Customer Reviews

Yosemite Climbs: Free Climbs

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The most important function of any climbing guide book (in my opinion) is getting you to your selected route. Great topos are vital, but if you can never find the route...what does it matter. Don Reid is a master at both getting you there and great topo beta. Even if it is your first time in the Valley, the book gives such great directions you would be hard pressed to get lost. And, as always, Don is a master topo "artist". Don't accept any cheap substitutes, this is the book to have.

The Falcon Guide to Yosemite Free Climbs covers an enormous number of climbs. And there are an enormous number of climbs in Yosemite Valley. But it doesn't cover any of them in very much detail. I had difficulty using this book to find my climbs, and I noticed that the Supertopo book gave much more detailed information. However, the Supertopo book was limited to the more popular climbs only.

But having already purchased the Falcon Guide on Amazon, I was stuck with it. I discovered that by using the free driving and hiking maps provided by the park service, I was able to fill in most of the missing gaps. It turns out this book will tell you, for example, which way to walk from the Church Bowl parking lot to the climbing wall, but it won't tell you where the parking lot is. Or in other words, it assumes you already know your way around the Valley.

That said, the climbing walls are so huge, and the park service maps good enough, that this book is adequate for a first timer, though not ideal. Once you have your bearings, the route-finding beta is pretty good. The photos of the walls are very useful. And although it seemed like the written directions were missing detail, they were accurate.

If you are coming from out-of-state to spend a week or two in Yosemite and plan to stay on the trade routes only (like we were), then you would probably be better served with the Supertopo guide. On the other hand, if you live near Yosemite or visit often enough to venture beyond the most popular climbs, then the Falcon Guide would be the better of the 2 books.