Customer Reviews

Long's Peak: The Story of Colorado's Favorite Fourteener

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

This very readable account of Long's Peak from Dougald MacDonald is an excellent volume. Divided into four general parts, MacDonald opens the book with a personal account of hiking the "Through the Keyhole" to the summit. The writing is personal, wry and engaging as he details the common summer hiking route to the top. The History portion begins with the earliest Anglo-American accounts of climbing the mountain and includes some of the colorful personalities that have scaled it. John Wesley "Wes" Powell, the "one-armed mountaineer" to the tragic rescue attempt and death of Agnes Vaille, "one of Colorado's best climbers, male or female, during the 1920s" are here. Early commercial and National Park Service efforts at tourism and stewardship of the mountain are explained. The Adventure portion discusses changes in hiking and climbing methods and routes, along with rescue efforts and the 54 recorded fatalities on Long's Peak. The Natural History portion details the geological, flora, and fauna resources and the best places to look for them.

A sports journalist for years, MacDonald is the former editor of Rock & Ice and has been climbing Long's Peak since 1982. More than a guide book, his Long's Peak is filled with full-color photographs, historical photographs, maps and trail routes. Numerous inset boxes are scattered throughout the book that provide additional information or refer readers to other resources. Appendices include the best routes, a glossary, an index, and a brief explanation of sources. MacDonald conducted and distilled extensive research including primary resources and there is a bibliography; however, the selected notes are too vague for researchers. Long's Peak is the most comprehensive and current volume of the mountain, including the classic by the late Paul Nesbit and a must for public libraries and others with regional or mountaineering history collections.

Dougald Macdonald did an excellent job covering all faucets of this mountain. Anyone who has had the opportunity to climb Longs Peak or has a general interest in mountains, be it climbing, studying the history, photography, etc. should find this as one of those "hard to put down" books. He covered most every perspective from the exploration to the extreme climbing and presented it in an easy reading yet fascinating manner. I found the history of the climbers and geology of the mountain quite interesting. Having hiked the trail before, I'll take more time to check out the surroundings on my next visit (Although that's hard to do considering the awesome scenery). Thanks for such a good book!

90% of the book kept my attention from the moment I opened it. The last 10 deals with floura and fauna, things that I'm personally not interested in, but some may find helpful.
Lots of great scenery and history. A book I definitely will revisit many times to come.
I've already climbed Longs several times and was so entranced by the history, I went back to search out some of the items mentioned in this book. As I hiked I recalled a lot from the material and next thing I knew my destination was reached in what seemed like no time at all.
Anyone who's going to the area is highly encouraged to read this book. Anyone who's already been there will find things they were never aware of.
I'm not a big history buff, but this book camptivated me.
5 stars eventhough I wasn't interested in the last chapter or two, but the material in the previous chapters was simply awsome.
Thanks, great book. A+

This is an excellent book on the history of Longs Peak. In particular the controversy around who made the first ascent is well researched and fascinating, although I may not agree with all the author's conclusions. This is the best account of the Agnes Vaille tragedy I have seen and contains many factoids I was not familiar with. Many a hiker passing the stone hut below the Keyhole has wondered about it, and reading this account is just what they need.

The photos in the book are magnificent and very well reproduced. There is also a list of recommended routes in the back. This is not a climbing guide, however, and I suggest you buy such a guide if you are planning on climbing any of these routes.

This book was hard to get. I wanted to own it, but on Amazon it was 99 dollars for a used copy. This is too much money for a little book. The sad reality is that the book is out of print, so even the range station at Longs Peak did not have a copy. They had other books on Longs, but not this title. So I got it from the Library. I planned on reading this book for months. When Steve Curo approached me about climbing Longs this summer, I found this book on Amazon and was going to read it, but after some research, the book was about people dying on the mountain and I was not sure if I wanted to hear those stories before climbing it. So the deal was if I climbed it, and was successful, I would read this book. This is not a book that you would just read, but since I did, it was an amazing read. I loved hearing about the history of the mountain, and some of the stories of the hard climbs up the diamond and the east face. If you saw those rocks, you would be impressed. This was a satisfying read after hitting the summit. Well worth my time.

If you plan to climb Longs, have climbed it, wish you could climb it, love visiting the area, love the Colorado mountains etc you won't be disappointed. The photography (and the quality of their glossy reproduction) is simply superb. The text is engaging, well researched, and tells you more about a single mountain than you could imagine. Having climbed it a couple of times and spent 7 years with it dominating the skyline from my balcony this is a book that has pride of place on my bookshelf.

Dougald's new Longs Peak book is outstanding. He expertly retells many of the familiar Longs Peak tales, but also tells some new ones. In particular, his account of the first (white) ascent of the peak is the surprising product of some good sleuthing. The writing is superb, as are the photographs. This is an essential book, whether you are contemplating your first ascent of the peak or whether you know it as well as Dougald.