The Mountaineering Council of Scotland

Issue 8 June 2001

BOOK REVIEWS   Rother Walking Guides Cordee is offering English translations of the world-renowned walking guides from the German publishing group 'Rother'. Translated by British walkers they open up the best-kept secrets of Europe. There are currently eight titles, the most recent being Mallorca, the Swiss Valaise and South Norway. The others are, Sardina, Crete, Provence, Iceland, Mont Blanc and Zugspitze. Eventually, there will be some 60 titles with Madeira, High Tatra, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Tuscanny North, Sicily and the Cote d'Azur due out this year. 'Mallorca' by Rolf Goetz. Published by Rother, Munich. Paperback. 159pp. 82 colour photos, 48 colour maps. ISBN 3-7633-4805-0. buy a copy Having spent more than 8 weeks on holiday in Mallorca, to climb, walk and play with the family, and having used an out-of-date tourist guide, I dived straight into this one to see how it compares. Without doubt, I would have paid the equivalent of the air-fare for a copy of this. Especially on a first visit. The thick woodland, complicated topography and lack of sign posting sometimes makes identifying access points difficult, remedied by this guide. My only observation is that many of the described walks get deep into the true delights of the Serra Tramuntana peaks. However, real gems will be opened up to visitors who use it, including some excellent hidden coves, mountain cafes and restaurants – my particular weaknesses – and I always wondered why there were only German visitors there besides ourselves! Kevin Howett   'West Cornwall' Rock Climbers Guide. Published by The Climbers Club. Plastic Cover. Double Volume: 343pp & 327pp. Colour Plates. ISBN 0-901601-69-1 buy a copy Sun-baked, sea-scoured granite, blue skies and warm breezes – it can only be Cornish climbing in winter. And this idyllic is captured well in this twin volume guide to both the north and south coast, now including the relatively new climbing on The Lizard Point. Excellent crag diagrams from Don Seargant, stunning photography of hard and easy climbs (including some ace shots of climbers trying to be surfers!) and loads of new areas. The tricky issue of ethics, for which the area was the centre of heated debate over the use of bolts on sea cliffs, is handled well, with the traditional adventurous ethic favoured by the majority prevailing. The use of pegs is also rightly condemned as they rust too quickly. This guidebook makes you want to be part of the scene it depicts, for the shear beauty of the climbing, and it may be a long way from Scotland, but its it makes getting there all the easier. Kevin Howett   'North Devon and Cornwall' by David Hope and Brian Wilkinson. Published by The Climbers Club. 2000. Softback. 368pp. 35 colour photos. ISBN 0-901-601-62-4. buy a copy I was chomping at the bit to get hold of this new guide as my formative climbing years were spent here whilst at Exeter University. Unfortunately the dull front cover does nothing to inspire a look inside, but don't let this put you off. Once open the historic tales of daring-do, the descriptions of hidden coves, wacky rock, odd protection needed (ice warthogs!), and cliffs that fall down, will utterly inspire the ardent thrill seeker. The Culm Coast is the true land of adventurous climbing with frightening examples of overhanging scree on which I scared myself silly as a teenager (Buckator, The Cheesgrater Cliff and Henna being prime examples). And it seems there are other folk equally addicted to this fringe activity as the number of new routes available is growing. The guide retains the grade of "Extremely Severe", rather than the expanded E1-E7, which is used to indicate routes of particular horror (my favourites being 'Berlin' at Brownspear Point, and 'Private World' at the awesome Bukator, on which you make your own holds). But it is also home to immaculate crags such as Baggy Point, Pentire Head and Carn Gowla. The crag diagrams and maps from Don Sargeant are excellent. I remember a previous interim guide which described access to one crag by way of the coastal path "until you reach the field of cabbages on the right". By the time we got there the cabbages were being planted elsewhere! But the detour did mean we found some then unclimbed gems such as 'Smoothlands'. On the whole this area is not suitable for people who like their climbing safe but is a veritable Aladdin's cave for explorers. My only disappointment is the continuing use (overuse!) of pegs and their sanction on the more solid rock. Why not describe Blackchurch's 'Savage God, E4' without the need to carry pegs and give it E5 as it was when I did it in 1978? Kevin Howett   'Climbing without Compromise', by Hermann Buhl, complied by Reinhold Messner and Horst Hofler Published by Baton Wicks Publications, 2000 buy a copy "He is already tackling a difficult crack pitch.  'It's much easier off to the side!', I shout to him.  But Hermann is already up it.  I am amazed: Yes, this is the famous Hermann Buhl...." (Kurt Diemburger). This is a real hard nut's climbing book, with very little embellishment of descriptive narrative or character interpretation. It is a book comprised mostly of Hermann Buhl's own diaries and essays, connected by narrative from the two compilers, that charts the great man's short but spectacular climbing career from the Alps to Nanga Parbat and Broad Peak and his untimely death on Chogolisa. It is not an easy book to read, with the diary style itself very succinct and no doubt losing a fair amount of its original strength in translation. For the first half I was sure that only a Hermann Buhl fanatic would actually want to work their way through it, but the incredible stamina and towering will of the man begins to shine through and ends up rather suiting the abrupt, unembellished style. Then again, some letters home speak of a private side, of tender affection towards his wife and small children. In all, a compelling if somewhat stark read and a fitting tribute to an extraordinary man. Richard White Back to Newsletter index

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