2001. 167 pp, ills. The latest gear, techniques and rigging for safe glacier travel and rescue. Paperback, new condition.
Tthe art and science of travelling, climbing, and rescue on glaciers. There are six chapters that dicuss various aspects of glacier survival and climbing skills, including equipment and clothing, glacier features and hazards, rope techniques for travel and rescue (which is called "rigging" ), anchors and anchor systems, and glacier travel techniques and crevasse rescue. In addition, there are three appendices on knots for glacier travel and rescue, the self-arrest (which is about how to stop yourself or a companion from sliding or falling), and mechanical advantage, which is devoted to different pulley systems.
The book is obviously intended for serious climbers and rescue personnel since much of it is fairly technical and detailed. There are so many interesting topics on glacier travel and survival discussed that it's hard to summarize or pick just one as an example, but it was interesting to learn about the pros and cons of different-numbered rope teams. For example, there is always a trade-off between the number of the people in the team, safety, and speed of travel. Two-person teams can travel the fastest but are considered the least safe since if one person falls into a crevasse it's very difficult to effect a rescue. Three-person teams are considered the minimum for safe travel but are slower than two-man teams, and five-man teams are considered the safest but are the slowest. Although considered the minimum for safe travel, for a three-man team, it turns out that it's very difficult to perform a rescue if the middle person falls into a crevasse, whereas if the person on either end falls in it's not as difficult.
Each discipline has its own special terminology and mountaineering is no different. One is the Bilgeri rescue, the Canadian drop-loop systen, how to rescue the middle person, the Prusik knot and single-strand food Prusik, the Garda and mariner's knots, belay systems for low to high force falls, mechanical ascenders and mini-ascenders, firn tubes (an anchor tube that can be driven into the snow, bollards (anchors for snow and ice), pickets (which are just like it sounds and are metal stakes), ice screws, and many others.
The text is well written and there are many illustrations, especially of the many rope, knots, and pulley systems, configurations and techniques which show their application in different situations. This is an excellent book on glaciers for mountaineering which will be mainly of interest to serious climbers and rescue team members.
