SF, Sierra Club, 1972, 1st edition. 356 pp, maps, diagrams. Cover a little soiled from use, Near Fine condition.
This may be the most controversial climbing guide in USA history. In 1972, at the height of the backpacking and mountaineering boom, the Sierra Club produced this guidebook. And oddly, its not poorly written nor does it have bad directions. Here is what happened.
The other problem with the guidebook is that the High Sierra has many minor peaks, bumps along a ridge, that are at best are named in the guidebook by their altitude. As there were no unclimbed peaks left in the Sierra in 1972, all the bumps had been climbed, but never recorded in guidebooks.
Many even had cairns. Nevertheless, Andy Smatko and his friends recorded hundreds of their ascents of these nubbins as a ''First Recorded Ascent''. This is okay for Mount Whitney as Indians climbed it centuries ago, but not for every minor peak!
I was climbing in California at the time, and remember the horrible response to this book when it came out. I guess it foretold the eventual separation of the Sierra Club from climbing altogether, as not long afterwards the Club stopped training climbers and leading technical climbing trips.
Fortunately the Sierra Club did correct their mistake by having Steve Roper do his own High Sierra Guidebook, of which we usually have copies. It has everything, all routes on all the peaks, which make it easy to pick the route you want to do. Also all later guidebooks such as the Secor guide and Super Topo Guides are selected books, with only the best of most popular routes listed.
