Customer Reviews

Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills

5 star:		(79)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book has managed to condense all the fundamentals of (outdoor) climbing - from rock to ice- and to present them in an easily understandable and concise format. I found it invaluable as a beginner and have continued using it as a reference book. If you take climbing seriously, you will probably buy some other books on more specialized techniques down the line, but this book is where you should start. Nothing essential is missing. The book is also very good at pointing out all the ways you could possibly make mistakes, so you don't make them.

FYI, this book does not go so much into training for climbing as it does the skills and knowledge you will need to climb. (For rock climbing, the best book on *training* I've found is "Performance Rock Climbing".) It also does not go too much into first aid, but the publisher of this book also puts out a book on wilderness medicine if you are interested...

Here in Seattle -- where mountaineering is almost a religion -- Freedom of the Hills is to climbing skills what Fred Beckey's Cascade Alpine Guide is to climbing routes: the bible. It's the fundamental textbook for the Seattle Mountaineers' climbing curriculum, reputed to be the most thorough and rigorous in the Pacific Northwest and perhaps in the country. Virtually every sentence in Freedom of the Hills has a piece of information that has helped me in the mountains. I've re-read portions so many times that my 1979 copy is more tattered than your grandmother's New Testament. Since I first read Freedom of the Hills I've climbed dozens of peaks in Washington's Cascades and Olympics -- on steep snow, ice, technical rock, and glaciers, you name it. I've been through the Ptarmigan Traverse, up eight peaks in the Pickets, and atop Rainier three times. To put it bluntly, if I'd attempted these climbs without the knowledge and skills in this book, by now I would certainly be dead. So, before you go up there: Take a class. Read this book. Stay alive. . . . Okay, I gotta go. I'm buying four more copies of this book right now to send to friends in Colorado.

I have a huge, thick copy right here and it is the bomb. Want to know somethin' about the mountain experience? Everything is here in the book. Every serious and safe climber has read from it. Read it, you'll see why it's the best source to turn to. Even Alex Lowe calls it "an essential...remarkable compilation." Yeah Baby! :) Read & Climb On!

I own a first edition copy of Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills, as well as the current edition, and several editions in between. I can not imagine a person being interested in Mountaineering, Rock Climbing, Ice Climbing, etc.and not wanting to own a copy of this book, especially now that it is available in the more affordable paperback edition. I first started rock climbing in 1971, before it became as popular as it is today, most, if not all, of what my climbing partner and I knew of climbing, from technique to equipment, came from Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills. Of all the climbing/mountaineering books that I own, Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills never seems to make it back to its spot on the bookshelf

The remarkable thing about this book is that it combines both broad scope (alpine mountaineering, rock climbing, ice climbing, and "expedition issues" are all covered) and enough depth that the reader gets accurate, useful technical details on how to do virtually everything. No matter your present skill level, interests, and plans -- from peak bagging to cragging to big walls to alpine expeditions -- the full gamut of climbing is covered in detail. Special, high quality chapters on subjects such as land navigation, geology, and snow and ice mechanics that are generally omitted from most climbing manuals are covered superbly well here. This is truly the "Climber's Bible" -- the one book that every mountain traveller really must read and refer to again and again.

As summer season is approaching in the northern hemisphere; many mountaineers are getting ready to climb again.
Whether you are just starting out with hillwalking or you sharpen your icetools weekly, this is the one book that rightly is known as 'the bible of mountaineering'.

You will never know too much about the versatility of mountaineering and I recommend this book for every climber, hiker or armchair mountaineer.
Over 500 pages filled with clear drawings of techniques and knowledge.

Everything from building a snowcave to using a 'Texan prusik' and rockclimbing technique is covered.
Mountaineering is not just one of these disciplines, it's always a mixture of everything and therefore it is good to have knowledge on all aspects before you head out into the wild, whether it's Denali or that big boulder in the park.

This is the only book around truly covering 'Mountaineering'; it's a classic and if all great mountaineers own a copy and still read it, why shouldn't you?

"Mountaineering, currently in its sixth edition, has stood the test of time. Because it is written and edited by serious climbers, you can feel comfortable in knowing the information is accurate."

"Since receiving the book I have learned more about snow travel, proper self arrest techniques, rock climbing equipment and outdoor leadership methods.

This book is a comprehensive overview of nearly all aspects of climbing and mountaineering, kind of like an undergraduate survey class, and I recommend it as a core part of any climber's reference library. I owned the third edition and recently purchased and read through (cover to cover) the seventh edition. Because the book covers all of climbing from simple one day rock climbs to technical multi-day expeditions in a variety of climates and conditions it cannot go into as much detail as books dedicated to specific aspects or types of climbing. For example, if you are an ice climber you would do well to follow this book up with a book dedicated solely to ice climbing. What this book does provide in an unparalleled format, is a thorough grounding in all basic climbing techniques, basic rescue procedures, elementary first-aid for mountaineering, geology and meteorology basics, and a variety of either useful things that will make anyone a more complete climber.

As a long-time mountain guide, theorist and reader, I can attest to the fact that this really is the Bible of Mountaineering. Combined with Tim Setnika's book Search and Rescue and Chouinard's Climbing Ice, the mountaineer's bookshelf is complete.

I picked up a variety of climbing books while working at Mount Rainier in Washington this summer...one of which was Mountaineering, Freedom of the Hills. It was, hands down, the most informative. You have a question, it has the answer. The graphics are reasonable and understandable. Excellent coverage on ropework.

Not only was it informative, but it was also inspirational. Just reading it made me want to get out there and try out what I was learning. Just remember it's not the book alone that makes you a climber--it's experience and learning from other long-time climbers that makes the book's information REALLY get driven into your head. You can't just read this book and become a climber.