My girlfriend and I recently took some of Ropers advice on a Mt. Conness Loop 5 day hike in Yosemite. It was an increadible trip. Roper gives just enough hints to get you there but few enough to make it still feel like exploring. Be advised however when he referes a section of your hike as 'adventurous' or 'exciting' he means it. We pushed ourselves to the physical and mental limit on this trip.

This book outlines a magnificent experience following an off-trail, higher version of the Muir Trail through the High Sierra. We have followed most of Roper's route over several years: sometimes we thought we were lost or overwhelmed, but it always turned out fine, and usually excellent. He treads a fine line between complete instructions that would allow no mistakes, and an experience that gives the hiker their own opportunity for route-finding, discovery, and growth. This is one of our favorite books, and we keep an intact copy plus another one torn apart for each journey and sometimes given away to people met along the way who need it. We still travel the trail some of the time, but genuinely value this alternative farther away from the crowds.

I made good use of this book to plan a wonderful cross-country trip in the Sierra. Roper was kind of vague at times, but I never got lost.

The route he described was breath-taking. I intend to use this book to plan next summer's trip.

Written and photographed by the greatest adventure photographer of all time, High and Wild is a must read for anyone who enjoys outdoor adventures. Galen Rowell takes us on many of his greatest outdoor journeys from California to Tibet to Alaska in this large format book. The photos are incredible and the accounts by Rowell make you wish you were there. Sadly, Galen Rowell was killed in a plane crash in August 2002 so the world will be deprived of more of his talented works. This review is for the original version, published in 1979. I look forward to the new version, published in Oct. 2002.

Steve Roper is meticulous. This is an excellent history, and I feel positive and secure that Mr. Roper's records are as accurate and precise as they can possibly be of that rowdy and rambunctious world. I enjoyed reading about the historical climbers and the more social rock climbers of the '30s. Those were the days when families came, climbed a little, picnicked a lot, and a good time was had by all.

The Golden Age of the '60s, of which Steve was a part, was a time of great improvements in equipment and methods, and also a first crack at some of the awesome spires that were heretofore thought "impossible." It was wild, giddy and reckless, adjectives I would never apply to Steve Roper. Mr. Roper is austere in his beliefs of the "purity" of the climb and who is worthy. Though he recounts a few wild escapades, I had the feeling he did not approve. His callousness toward the first Camp 4 fatality made me back up and reread. Yep, I read it right, though I'm sure he was trying to keep up the "Right Stuff" façade in the face of what must have been a great shock to an 18-year old boy. That is the problem; there are so few that Roper considers to have the Right Stuff. If they were women, they were mere appendages. If male and had the misfortune to be born after 1955, they were not pure enough.

John Long's "Rock Jocks, Wall Rats and Hang Dogs" is devoted to Camp 4 in the '70s. John is Steve's polar opposite except in their mutual love for and expertise in rock climbing. John is wildly funny and sometimes just wild, but I had more a feeling of place when reading his book.

As another reviewer said, "Camp 4" is a must-have for West Coast rock enthusiasts. It is considered the Bible of the Golden Age.
-sweetmolly-Amazon.com Reviewer

I was a Yosemite climber in the 1970's and met a number of the major characters (Frost, Chouinard, Robbins, Harding). Steve Roper has done an incredible job of capturing the ephemeral facts and essential spirit of the climbers and times. He is frank about their weaknesses: "We were thoughtless and immature"(pg 154) and "...we were puerile youths. We had been taught the correct values at home, yet we rebelled against everything," (pg 155-6), referring to the troubles they caused in the Vally. He is honest about his own failures, both in his own character and on climbs he could not do. He is enthusiastic about the successes of the pioneers and freely gives credit to those who deserve it. Steve not only gives you facts, he gives you feelings and insights. You can't get better history than this.

The only criticism I have is that the book ends. I could have kept reading for many more days. If you want to FEEL what it was like, buy this book. I will bet you can't read it only once.

This is probably the best account of the Golden Age of Yosemite climbing that has come off the presses. Very honest portrayal of the figures and players by someone who has there to see it all. Very moving, and also very humurous at times. Roper has truly captured the spirit of a long gone era for the younger generation to enjoy and look up to. Thanks.

I love this book. Bought it in Seattle when I started climbing 15 years ago. Many of the routes are really not that crowded. I spent days on end without seeing anyone on several of the routes. WARNING though, earlier comments are right about innacuracy. Abide by topos and trust your compasses -- or bring an extra day's food for some of the north facing routes described.

I remember when this book first issued, we carped about it then (being too much "the classics of the writers' era", not even contemporary at that time). In the late 1990s this is even more the case. The text should have been at least been updated as some of the route descriptions were wrong originally. Still, this book has inspired more climbing trips than any single climbing book/guide in the United States. People have thronged to these routes in the last two decades, causing them to be dubbed "Fifty Crowded Climbs." I imagine this will not change for a long time. Though I feel the selections are not the best, but until someone does a better job it is a classic book, well worth owning.

This book had a major effect on the climbing community when first published in 1981. It's influence continues with the 2nd edition, which has identical content to the original. Very strong on historical perspective, but much of the guide information is seriously out of date, so use more recent information if you're planning on doing any of the climbs.

This issue of Ascent is superior to some of the others. More professional and less flaky, it contains gripping trip reports and hilarious satire. The poetry is overall good, though very focused on the work of one author. The photography is beautiful but too much of it is in black and white. I found the reproduced paintings to be luridly colored and uninteresting. Overall, though, this book is well worth reading, with highlights including excellent work by Kelsey and Viola.

The scope, quality and depth of the prose in this issue of Ascent are of astoundingly high quality. Each one of the essays and stories in this collection provokes thought, and the sheer variety of the material, from farce through introspection to commentary, makes this a trove for climbers who love to read.

Alas, I cannot comment on the poetry, as I skipped all of it without reading a line.

The images in this issue are of more varied quality than the prose. While the colour photgraphs are crisp and rich, the monochrome photos are genreally poorly-reproduced, being flat and lacking in contrast. I was not impressed with much of the non-photographic art, as little of it has any quality that might draw attention to itself other than its subject matter.

Overall, I think that the 1999 issue of Ascent easily justifies its purchase price for the wonderful prose alone. If you are looking specifically for photography or artwork that pertains to climbing, though, you would do well to look elsewhere.

Another decent anthology of mountaineering/climbing stories grouped into eight related topics. Most of the material is taken from previous issues of Ascent, but there are several new pieces, particularly climbing fiction. Of the new pieces, two relate to alpine climbing and the six to climbing fiction. The hero worship of Robbins also continues with two pieces by him. The only author to rate two pieces. Since I haven't read any of the other Ascents, all the stories were new to me. Although I like most of the pieces, I didn't care much for the climbing fiction. One fictional story, 'The Soloist's Diary,' I couldn't get myself through. I'm a big fan of science fiction, and one climbing science fiction story, 'The More Things Change...,' I found completely lame and trite. If you have read previous Ascents, I don't think there is anything new or worthy enough to warrant getting this book. If you want a climbing stories anthology try 'The Games Climbers Play' edited by Ken Wilson. He includes some of the better works originally published in Ascent.

Twenty-five years ago, this was THE guidebook to climbing in Yosemite. We used to play trivia games to name the first ascent parties, the dates, etc., of the most obscure climbs Roper listed. Another part of the game was figuring out Roper's idiosyncrasies - for example, each sentence describes a seperate pitch & the adjective "adventurous" means dangerously loose & dirty. Nowadays, the book is mainly an historical artifact. The number of climbs is many times greater than in 1971 & the level of difficulty of climbs has similarly increased. But Roper's book is still useful for both the history of climbing in the Valley & also for descriptions of how to get to the various climbing areas, with verbal descriptions of the climbs (a rarity in this age of topos).