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Dave Bingham has updated his popular guide to Castle Rocks Idaho. The new guide has the same physical dimensions as the last guide. However, the cover photo is new and the font used is more aggro.

Of course who cares what it looks like, the real question is “will it get me to the latest and greatest climbs?.” The answer is yes, the guide has grown from 95 pages to 120 pages that covers 190 new routes bringing the total routes described to 340!
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The Villain a Portrait of Don Whillans

For those of you who may be interested in climbing history, especially that of the famous gritstone crags of England then The Villain a Portrait of Don Whillans by Jim Perrin is the book for you. The book portrays the life of Don Whillans, a climber who pioneered many of the leading edge climbs of his day. Whillans was also a mountaineer who includes the first ascent of Annapurna’s South Face on his resume.

The book doesn’t mince words. Perrin does a great job telling it how it was. Whillans was both a hero and a villain. Upon reading, you will find that in the end who he was truly a villain to. Some accounts are inspirational, others are hilarious, and yet others are truly sad.

One of the cool things about this book is the footnotes. Perrin elaborates on topics in the footnotes where it would otherwise make the regular dialog to verbose. I found them as much fun to read as the regular text.

I found the first part of the book the best, when Whillans was kicking trash on the gritstone. Even so, the whole book was a solid read.

Climbing Free, My Life in the Vertical World

Though Climbing Free, My Life in the Vertical World by Lynn Hill and about herself is a few years old I just picked it up and read it. It was an enjoyable read, I especially liked the first part of the book where Hill tells her stories of the early days in Josh and Yosemite. It is alway fun to hear about the legends of Yosemite.

I was also astounded at the many other things Hill has accomplished: school, track, gymnastics, Survival of the Fittest, etc. Lynn Hill is truly a remarkable person with tenacity to stick to things ranging from climbing all the way to ethics (not specifically climbing ethics).

Hill recounts how her talent for climbing has provided her means to travel the world and visit places from Kyrgyzstan to the World Cup podium. She even came to Idaho!

If you are looking for a new book to read, pick this one up.