The Mountaineering Handbook: Modern Tools and Techniques That Will Take You to the Top Paperback - 2004 - 1st Edition

First line

Mountaineering means more than climbing mountains.

From the rear cover

Modern Mountaineering on Alpine Rock, Snow, and Ice

If your experience as a backpacker or rock climber is drawing you higher; if the cold, remote alpine environment calls you nearer, this book is for you. The Mountaineering Handbook will teach you the skills that will take you to the top. Even if you're already an experienced mountaineer, you'll find detailed descriptions of the newest and most effective techniques to refine and organize your methods and equipment. The Mountaineering Handbook isn't mired in outdated traditionalism; its new-school techniques are safer, more effective, and more fun for mountaineers at every level. With constant emphasis on light, fast, and efficient mountaineering, Craig Connally shows you how to:

• Move quickly up and down rock, snow, and ice with appropriate safety systems
Manage mountain hazards, including rockfall, avalanche, lightning, and high-altitude illness
• Select the best equipment for your personal style and objectives
Maintain sound nutrition and training according to the most up-to-date science
• Understand the human factors of mountaineering--the social and psychological forces that influence critical decisions

Connally's passion for mountaineering is evident in his writing--The Mountaineering Handbook is clever, insightful, and entertaining. He intends to move mountaineering into the twenty-first century, but he's also determined to turn the traditional how-to book on its ear by injecting personality, humor, and thoughtfulness into every page.

"Backpackers venture into the wilderness to see a little farther, but mountaineers describe their adventures as means of looking more closely into their own selves--to see a little deeper. Climbing mountains compels introspection because every detail--from the smallest to the most ominous--must be constantly attended to. That's both exhausting and exhilarating. Exhilarating, because the criteria for success are absolute and absolutely objective--they are chosen by the mountain, not by the mountaineer, and every person is equal when judged by mountains. Success requires mountaineers to appraise their own physical and mental capacities and to know, or discover, the extent of their reserves of competence, commitment, and courage. Mountaineering does not build character so much as it reveals it."--from The Mountaineering Handbook

Craig Connally puts many years of mountaineering, ski mountaineering, and climbing rock and ice into his engaging writing. More importantly, he has applied his advanced degrees in science and his career as an engineering manager to sort out and explain what works and what doesn't in the mountains.