buy the book and that does the trick. In any book like this there are bound to be favourites missed out. In the Rosengarten area - one of the few 1 know well - 1 would have included the Preuzz/Raz cracks on Torre Delago and maybe the complete traverse of the Vajolet towers, both at reasonable grades but so be it. This is an excellent
selection and bucks today’s guidebook trend: you do not need to be climbing at a ridiculously high standard to enjoy almost all of these routes. At £15 the book is a pleasure to read and good value.
Tim King
Tim King