American Rock: Region, Rock, and Culture in American Climbing

by Don Mellor

Book Overview

The elite sport of rock climbing continues to evolve at lightning speed as techniques and technology improve, opening up hundreds of new routes each year. In this thoughtful overview, Don Mellor reveals how the sport has developed in a dozen climbing hotspots across the country in direct response to the characteristics of local rock and the eccentricities of regional culture: Shawangunk conglomerate provides hundreds of climbs marked by positive handholds...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0881504289
• ISBN13: 9780881504286
• Release Date: September 2001
• Publisher: Countryman Press
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Grand Adventure and Balanced Perspectives

Why have I not encountered Mellor's wring before? Where the hell have I been? He has written two other books, is the resident climbing expert on gorp.com and has been an active participant in the sport for decades. His style sets a high standard for reflective, artful consideration of often contentious problems.This is no dry tome, however: Mellor's book is a true adventure. Here's a grand tour of many of the premiere climbing destinations in this country. He celebrates both the majestic and the more humble arenas. The book is informative and insightful. His writing is clear and consise, exhibiting a tasteful balance between the sociological and the athletic, the academic and the pragmatic. American Rock imparts a fresh perspective on the issues surrounding ethics and access, as well as the responsibilities climbers carry toward the resource and other users with both common and conflicting interests. Geology is not neglected here, but that information is available in a hundred other places. This book's strength is in its study of the key players and the milieu in which each of the areas presented developed historically and how they are being transformed presently. Much food for thought.This is both a great reference for the traveling climber, and a thoughtful plea for sanity. His love and reverence of the medium and the sport are apparent throughout.