Alpine Reviews

I was very apprehensive before I skiied for the first time because I was going to be skiing with some excellent athletes (including a former Olympian!). The only book on skiing that was in stock at my local bookstore was "Learn Downhill Skiing in a Weekend" so I purchased it.

The best way to learn how to ski is to take lessons and to actually go out and ski. However, this book was the next best thing. I learned all about how to dress, how to use the equipment, some exercises, slope ettiquette and I read up on what I should be doing once I started down the mountain. The book was a great introduction but should not be used in place of lessons. Please, do yourself a favor and take lessons. The book really isn't a substitute but it is an excellent SUPPLEMENT. My day on the slopes turned out well although I didn't brave the black diamond trails with my friends. I stuck to the bunny slope and an intermediate hill.

This book is aimed at the rank beginner with little to no knowledge of the sport.

I picked this book up after my first ski lesson, but I wish that I had read it BEFORE heading out to the slopes. The book covers all of the basics for getting started with advice on clothing, equipment, and skiing techniques. For example, one of the most difficult hurdles for new skiers is getting used to the somewhat unnatural feel of ski boots. The book provides some invaluable advice for helping new skiers to acclimate to their boots and work on some basic balancing techniques before heading out to the slopes.

The ski techniques presented mirror the types of lessons and skill progression that beginning students will see on the slopes (i.e., patterned after the American Teaching System and Professional Ski Instructor Association methods). In addition, the techniques are nicely illustrated with color photographs that demonstrate proper skiing techniques as well as some common beginner mistakes.

While I wouldn't advise beginners to forego an introductory ski lesson, the book provides just the right amount of material to help you get the most out of your first lesson(s) and get you off to a great start in the exciting sport of alpine skiing!

This is my uncle's book so it has to be good!

A useful guide with great pictures. I recommend it to anyone skiing the backcountry in the norhtwest.

Oregon Descents is the best guide to the area for skiers and boarders. All the classic peak descents are here and a few great stashes too. The aerial photos offer excellent perspective while the route descriptions hold all the info you need to know. This book inspires confidnece - It is obvious the author has actually skied the routes!

The book is extreamly well writen and inspires confidance. I've used the book more than once to organize a backcoutry tele trip with friends and they are always impressed with the routes we take. And the pictures are wonderful.

As a ski instructor for a few years I was recruited to coach a group of kids for ski racing. I new almost nothing about the techniques and tactics for ski racing and found this book to be a big help. It does contain a bit more information than I needed on downhill and super G racing. A great book for anyone interested in racing.

I was in an REI store in Baltimore a few years ago when I stumbled on this book and promptly bought it. I had read a few other similar guides but I was still having difficulty grasping the concept of a proper Giant Slalom turn. Lisa Feinberg Densmore's SKI FASTER clearly and succinctly got the message across. Helpful photos of the "wrong" way as well as the "right" way really gave me an understanding of what I should be striving for. Although I have a long way to go, this nifty tome has helped me shave significant seconds off my recreational race league times. I have only one request. Lisa, when are you going to put it all on video? I've searched the web looking for an instructional video for recreational GS racers and none exist! With your broadcast background, you'd be a natural to produce one. As my club's racing captain, I an assure you there is a market out there!

Pat Moore
Race Captain
Mt. Laurel Skiers
www.mtlski.com
New Britain, CT

I'm new to ski racing and was searching for books about it. There's not much out there. I found this book, it was exactly what I was looking for. The author touches just about every topic in ski racing. I think this book is geared toward the beginner and intermidiate racer, although advanced racers could probably use it as a reference for racing techniques. Bottom line, it helped me ski better,and faster!

Few mountaneering authors can match Reinhold's ability to describe his own experience and state of mind. Part of this ability must be attributed to his native tongue German, where deep and emotional narratives must be especially long and precise due to the inherent form of the language. But for me this translates to English especially well and I understood (as best as one can understand another's world) all the different emotional states Messner experienced with a rare clarity.

Some may find relating to Messner a bit of a stretch and even be dismissive of his romanticism and general intensity. Personally I can very much relate to his personality and I found insights into his inner nature an invaluable look into someone who has explored the human spirit way beyond what many of us will know. He was, after all, the first to climb Everest solo and completely unassisted from base camp. This is a feat that is becoming harder to repeat due to the increasing popularity of climbing Everest and other 8000m peaks.

The book is essentially a series of excerpts from his most notable climbs (and previous writings), usually with a short abridgement to link each story together. Overall the book Reinhold seems to be using it as a vehicle to not only explain himself put also push his mountaneering philosophy (which I tend to agree with on most points). There is also the occasional excerpt from the diary of his basecamp companions that set the scene nicely (but also seem to make the object of some feminine hero worship at times!)

Absolutely worthwhile read, especially if you want an overview of Messner's major achievements. If you want the detail read the original books of each climb.

In "To The Top of the World", Reinhold Messner not only solidifies his legend as a pioneering mountaineer, he also succedes in translating his innermost feelings and thoughts into words. Messner's tales of his climbing exploits are interspersed with expression of his deep-seated fears and struggles to find meaning in life and death. Messner has clearly been affected by the death of his brother Gunther, and the reader gets the sense that Messner climbs these mountains to exact revenge on the mountains, and himself for his brother's death. Messner himself is constantly drawing the reader into the depths of the human soul on the brink of death. The details of the climbs are broken by the ever-present underlying theme of the profound relationship between mountaineering and life and death. Messner's eloquence and ability to draw on the reader's emotion is sensational. The frequent photographic images, although welcome, almost detract from the spiritual nature of the book. Messner gives the reader the ability to feel the climb and experience the elation and despair that is Himalayan climbing. The one fault I find is in the slick omission of details of his relationship with Nena Holguin. We move from a married Messner, to a single, loving Messner without even a segue in the form of an explanation. Nevertheless, the book is a fabulous read, and a great accomplishment by the prolific Mr. Messner. It is painfully clear that in high altitude mountain climbing, longevity may indeed be decided by fates out of our control, and Mr. Messner is the master of his domain.
Anthony M. Frasca,M.D.

Mr. Messner climbed Mt. Everest solo and without oxygen. On the way he fell into a crevasse and was doomed. Praying and promising God he would go down the mountain, he jumped to a ice shelf not knowing whether it would hold or not. It held and he continued up Everest to the summit. This is just one example of this man's extension of himself beyond all limits expected of mortal man. He was lucky this time, but as he describes in the book, luck was not all on his side. A must read for anyone interested in mountaineering or adventure. Mr. Messner is indeed the greatest mountaineer who ever lived.

Throughout ten years of hiking the ALW, I have relied on this title for information about trails that I would otherwise not have found. (For that matter, tens of thousands of visitors a year could say the same thing.) --Denis Du Bois, webmaster, Base Camp (the Northwest Hiker's Site

i mean why do my friends keep stealing these spring and manning books from me cause their the best thats why these books are the bibles of hiking in washington state

This is basically a technical book for instructors, BUT, a handicapped skier can benefit by reading the section that pertains basically to their situation. Also it is a confidence builder to know there are people out there who really know their stuff and are not just there for the Buck$.

This is a fantastic, all-inclusive how-to for the ski instructor looking to learn ski instruction for people with physical difficulties. O'Leary is legendary for his program at Winter Park, and this book shows why.

Naturalist and award-winning author Jean Craighead George offers children a smoothly written account of the wildlife, both big and small, which inhabits the alpine tundra of Wyoming. The talents that won her the Newbery Medal for JULIE OF THE WOLVES and have helped her write nearly one hundred other marvelous environmental stories for young readers swing into action. On a mountaintop in the Teton Mountains, a great rock stands regally above the almost treeless landscape, and it is about to fall. A wide variety of rodents, birds, and mammals go about their daily business, unaware of the avalanche that will soon take place. Water pipits hop like sparrows across the ground; a sleepy marmot begins his time of hibernation; a golden eagle scans his kingdom, searching for prey. And a stranger to the area, a boy named Johnny, wakes up in his tent. This quiet story, which turns exciting when the rock tips, is a fascinating look into a unique environment. The human character in the story never manages to take over, as sometimes happens in some of Ms. George's other books. The accurate, interesting writing is reminiscent of Ms. George's earlier series about specific ecosystems, like the Thirteen Moons series, about the seasonal changes that take place with thirteen animals in thirteen environments. These books are now out-of-print, but one gets the same sense of fascination and new understanding of the animal world through the One Day series (you can find my review of the Thirteen Moons series by searching for the book THE MOON OF THE OWLS). The other books in the ONE DAY series are: ONE DAY IN THE. . .PRAIRIE, DESERT, TROPICAL RAIN FOREST, and WOODS. Jean Craighead George's dramatic words are also strengthened by Walter Gaffney-Kessell's expressive illustrations. Come to a whole new land with this fine, short but thourough investigation into one of nature's greatest landscapes.

This nonfiction book is presented very well to its readers because the author, Jean George, spent many hours observing the animals and plants in the tundra. As a naturalist and an animal lover, George gives an excellent idea of how life would be in the Alpines. Because of the short chapters, it's easy for the younger readers to follow along with. Also, unfamiliar words are defined within the reading as well. The book describes the effects on wildlife, trees, and plants due to the climate and geological disasters, which occur in the tundra. This makes for a very informative book, which is also filled with excellent reference aids. These include the complete Bibliography of books about animals that were used to create this particular book. This helps establish credibility for the author. Also, a very helpful index is available at the end of the work as well.

The book also contains excellent illustrations. The pictures convey a vivid image of the lifestyle of the seven specific mammals that are fit to inhabit this area of land. The pictures clarify themselves without any needed captions to explain them. The cover of the book is very enticing to children because of the animals and the mountaintop landscape that are displayed on the front. It is a very attractive book that is sure to be enjoyed by its readers, both young and old.

When using this in the classroom, encourage the students to draw their own pictures to help explain what life would be like on the tundra. They can include plants and animals to show the interrelationship of each one upon the other after reading the book.

As a 'student' of the High Sierra, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it for anyone with a love for the precious Sierra Nevada. Its only shortcoming (is it a shortcoming?) is that for anyone with little to no previous understanding of geologic processes, biology, botany, et al, they may feel slightly lost at times. Mr. Gilligan rarely gives a background to the process, event, or adaptation he is about to describe. Those who have studied the aforementioned subjects will appreciate that the author delves straight into a subject without prefacing it with general background.

A must for the collector of Sierra Nevada books.

Mr. Gilligan brings the reader as close to "The Range of Light" as one can get without being immersed in it. He is quite unapologetic for his subjective approach in studying the ecology of the Alpine Sierra Nevada, and rightfully so. The reverence for which Mr. Gilligan has for these mountains assists the reader in transcending the boredom of science into the exciting realm of the personal and graspable.

From landscape geography to the intricate workings of geological activity, Mr. Gilligan brings scientific concepts to the laypersons realm. If you want a book that brings both the forest and the trees to your doorstep, this is it. The only real drawback to this book is the sense of burning desire it leaves, which can only be extinguished by breathing the Sierra Nevada Alpine Air. Then, and only then, will the understanding that Mr. Gilligan has impartd to his reader be fully appreciated.

David Gilligan says it best, "Whether the Hindu and Buddhist ressurectionists have had it wrong or right all this time, I can conceive of no other way of living this precious life than as if it were the first and last time I will have to kiss the bones of the earth, shaken upward in a stone embrace with the alpine sky." I'm coming Heckle-Me Fiddle!!!

It is well established that stretching improves agility and quickness of skiers. Resistance exercises strengthen the muscles, but they also shorten them. Stretching makes muscles longer again. This leads to flexibility (greater range of motion in the joints) which allows to get the most out of your training program and helps to ski longer, in better control, with less fatigue. Many books in the past emphasized primarily physical training during off-season period. In the last few years, flexibility and stretches got increasingly large attention. This book is entirely focused on stretches. It contains a well-illustrated 10-20 minute warm-up and stretching routine, and several additional excersises to improve balance. The exercises are very easy, and can be done, e.g., in the morning before work. They help to wake up and to feel better. Additionally, there is a section on warm-up and stretches recommended for the slopes before skiing (partly with the skis on), and a few exercises on skis to improve balance.

The authors emphasize that it is important to do these stretches every day since the result will be nil if you do them irregularly. However, it is not quite clear what kind of progress you can expect if you do them every day. While I appreciate the importance of stretches, I strongly suspect that the result may be rather insignificant if you do these routines every day, but nothing besides them. Stretches obviously work best when they are combined with more vigorous exercise program, such as strength training or aerobics. It is a pity that this book includes very few of those - if it did, it could be an indispensable source for pre-season conditioning. The good part, however, that practically all suggested exercises can be done at home on the floor or standing against the wall, with the equipment which can be purchased at a local harware store, or with no equipment at all.

The subtitle of the book (see the bottom of the book cover) is misleading as it says "flexibility, fitness, and conditioning for better skiing". Flexibility is definitely there, and is very well written; fitness and conditioning - sorry, guys, I did not see much of it in the book. Four stars.

I'm a personal trainer working in a New York City gym and when a client of mine wanted some exercises for his favorite sport, I did a search and found this book. It has been excellent. All I needed to tailor a program for him, and even exercises he can do on the mountain in full gear. Clear, honest and effective. I highly recommend it.

The author evidently went everywhere and skied every piste. He meticulously records all the useful information (including piste maps) and writes a little description of each resort. This is a bible for those of us who live in Japan and are keen skiers.

I wish they would publish an updated version as things have moved on a bit now.

T.R. Reid was/is a foreign correspondent for The Washington Post based in Tokyo and is talked into going on a ski vacation. This is the beginning of an adventure and after much research we have his new book. There are about 500 ski resorts in Japan and many of them are small by international standards. Reid gives an interesting historical oversight of the Japanese ski industry and the internal politics today as well as normal travel information. It is well worth reading even if you are not planning a visit.