The Climbing Book- A Must Have For Any Climbing Fan

You may be planning to climb outdoors, especially if you’ve exhausted the possibilities at your local indoor climbing wall. Whether you’re aiming for traditional routes or sport bolted routes, the humble climbing book is an essential piece of equipment no climber should ever go climbing without.

Route guides for rock climbers have been around since the 1900′s. During the early days of rock climbing, climbers would keep detailed written notes, along with hand drawn sketches which were all transcribed by hand. The labor intensity of these guides made it difficult for beginners to have access to them. These days, however, climbing books are mass produced in the main stream and have information on most of the world’s most popular climbing faces.

Rock climbing guides are essential to keeping you on the right path, unless of course you are trying to discover new courses. However, remaining on the proper course is essential for ensuring your safety. You could easily wander onto an E1 route, though you embarked on a Vdiff course. If you are experienced with E1 paths– great; if not, you will be in dire straights!

Most modern climbing books are superb and feature a wealth of useful information, including:

Photographs featuring the routes;

Detailed step by step descriptions of the routes;

Plots that illustrate how to discover the crags;

Detailed descriptions of the crags including aspect, altitude and the type of rock;

Route attributes, such as the amount of safeguards in place.

There are some brilliant publishers creating top quality climbing guide books. Some of my favourites include: Ground Up, ROCKFAX and Vertebrate Publishing. I use their guide books extensively and have found them to be incredibly useful on my climbing expeditions.

Rock climbing books are the subject of several articles previously published on my blog on rock climbing in the United Kingdom. This is a good resource to look at if you are trying to decide which rock climbing book you should choose. Each book reviewed was used during a real rock climb to provide the best, unbiased review possible on each.

Whatever you do, make sure that you’re fully equipped and prepared before embarking on any outdoor rock climbing expeditions. The best way to prepare yourself is to be properly informed by getting hold of some good quality climbing books.

Gareth Hanson is an adventurer and adrenaline addict. Check out Gareth’s climbing books reviews on his rock climbing blog, Rock Climbing UK.