From the Back Cover
At the age of twelve, twin brothers Bob and Ira Spring received free Eastman Kodak Box Brownie cameras as part of a corporate fiftieth anniversary promotion. This happy coincidence was the beginning of two legendary careers. Throughout their lives the Spring brothers nurtured the spark of their creativity and love of the mountains to create indelible images that introduced generations of climbers to the beauty of the Cascade and Olympic Mountains and the Canadian Rockies.
While other photographers were recording expeditions to distant destinations, Bob and Ira were pioneers in photographing the remarkable climbers and peaks of the Northwest. Outfitted with goldline rope, leather boots, and cameras that weighed as much as 100 pounds, the brothers documented the development of equipment and technique in both mountaineering and photography, and cultivated friendships with renowned mountaineers such as Fred Beckey, Willi Unsoeld, and Jim and Lou Whittaker. The Springs' photographs captured the timeless beauty of the mountains of the Northwest in stunning black-and-white and were published in National Geographic, The Saturday Evening Post, Esquire, Life, and more than fifty books.
High Rocks and Ice presents the brothers' most famous images accompanied by the stories behind the pictures as well as Ira's humorous accounts of his triumphs and mistakes, making this book both a fascinating chronicle of the Springs' work and an informal history of mountaineering during its "classic age" from the late 1930s to the early 1970s.
About the Author
Bob and Ira Spring have been climbing and photographing mountains in the Northwest since 1930, when Eastman Kodak celebrated its fiftieth anniversary by offering every twelve-year-old in the United States a Box Brownie camera. The twin brothers went into business together in 1946, and since then their photographs have appeared in hundreds of magazines and more than 50 books. Ira Spring passed away in June 2003.
John Harlin III is the editior of the American Alpine Journal and a contributing editor of Backpacker magazine
