Gunks Routes

Describes 1,200 Shawangunk routes in this area 90 miles north of New York City.

A collection of the author's favorite twenty adventure stories from the last eleven years

Two mountain guides who have climbed extensively in the region share their A-list picks. Coverage includes rock, alpine, and ice routes from the Gunks to Acadia.

"...an excellent resource for anyone interested in the history and psychology of free soloing." -- Steve Potter ― Climbing Magazine An insider’s perspective on free soloing From the author of the critically acclaimed Hangdog Days Examines what motivates people to climb without a rope Once considered a fringe activity, climbing without a rope has entered the mainstream consciousness, largely because of the Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo featuring professional climber Alex Honnold. Yet climbers have been free soloing all along—motivated by reasons as varied as the climbers themselves. All and Nothing delves into the cultural history of free soloing, ranging across the storied climbing cultures of the Alps, Rocky Mountains, Sierra Nevada, Joshua Tree, Yosemite, the Gunks, Eldorado Canyon, and several other locales. Writer and climber Jeff Smoot explores the interplay of climbing and risk, as well as psychological theories, evolving ethics, the effect of media coverage (particularly the portrayal of extreme sports), and shares original interviews with dozens of free soloists. Smoot also recounts his personal experiences climbing without a rope in the same era as talented climbers like Mark Twight and Peter Croft. From inside his complex connection to free soloing, he examines our relationship with risk, how we perceive our sense of control, and our perspective on mortality.

First published in 1993 and hailed as a classic, Yankee Rock & Ice is now reissued in a new edition with four new chapters covering the 1990s through today to bring the book up to date. This comprehensive and entertaining history of roped rock and ice climbing in the Northeast traces the growth of this popular sport in New England and New York and covers the first trailblazers of the eighteenth century through today’s events and personalities. Well-known mountaineers and preservationists, Guy and Laura Waterman have explored every corner of the mountains of New England and New York and done solid historical research on first ascents of classic routes and the climbers who have made them legendary. Climber Michael Wejchert joins Laura for the work on the second edition.

David Chaundy-Smart took it as a compliment when his high school vice-principal told him he was wasting his youth by climbing. Here, he tells the story of how he and his brother, Reg, spent the last years of the 1970s fighting suburban boredom to become, in the words of renowned climbing historian Chic Scott, “one of the leading figures in Ontario rock climbing throughout the 1980s.” With its vivid accounts of short and nasty climbs, dubious mentors, hapless climbing partners, teenage crushes, bad cars, underage drinking and questionable climbing techniques, this is a memoir of coming of age in a simpler era of climbing, told with compassion, humour and insight.