NEW REVIEW: Sicily and Alpine Ice Guidebooks

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 UKC Gear 17 Mar 2009
[Alpine Ice Cover, 3 kb]

Italian publishing company Verstante Sud continue to churn out high quality guidebooks at a steady pace, to both Italy and further a field. The latest pair of books to flop onto my doormat form an interesting juxtaposition, Di Roccia, di Sole (Rock- Sun, Rock Climbing in Sicily) and Alpine Ice – the 600 best ice falls in the Alps. Both are slick products, with loads of topos, stacks of great action pics and plenty of background information.

Author of several guidebooks himself, Chris Craggs gives us his thoughts...



Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/review.php?id=1695
 Chris Craggs Global Crag Moderator 17 Mar 2009
In reply to UKC Gear:

Beat Kammerlander IS soloing in that final shot - amazing!


Chris
 jimtitt 17 Mar 2009
In reply to UKC Gear:

We weren´t too impressed by the new Sicily guide, it is o.k. but could have been better:-

The previous edition split the island into its provinces and colour coded them which meant finding areas was easier.
The printer has got a lot of red ink cheap- the rusty red tone of the whole guide is a bit jarring, especially when it gets into some of the photo´s as well which tend towards dull redness.
The ommision of first ascentionists names and bolt counts for the sport routes is a typically outdated mountaineers idea, especially when some of the routes need up to 18 quickdraws, we always give the bolt count and ascensionist/bolter credit on our topos as does the author of Freeclimbing Sicily when possible.
Listing the areas in the guide clockwise around the island is o.k except when you then list the seperate crags in the area in the reverse order it will be a bit confusing, i.e. the first crag you come to is the last in that section of the guide. This is especially wierd at San Vito lo Capo where there is only one road in anyway which is a dead end!

Still, it is a good,usable guide which hopefully will attract other climbers to the area and maybe the next edition will be even better, this one is already out of date as I´ve done around 20 routes since it was written and plenty more to come over Easter.

Handsome chap on P201 don´t you think!

Jim
 Yanchik 17 Mar 2009
In reply to UKC Gear:

Top marks to the Alpine Ice guidebook: I used my copy this winter.

Note, however, that it is a selective guide, and its selections seemed to me to favour the Italian-speaking/nearby areas. To give concrete examples: the main Oeschinen Valley routes at Kandersteg are covered, but some of the other local classics are not. The La Grave section names I think four or five routes of the 6-10 that IIRC are in that valley. Whereas Cogne and some places in Slovenia seemed to get pretty comprehensive coverage.

This isn't a crit of the book: it's more a caveat emptor. If you're using the book for trip planning, it seems to me to be stronger on some areas than others. And what areas ! There are some bits at the far end of Switzerland that never get a mention on these fora and are clearly dripping with frozen water to hack at....

Overall ? This is the Euro-ice cragging book we've been waiting for. Bravo !

Y

 lithos 17 Mar 2009
In reply to jimtitt:
> (In reply to UKC Gear)

> The printer has got a lot of red ink cheap- the rusty red tone of the whole guide is a bit jarring, especially when it gets into some of the photo´s as well which tend towards dull redness.

have you taken a look at your website? pot meet kettle


> Jim

 David Coley 17 Mar 2009
In reply to jimtitt:
Are there other guides to the island? if so, which is best?
Thanks
 jimtitt 17 Mar 2009
In reply to David Coley:
Only the old CAI one for trad routes which I can´t get hold of! Nearly everything for sport climbing is on http://www.freeclimbinginsicily.it/FCiS/
Jim
 Chris Craggs Global Crag Moderator 19 Mar 2009
In reply to David Coley:

The new Sicily guide has tradio in as well as sportio, I assume it is more up-to-date info too.


Chris

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