Very solid reference book. Not advised for the complete beginner, but a helpful supplement to professional guidance and training for the intermediate climber making the transition from gym to outdoors or from seconding to leading. Almost time for it to be updated, though.

Comprehensive and with lots of great pictures, this is a fantastic reference book. As a gym climber looking to venture outside, I learned a LOT. However, I feel the organization of the book was a bit backwards. It seemed to start with the most complicated, intense situations and didn't cover simpler setups until the end.

This book is comprehensive and includes everything to get you started on your first outdoor climbs, all the way up to your first trad leads. Covers climbing technique, equipment, methods, safety, and theory. Long's writing style is also very conversational and makes for great reading. Highly recommend.

I really enjoy how Long uses the characters Amos and Coco to explain the progression of climbing knowledge. Overall very information filled book, great for supplementing with knowledgable teachers and real world climbing experience.

horrible

Best how-to guide from one of the best at the craft. Very informative and instructional for building a strong foundation.

This book does an excellent job in teaching you everything, from how to properly grip holds to how to manage and maintain your equipment. It is a good read from beginning to end. It also throws in some humor to break up the content.

so helpful!

I read this book around two decades ago. I own the second edition and Long is up to at least his 4th edition. If you're at all compelled Up, this is a good place to start. I read it in preparation for Outward Bound and it paid for itself. On that trip, the instructors introduced us to self-arrest techniques using an ice-axe. We would be climbing in snowfields in the Sangre De Christo so proper safety was imperative. As an East-Coast child of a cultivated suburb, I'd never done anything like self...

I have only been a gym climber but this book just made me want to get outside! The concepts were well explained and safety is stressed. Speaking as a novice, this is a very well organized and a truly helpful resource to begin climbing. One problem is that the terminology may be a little difficult for the absolute beginner. Useful as an addition to, be never a replacement for, professional instruction and safe practice.

A fun, instructional book. This is a great read for the beginning rock climber to the professional. It teaches the basic, essential techniques that you need to stay alive. I will undoubtedly reference it and reread it many times in the future. Reading it always made me excited and ready to go out and climb.

Most things were explained quite well while some others were given no explanation whatsoever. The second to last chapter was about training and explained toproping, while in my opinion should have been one of the first things in the book. The majority of the book just served to make me nervous about getting my appendages stuck in a crack and bewildered by gear.

once you know you like climbing, this is a great first book on climbing. it covers gear, face climbing, crack climbing, sport climbing, trad climbing, self-rescue, rappelling, training.it's a nice reference manual for basics, too.if you're not very interested in climbing, you might find it tedious to get through.

A classic rock-climbing instruction book, it's one you should at least take a look at. I borrowed it from my cousin and found it to be informative and well-written, but more than a little dry, and lacking in pictures. I'd snatch it up in a second if I saw it at the used bookstore for cheap, but I gave it back to my cousin before I'd even finished it. It's worthwhile, but not my favorite.

Excellent basics. Perhaps a bit dated at this point. It talks about how women's harnesses may soon be a reality when in fact they've been around for a long time. Most of the stuff is fairly up to date since good climbing safety doesn't really change

This is more of a reference manual than something that's intended to be read cover to cover, but I pulled it off anyway due to my current obsession with improving my climbing. Well laid out. I'll be keeping this one around.

This is a good basic reference covering the basics of every aspect and style of Rock Climbing. It gives a nice survey of everything an intermediate climber might want to know, but I didn't walk away from reading it feeling like I learned anything terribly important.

Some say this book has got some major mistakes in terms of the climbing techniques and rules. I hope not! I liked the way it is written: the proper distance of the author to himself and his sense of humor makes it not only the handbook but also great story.

A really helpful and comprehensive guide to get you started.

Great info, but all the misspellings are annoying, especially considering the fact that I read the 3rd Edition, so you would think most of those would have been corrected by then.

Good basic overview - unfortunately the library copy was defective with 16 pages missing with incorrect pages in their place. Made for frustrating reading!

Excellent reference for the class I am taking.

It's by John Long....do I need to say more?

Check those knots!