Wasdale Climbing Book By Michael Cocker / Cumbria Reading Detectives

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Wasdale Climbing Book By Michael Cocker Find!

Having identified myself as a climbing widow (only joking, Mike!), this book was always going to interest my husband but I did think before reading it that I might find it hard work! I'm glad to say I didn't, here's why~

As Michael Cocker says in the first sentence, the book is unusual in that it is a fusion of both 'historical and contemporary contributrions'. Such a marriage could be awkward but although I found the 148 facsimilie pages taken from the original Wasdale Climbing Book (1863-1919) fascinating, without the extensive succeeding commentary by Michael Cocker, I would in most probablitity have struggled to read all the entries. Indeed if ever there was a book to dip into this is it. Look at the entries for climbing routes on one crag at a time, say, rather than start at the very first entry and wade your way through all the entries in order until you come to the last! In other words, treat the book as a climbing guide even if you're not attempting any routes yourself.

I found probably the most interesting part of the book the story behind the recovery of the original Climbing Book as related by the author in his introduction but of equal interest to me as a frequenter of the fells, and as a geographer, are the sketches of the crags with the routes picked out on them and the superb black and white photographs.

This may be a book for the true Crag Rat but it also gives a fascinating insight for non climbers into the early days of Lake District climbing, as depicted in the semi fictional gem ~Hazards Way by Roger Hubank (see Cumbria Finds)

16 September 2009 from Anne

1 Comment

Ellie | October 5, 2009 11:38 PM

woof

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