L. W. Currey, Inc.

MEYERS, GEORGE and DON REID. Yosemite climbs [by] George Meyers & Don Reid. [Denver, Colorado]: Chockstone Press, 1987. 22.8x15.4 cm, pp. [1-8] [1] 2-433 [434-439: maps] [440: blank], largely profiles and illustrations, original pictorial wrappers printed in green and purple. Third edition, revised and enlarged. A revised and considerably enlarged edition of the standard climbing guide for Yosemite Valley, written by an accomplished climber who spent the 1970s as a Yosemite Valley regular. Symbols for each route indicate belay stations, the difficulty of each pitch, what sort of hardware might be needed, and other information. Concise, excellent introduction, including "Staying Alive," pages 4-16, and "Climbing History," pages 17-35. The first edition, Yosemite climbs: topographical drawings of the best rockclimbing routes in Yosemite Valley, compiled solely by Meyers, published circa 1976, provided diagrams of 350 Yosemite Valley climbs chosen "on the basis of their beauty, quality, difficulty, and popularity" (author's preface). A revised version by Meyers and Merrill Ann Wilson, Yosemite climbs: a rock climbing guide to Yosemite Valley was published in Denver, Colorado, by Chockstone Press in 1982. For the third revised and expanded edition Don Reid becomes the coauthor. "The eleven years since the first edition of this guide has seen fervent activity by those seemingly intent on making the job of guidebook writers an endless one. Fortunately, the addition of Don Reid has improved the accuracy of the guide immeasurably. As in the previous books, a number of Yosemite's climbs have been excluded, mostly pre-1970 in origin and of dubious interest to contemporary climbers. The 1971 Climber's Guide to Yosemite Valley, written by Steve Roper and published by the Sierra Club, is a valuable archive of information for these routes" (authors' preface). Meyers also compiled Yosemite climber (1979), a collection of essays on big-wall climbing in Yosemite with numerous striking illustrations, many in color. A very good copy. Cataloguing this book brings back fond memories of climbing in Yosemite Valley in the early 1960s with fellow members of the rock climbing section of the Sierra Club's Loma Prieta chapter. (#166236).