Chessler's 100 Best Books

The following is Michael Chessler's list of the best mountaineering books, based on several different factors including quality of the writing, importance of the climbs, reputation of the author, quality of the photos or printing, influence on other climbers, etc.

The list was compiled as a popularity contest (most of these are books that get most frequently requested at Chessler Books) and by asking several well-read customers for their favorites.

Barker. The Last Blue Mountain

Bass. Seven Summits

Bates. Five Miles High

Bauer. Himalayan Challenge

Beckey. Challenge of the North Cascades

Benuzzi. No Picnic on Mount Kenya

Blum. Annapurna: A Woman's Place

Boardman. The Shining Mountain

Bonatti. On The Heights

Bonington. Annapurna South Face

Bowman. The Ascent of Rum Doodle

Brown. The Hard Years

Bruce. Twenty Years in the Himalaya

Buhl. Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage

Burdsall. Men Against The Clouds

Chouinard. Climbing Ice

Clinch. A Walk in the Sky

Coleman. Canadian Rockies, New and Old Trails

Collie. Climbing on the Himalaya

Cunningham & Abney. The Pioneers of the Alps

Davidson. Minus 148

Diemberger. Summits and Secrets

Du Faur. The Conquest of Mount Cook

Dunn. The Shameless Diary of an Explorer

Eckenstein. Karakoram and Kashmir

Ferlet. Aconcagua South Face

Filippi. Karakoram and Western Himalaya

Fitzgerald. The Highest Andes

Forbes. Travels Through the Alps of Savoy

Freshfield. The Exploration of the Caucasus

Gillman. Everest

Gillman. Eiger Direct or Direttissima

Greig. Summit Fever

Harding. Downward Bound

Harper. Pioneer Work in the Alps of New Zealand

Harrer. The White Spider

Hauser. White Mountain and Tawny Plain

Heckel. Climbing in the Caucasus

Heim & Gansser. The Throne of the Gods

Herzog. Annapurna

Hillary. From the Ocean to The Sky

Hornbein. Everest The West Ridge

Houston & Bates. K2 The Savage Mountain

Jones. Climbing in North America

King. Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada

Kinzl & Schneider. Cordillera Huayhuash

Kinzl & Schneider. Cordillera Blanca

Klucker. The Adventures of An Alpine Guide

Krakauer. Into Thin Air

Kugy. Alpine Pilgrimage

Languepin. To Kiss High Heaven

Lukan. The Alps and Alpinism

MacInnes. Climb to the Lost World

Manning. Mountaineering, The Freedom of the Hills

Maraini. Karakoram

McLewin. In Monte Viso's Horizon

Messner. All Fourteen Eight-Thousanders

Messner. Solo Nanga Parbat

Miller & Manning. The North Cascades

Moravec. The Big Book of Mountaineering

Muir. The Mountains of California

Muir. My First Summer in the Sierra

Mummery. My Climbs in the Alps and Caucasus

Murray. Mountaineering in Scotland

Murray. The Scottish Himalayan Expedition

Newby. A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush

Norman-Neruda. The Climbs of Norman-Neruda

Norton. The Fight For Everest 1924

Noyce. Climbing the Fishes Tail

Noyce. South Col

Patey. One Man's Mountains

Pause. Extreme Alpine Rock

Pilley. Climbing Days

Radcliffe. Land of Mountains: New Zealand

Rebuffat. Mont Blanc: The 100 Finest Routes

Rebuffat. Starlight and Storm

Ridgeway. The Last Step

Roberts. The Mountain of My Fear

Roper & Steck. Fifty Classic Climbs of North America

Rowell. In The Throne Room of the Mountain Gods

Rowell. The Vertical World of Yosemite

Salter. Solo Faces

Sayre. Four Against Everest

Scott. Big Wall Climbing

Shipton. Blank on the Map

Shipton. Nanda Devi

Simpson. Touching the Void

Smythe. Camp Six

Smythe. Climbs and Ski Runs

Steinitzer. Der Alpinismus in Bildern

Stephen. The Playground of Europe

Stuck. The Ascent of Denali

Tasker. The Savage Arena

Terray. Conquistadors of the Useless

Thorington. The Glittering Mountains of Canada

Tilman. The Ascent of Nanda Devi

Tilman. Snow on the Equator

Waller. The Everlasting Hills

Whymper. Scrambles Amongst The Alps

Whymper. Travels Amongst the Great Andes of the Equator

Wills. Wanderings Among the High Alps

Yoshizawa. Mountaineering Maps of the World. 2 Vols

Young. Mountaincraft



Best Climbing Guidebooks

Criteria include "classics", importance to an area's history, best efforts from homegrown writers, humor, early use of the Yosemite Decimal System, topo charts or other innovation, controversy, or if they made some other mark on guidebook history.

Alaska

Arizona

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Illinois

Massachusetts

Minnesota

New Hampshire

New York

North Carolina

Oregon

South Dakota

Washington

Wisconsin

Wyoming

Regional

U.S

Canada

Best Mountain Photo Books

Atkeson. Northwest Heritage: The Cascade Range

Bini. Cervino e le sue Guide

Bonatti. Magic of Mont Blanc

Bonatti. Patagonia

Bonington. Chris Bonington Mountaineer

Burkhardt. Alp-Alpes-Alpen

Buscaini. Patagonia: Dreamland for Climbers and Tourists

Dumler. The High Mountains of the Alps

Edlinger. Rock Games

Fujita. Karakoram

Fujita. Himalaya

Fujita. The Alps

Garden. Bugaboos

Garden. Selkirks

Kazami. Premier Peaks of the World

Kruckenhauser. Snow Canvas

Morse. Mountains of Canada

Morse. Canada The Mountains

Ohmori. Over the Himalaya

Perren. Matterhorn

Reader. Kilimanjaro

Reader. Mt Kenya

Schmithals. Die Alpen, The Alps

Scott. Himalayan Climber

Shirahata. Nepal Himalaya

Shirahata. Karakoram

Shirahata. The Alps

Sicouri. Forbidden Mountains

Uchida. The Himalayas: The 14 Leading Peaks and other Giants

Washburn. Mt McKinley: The Conquest of Denali



Mountaineering Book Reference Books

Alpine Club. Catalogue of the Library

Arctic Bibliography

Baume. Sivalaya

Bent. A Bibliography of the White Mountains

Brown. The First Ascent of Mont Blanc

Coolidge. Swiss Travel and Swiss Guide-Books

Kimes. John Muir: A Reading Bibliography

Mathews. Annals of Mont Blanc

Meckly. Mont Blanc The Early Years

Neate. Mountaineering Literature

Neate. Mountaineering and Its Literature

Neate. Mountaineering in the Andes

Neate. High Asia

Salkeld & Boyle. Climbing Mount Everest

Spence. Antarctic Miscellany

Unsworth. Everest

Yakushi. Catalog of the Himalayan Literature



Journals

American Alpine Journal

Alpine Journal

Ascent

Canadian Alpine Journal

Climbing Magazine

Himalayan Journal

Mountain World 1946-1969

Mountain Magazine

Rock and Ice Magazine

Vulgarian Digest [Set the tone for underground books and magazines]



8000 Meter Peaks and Their Principal Books

Everest (8848 m; 29028 ft)

K2 (8611 m; 28250 ft)

Kangchenjunga (8586 m; 28169 ft)

Lhotse (8516 m; 27940 ft)

Makalu (8463 m; 27766 ft)

Dhaulagiri (8167 m; 26795 ft)

Manaslu (8163 m; 26781 ft)

Cho Oyu (8201 m; 26906 ft)

Nanga Parbat (8125 m; 26660 ft)

Annapurna (8091 m; 26545 ft)

Gasherbrum I (8068 m; 26470 ft)

Broad Peak (8047 m; 26400 ft)

Shisha Pangma (8046 m; 26397 ft)

Gasherbrum II (8035 m; 26360 ft)

Last updated: April 2, 2001