Rock Climbing Washington [Paperback]

Jeffrey L. Smoot (Author)

Book Description

Series: Regional Rock Climbing Series | Publication Date: July 1, 1999

With more than 1,500 routes throughout the state, this new edition of Jeff Smoot's popular guide is completely updated and expanded. Explore the granite cliffs of Index, Leavenworth, Darrington, and Tieton River Canyon; tackle the exposed alpine routes on the spires at Washington Pass; hang from steep sport climbs at North Bend, Frenchman Coulee, and Marcus and China Bend near Spokane. Several sport and traditional areas included have never before been covered in a guidebook.

Detailed maps, topos, and photos complement the route descriptions and star ratings to provide climbers with a complete package. Rock Climbing Washington is the perfect book to take on your next climbing tour of the Evergreen State.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

With more than 1,500 routes throughout the state, this new edition of Jeff Smoot's popular guide is completely updated and expanded. Explore the granite cliffs of Index, Leavenworth, Darrington, and Tieton River Canyon; tackle the exposed alpine routes on the spires at Washington Pass; hang from steep sport climbs at North Bend, Frenchman Coulee, and Marcus and China Bend near Spokane. Several sport and traditional areas included have never before been covered in a guidebook Detailed maps, topos, and photos complement the route descriptions and star ratings to provide climbers with a complete package. Rock Climbing Washington is the perfect book to take on your next climbing tour of the Evergreen State.

Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Falcon; 1st edition (July 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560448520
• ISBN-13: 978-1560448525
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,226,329 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Sharp-looking but Shallow, June 23, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Rock Climbing Washington (Paperback)

For those seeking a single book with info on all Washington's major climbing areas, this will have to do. But it describes only the most popular areas, and it gives incomplete coverage for most of them.

Smoot acknowledges that fact in the introduction with no more justification than a need for an updated state-wide guidebook. He also points out that this guide omits easier routes (mostly below 5.10) in favor of "better" climbs. As such, the guide is useful mainly for accomplished climbers who somehow are not already familiar with WA climbs and how to find local guidebooks (which in most cases have better coverage, if less thorough text editing).

There's no coverage of remote or undeveloped areas (particularly in the Olympics). Smoot seems to ignore the conventions other authors are using to describe descent routes and ethical trends at particular areas. As such, it sometimes comes across as dismissive and muddled.

This is a broad, professional guidebook, and it will be very helpful for experienced climbers that are new to Washington. But most of the information is available elsewhere, provided by climbing organizations that are directly involved in conserving local areas. Smoot's guide concentrates income from the book at his publisher (Falcon Books, in Montana). It may also contribute to long waits at popular lines and degradation from overuse. Climbers may want to flip through the book first (it's easily found on special Falcon-only racks at most outdoor shops) before buying it here.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't buy this book, November 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Rock Climbing Washington (Paperback)

Rock Climbing Washington has the worst pictures, many mistakes and is plain useless at best, dangerous at worst as a guide book. I contributed the section on the Potholes climbing area and after see the results I am extremely sorry that I did it. To anyone that wants to climb in the Potholes I will provide descent pictures so you can find the routes. I sent Jeff Smoot extremely crisp black and white photographs and the extremely poor publishing of Falcon press messed them up. If this is the best that Falcon press can do, I plan to never buy one of their guide books. The section on Frenchman's Coulee is just plain inaccurate. Many of the routes are mis-rated or mis-described. It is obvious that Jeff Smoot knows nothing of these areas and has no business "writing" (in truth compiling a guide book from the works of others) a guide book to these areas.

With Regrets for Ever Being Involved Bill Robins

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Poor pictures, poor topos, inaccuracies, bad style, September 28, 2006

By 

Washington State Climber (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rock Climbing Washington (Paperback)

My title pretty much sums it up. An explanation of my "bad style" comment: Smoot compiled (poorly) a bunch of info that he gathered from other guidebooks and local climbers. I don't think he did a lot of personal research, becuase many of his topos are very inaccurate, so I don't think it's fair of him to make a bunch of money from putting out a poor product that relies heavily on other people's work.

I recommend "Weekend Climbs" by David Whitelaw (Mountaineers Press) as an alternative. Although it omits most climbs over 5.10, it has accurate beta, excellent pictures and topos, and covers pretty much all of the rock climbing areas in the state.

BTW, I do not get any money from the sales of Weekend Climbs, I just think it's a better book and D.W. is a cooler guy than J.S.