Customer Reviews

Walking in the Alps (Travel)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
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This book has a wealth of information on specific trails and specific mountains. It is incredibly detailed, but it lacks any overview. It provides no help on how to choose a trail or select where to go. Nor does it cover what sorts of things you will need on your trip or how to plan it. So unless you know exactly where you want to go hiking and need some specific information on trails in that area, this book is not too helpful.

] The mere words "walking in the alps" conjure images of snowcapped mountains, lakes nestled in valleys, breathtaking scenery and fill the heart with longing to be there. This volume does not transport the reader - it is not an "armchair travel" experience". But it does provide massive amounts of information to the traveler planning a trip.

Planning is the key word. The paperback volume is too bulky (480 pages) to pack to take with you or to comfortably carry, although if you don't mind destroying your book (paperbound), you could easily tear out the sections appropriate for your travel plans.

Coverage is exhaustive in terms of area: from the Alpes Maritime in France to the wooded hills of Vienna, with Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Austria in between.

This book is not for the general tourist or casual walker, but is geared toward a specific audience. The introduction says that "the mountain walker the individual with good general fitness, a modicum of scrambling experience and an eye for the hills, can move far enough and at the right paced ... is the person for whom this book is written."

Since it is written for such a specific audience, I was surprised at some of the omissions. The maps are excellent. Attempts have been made to define the topography of each area. But precise route descriptions are not supplied.

In summary, this is a good, but not stand alone, reference for the serious walker to use in planning a trip.

When buying this book, a person feels will to walk in the Alps. When reading it this will fast becomes in life objective! I really disagree with the affirmation that this book does not serve to choose what to make in the Alps. I covered 3 passages indicated for this great man (Kev Reynolds) in the zone of the Graian Alps, in France, and any one of the passages corresponded to the one that assumes to be. Absolutely incredible! It is a book to read in house even because the bookbinding is, no doubt, the weak part of this magnificent book. The indications concerning the maps to buy and of the difficulty of the hikes are correct.

You read it with a map alongside and you study the map a while - then everything falls into place.

There is nowhere this book cannot take you.

It is a labour of love, written by a man who knows his Alps and knows his onions !

Get stuck in !