Customer Reviews

Yosemite Big Walls : SuperTopos

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I just read Super Topos cover to cover and can highly recommend it to any climber. It is a beautifull and detailed guidebook to Yosemite's big walls. It has a mix of very detailed topo on the classic big walls of the valley and stories of first ascents. I am not a big wall climber but enjoyed the stories and would love to learn the tricks and trades of big wall climbing. The upcomming website will support and update the book regularly. The site is located at Supertopos.com. Go and visit the site before you get the book and check out the sample pages. Buy this book and dream and climb your heart out!

Chris has provided us with a long-awaited update to the classic Big Walls guidebook that has been the staple for many years. His new book shows up-to-date topos of just about every route you may consider doing in the valley (I would only wish for a few more). One of the things I like best is that he compares the difficulty of each route to other similar climbs so one can finally compare a VI 5.9 A3+ with another! This book is the definitive source for Valley wall climbing and I loved reading the first ascent stories - some of which had never been told in writing before.

Quite obviously [the brother of] a genius wrote this book. It has everything you need to know about climbing "Big Walls" in this park by the name of "Yosemite". Now I'm what you call an "armchair climber," but golly, this book has neat-o pictures and rollicking funny stories so that even I can enjoy it. There is some history in there as well. Whether you have an interest in climbing or it's your first time climbing and you're wondering what kind of rack you should bring to Wyoming Sheep Ranch, buy this book. The only flaw I can find is the omission of the tremendous impact a younger sibling had on the author's life.

This is simply the best, most up-to-date Big Walls guidebook for Yosemite Valley. If you plan on climbing a wall in Yosemite, you must own this book!

This book sets new standards for climbing guides. The production values are superb, and the information contained detailed and informative. If you're even thinking of climbing a big wall in Yosemite, buy this book. If you're a guidebook author, or thinking of becoming one, buy this and imitate it.

This is hands down the best climbing guide I have ever purchased. Not only does McNamara replace the ambiguous beta from past books with straight-up ratings and tips, he also provides entertaining history and profiles to get you psyched. I also recommend "The Road to The Nose" book that Chris sells on his site ...

This is a great source for Yosemite Big Walls. It provides valuable information including strategies, ratings with relative comparisons to other big wall routes, approaches, precise topos, optimum belays and bivy locations, pitch-linking possibilities, weather/seasonal factors, and descent routes. For those interested in Yosemite Big Wall history, there is a section devoted to the pioneers of Yosemite Big Wall climbing that is quite interesting. All in all, a great book for Yosemite's Big Walls. Thumbs up!!

This book should be inspirational for any serious rock-climber, as it contains the accounts of some of the greatest pioneering rock climbers of the twentieth century--Jimmie Dunn, Jim "the Bird" Bridwell, Royal Robbins and others. Each section begins with an account of the "First Ascent". It is a fascinating and revelatory book, and gives details of the difficulties into which these hardened and determined climbers ran on their way to establishing historic routes over some of the toughest rock faces in North America.

Yosemite's best in painstaking detail -- a truly outstnading resource !

These topos are the best on the planet!

They are so detailed they allowed me to relive most of the hard or akward sections on the wall, occasionally even describing a single move. With the supertopos you can be ultimately prepared, as they include to what extent "clean routes" depend on fixed gear and what to bring if some of it rips out.

Real wall-rats/purists might feel that it removes some of the adventure, but then again you don't have to read everything and there is still plenty adventure left. Also the stories of the first ascents and histories of the climbs make it the ultimate guide, and even a good read.

Reading it got me so psyched up that I can hardly wait for my next "Big Wall" trip.

I can only hope that the other supertopos (e.g. free climbs) will be just as good.