Camp 4: Recollections of a Yosemite Rockclimber [Paperback]

Steve Roper (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 30, 1998

In the 1960s, California's Yosemite Valley was the center of the rock-climbing universe, spawning many of the finest rock climbers in the world and shaping the future of the sport. Camp 4 is Roper's take on his ten years spent in the valley among the era's top climbers.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Mountaineers Books (November 30, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898865875
• ISBN-13: 978-0898865875
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #432,714 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enthralling and Exact, July 31, 2002

By 

David L. Nelson (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Camp 4: Recollections of a Yosemite Rockclimber (Paperback)

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read for every rock climber, January 3, 2008

By 

Sabrina Oesterle (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Camp 4: Recollections of a Yosemite Rockclimber (Paperback)

If you want to understand rock climbing, this book is a must read. Roper's "Camp 4" describes where it all began. This book should be part of every climber's education. It may not be written in the most beautiful prose and some may not always agree with Roper's perspective, but this book is packed with pictures, facts, and stories - many of them exciting, often funny, and some of them tragic and sad. Reading this book has only deepened my fascination with Yosemite and climbing in general. I wish there was a follow-up that tells the story about what happenend since the "Golden Age".

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A closed society..., November 22, 2011

By 

Rodger Raubach (Converse County ,WY USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Camp 4: Recollections of a Yosemite Rockclimber (Paperback)

Wow! Steve did an excellent job of portraying the 'climbing scene,' as well as accurately describing the many colorful characters of the era.

I spent some time in Camp 4 during the summer of 1965 and met many of these wonderful characters. But...as an earlier reviewer pointed out, this was an extremely closed society, and non-California climbers were treated with disdain. Younger "wannabees" were pretty well ostracized, and women? Well, women climbers really didn't know how to climb! Living on next to no money, sleeping under a rock, hiding from the rangers, confronting bears, scarfing food in the cafeteria and coffee shop, stealing tips from the restaurant tables were all "normal" for many of these gifted lunatics. Many of them were my friends, and a good number of them haven't survived to present day and I miss them. Pratt, Fredericks, Sacherer, Roper, and numerous others; they were certainly unique individuals.

This was a heart rending book for me--reminding me of days gone by and the experiences I had in Yosemite.