Coffee Table Book of: The Sport of Climbing (Hardcover)

Coffee Table Book of: The Sport of Climbing is a large format book of climbing, printed edge to edge in colour, one picture to a page and the widest carried across two: shoes, ropes and harnesses, sandstone cracks and granite domes, limestone caves and sea cliffs, boulders and pads in quiet woods, the gear being made and cared for, and a few climbers seen far off in plain dark clothing.

The kit is laid out plain on the rock: downturned shoes, a coiled rope, a harness with its gear loops, a quickdraw on a bolt, a chalk bag, a helmet, a cam, a belay device, a folding pad, a set of nuts on wires, a hangboard and a descender shaped like an eight.

The making follows holds shaped from beech and cast in resin, plywood panels drilled for bolts, a rope sheath braided on a machine and a worn shoe given a new sole, then the care of scrubbing, brushing and taping. The past runs from hemp ropes and nailed boots to wooden wedges, machine nuts on cord, iron pitons and their hammer, a canvas pack and an old brick wall set with stones.

Then the places, empty at every hour and in every season: forest boulders in mist, a gritstone edge in fog, sea cliffs in storm and calm, tufas, caves and basalt columns, a granite slab under a full moon, a boulder under the stars, crags in rain, frost and falling snow, and a few small climbers far off, leading, abseiling and standing on a desert tower at sunset.

Short notes run through the book, on the gear and how it works, the rock and weather climbers watch, and the history of the sport: climbing shoes are worn tight, with soft sticky rubber that grips the smallest edges, many indoor holds are shaped from wood, which is gentler on the skin than resin, tufas are long ribs of limestone left by dripping water, often climbed by pinching them, and a hangboard is a board of edges and pockets for hanging from, to train the grip.

Printed in full colour on heavy 150gsm coated paper at 216 x 279 mm (8.5 x 11 inches), as a hardcover with the art printed on the case.

Publisher - Cedar Pine Editions

Language - English

Case Bound - PPC

Contributors

By author

Dimitri Smith

Published Date - 2026-10-21

ISBN - 9671456004785

Dimensions - 27.9 x 21.6 x 1.3 cm

Page Count - 100