Rock Climbing: Essential Skills & Techniques - Libby Peter

...into the mountains, onto the rock faces and climbing. That said, there are 'skills and techniques' that must become second nature, and a clear, well structured reference book is always going to be a useful decoration to a climbers bookshelf.

Libby Peter organises her book very much with the MI and SPA qualifications in mind, with yellowy sections giving techniques for instructors. . .In truth, they are useful skills for all climbers ...
...that often. She is a teacher, and for some reason the book lacks much humor or fun.

The book is not comprehensive in its 225 pages, and the information Peter has decided to impart is mostly the most useful stuff, although sometimes she gets a bit flowery about the environment, history, bouldering, scrambling and 'looking after each other'. In my view this book, stripped to its essentials, is a book that covers rope-work well but that ... more

Mountaineering in the UK is certainly an activity, or as I think of it - a lifestyle, that you learn, not by reading books, but by getting out into the mountains, onto the rock faces and climbing. That said, there are 'skills and techniques' that must become second nature, and a clear, well structured reference book is always going to be a useful decoration to a climbers bookshelf.

Libby Peter organises her book very much with the MI and SPA qualifications in mind, with yellowy sections giving techniques for instructors. . .In truth, they are useful skills for all climbers to know but not ones that will necessarily be used that often. She is a teacher, and for some reason the book lacks much humor or fun.

The book is not comprehensive in its 225 pages, and the information Peter has decided to impart is mostly the most useful stuff, although sometimes she gets a bit flowery about the environment, history, bouldering, scrambling and 'looking after each other'. In my view this book, stripped to its essentials, is a book that covers rope-work well but that has been padded out with some other briefly over-viewed subjects.

The Introduction and Part I are almost all waffle that probably no reference book is without sadly.

Part II is about how to climb and how to train. You don't really need a reference book to tell you this either, which is lucky considering how little information is really in this section. Chapter 6 is a very important one, which explains grades, forces (the stuff that kills you), how to place protection, and a few simple knots and things. This is where the superb diagrams and illustrations begin. Nevertheless, this chapter is alarmingly short, and everyone should go out and buy 'Climbing Anchors' by John Long to make up for it.

Parts III and IV are the main thrust of the book and deal with bouldering, single pitch and multi-pitch climbing. The most important advice is shown diagrammatically, in photos, or bullet pointed in little boxes. I doubt many will read the main text word for word, but of course the purpose of this book ought to be to fill in blanks in your knowledge, not to be read like a novel. These chapters are the most successful in there succinct and clear explanations of everything from what equipment you need, how best to use it, and a few useful ways of getting out of trouble if it all goes wrong.

Parts V and VI are almost useful. The chapter on scrambling is well written, but in my view would have a happier home in the Hill Walking handbook which was Volume 1. The sea-level traversing, gorge scrambling, just like the bouldering section, are fairly unnecessary but cover the subjects briefly enough to be just acceptable. The section on the law, risk management and accidents is probably fascinating but I have never read it. The picture of a helicopter is nice though. Your own common sense will probably serve you well enough.

Of the appendices only the glossary is useful. The list of websites for instance could equally appear by typing 'climbing' or 'mountaineering' into any search engine.

Its a good, quick reference with well presented diagrams that do the explaining well. The text is good too, and easy to dip into, which is what I suggest you do.

If you are new to rock-climbing, climb with someone who knows what they are doing. If you think you know what you are doing, get this book or one like it, maybe you don't know everything. If you want to take the MI or SPA, I guess a mandatory skim through is required. 

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