Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills
Encyclopedia
Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills is often considered the standard textbook
for mountaineering
and climbing
. The book was first published in 1960 by The Mountaineers
of Seattle, Washington
. The book was written by a team of over 40 experts in the field and is suitable reading for all mountaineers, from beginners to experts.
The book
grew out of the annual climbing course run since 1935 by the Mountaineers, for which the reading material was originally a combination of European works and lecturers' mimeo
outlines. These were assembled into the Climber's Notebook and published by the Mountaineers as the hardbound Mountaineers Handbook in 1948.
By 1955 the rapid postwar evolution of climbing techniques and tools had made the Handbook out of date, and the effort was begun to produce Freedom of the Hills. Nearly 80 major contributors are credited in the first edition and were organized by a committee of 8 editors.
The first four editions were only available in hardcover.
There are four appendices and an index. 447 pp.
Chapters
Chapters
", that conferred upon the recipient access to a city. The reference implies that with the knowledge in the book, a certain equivalent freedom of the wild mountains can be attained.
Textbook
A textbook or coursebook is a manual of instruction in any branch of study. Textbooks are produced according to the demands of educational institutions...
for mountaineering
Mountaineering
Mountaineering or mountain climbing is the sport, hobby or profession of hiking, skiing, and climbing mountains. While mountaineering began as attempts to reach the highest point of unclimbed mountains it has branched into specialisations that address different aspects of the mountain and consists...
and climbing
Climbing
Climbing is the activity of using one's hands and feet to ascend a steep object. It is done both for recreation and professionally, as part of activities such as maintenance of a structure, or military operations.Climbing activities include:* Bouldering: Ascending boulders or small...
. The book was first published in 1960 by The Mountaineers
The Mountaineers (Pacific NW)
The Mountaineers is an outdoor recreation, education, and conservation group based in Seattle, Washington and is the third largest group of its kind in the country. Its central Program Center located in Seattle's Magnuson Park is complete with education facilities for all aspects of the alpine...
of Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
. The book was written by a team of over 40 experts in the field and is suitable reading for all mountaineers, from beginners to experts.
The book
Book
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
grew out of the annual climbing course run since 1935 by the Mountaineers, for which the reading material was originally a combination of European works and lecturers' mimeo
Mimeograph machine
The stencil duplicator or mimeograph machine is a low-cost printing press that works by forcing ink through a stencil onto paper....
outlines. These were assembled into the Climber's Notebook and published by the Mountaineers as the hardbound Mountaineers Handbook in 1948.
By 1955 the rapid postwar evolution of climbing techniques and tools had made the Handbook out of date, and the effort was begun to produce Freedom of the Hills. Nearly 80 major contributors are credited in the first edition and were organized by a committee of 8 editors.
The first four editions were only available in hardcover.
5th Edition
The 5th edition of the book is split into four parts over 17 chapters:- Part One: Approaching the Peaks
- Part Two: Climbing Fundamentals
- Part Three: Rock Climbing
- Part Four: Snow and Ice Climbing
There are four appendices and an index. 447 pp.
Chapters
- First Steps
- Clothing and Equipment
- CampingCampingCamping is an outdoor recreational activity. The participants leave urban areas, their home region, or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or several nights outdoors, usually at a campsite. Camping may involve the use of a tent, caravan, motorhome, cabin, a primitive structure, or no...
and Food - Routefinding and Navigation
- Wilderness TravelBackpacking (wilderness)Backpacking combines the activities of hiking and camping for an overnight stay in backcountry wilderness...
- RopeRopeA rope is a length of fibres, twisted or braided together to improve strength for pulling and connecting. It has tensile strength but is too flexible to provide compressive strength...
s, KnotKnotA knot is a method of fastening or securing linear material such as rope by tying or interweaving. It may consist of a length of one or several segments of rope, string, webbing, twine, strap, or even chain interwoven such that the line can bind to itself or to some other object—the "load"...
s, and carabinerCarabinerA carabiner or karabiner is a metal loop with a sprung or screwed gate that is used to quickly and reversibly connect components in safety-critical systems. The word comes from "Karabinerhaken", meaning "hook for a carbine" in German.-Use:...
s - BelayingBelayingthumb|200px|right|A belayer is belaying behind a lead climberBelaying refers to a variety of techniques used in climbing to exert friction on a climbing rope so that a falling climber does not fall very far...
- Rappeling
- Rock Climbing Techniques
- Leading and Placing ProtectionProtection (climbing)To make climbing as safe as possible, most climbers use protection, a term used to describe the equipment used to prevent injury to themselves and others.-Types of climbing:...
- Aid ClimbingAid climbingAid climbing is a style of climbing in which standing on or pulling oneself up via devices attached to fixed or placed protection is used to make upward progress....
and Pitoncraft - Snow Travel and Climbing
- GlacierGlacierA glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
Travel and Crevasse RescueCrevasse rescueCrevasse rescue is the process of retrieving a climber from a crevasse in a glacier. Because of the frequency with which climbers break through the snow over a crevasse and fall in, crevasse rescue technique is a standard part of climbing education.... - Ice ClimbingIce climbingIce climbing, as the term indicates, is the activity of ascending inclined ice formations. Usually, ice climbing refers to roped and protected climbing of features such as icefalls, frozen waterfalls, and cliffs and rock slabs covered with ice refrozen from flows of water. For the purposes of...
- Winter and Expedition Climbing
- Safety and Leadership
- Alpine RescueMountain rescueMountain rescue refers to search and rescue activities that occur in a mountainous environment, although the term is sometimes also used to apply to search and rescue in other wilderness environments. The difficult and remote nature of the terrain in which mountain rescue often occurs has resulted...
7th Edition
- First Steps
- Clothing and Equipment
- CampingCampingCamping is an outdoor recreational activity. The participants leave urban areas, their home region, or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or several nights outdoors, usually at a campsite. Camping may involve the use of a tent, caravan, motorhome, cabin, a primitive structure, or no...
and Food - Physical Conditioning
- NavigationNavigationNavigation is the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another. It is also the term of art used for the specialized knowledge used by navigators to perform navigation tasks...
- Wilderness Travel
- Leave No TraceLeave No TraceLeave No Trace is both a set of principles, and an organization that promotes those principles. The principles are designed to assist outdoor enthusiasts with their decisions about how to reduce their impacts when they hike, camp, picnic, snowshoe, run, bike, hunt, paddle, ride horses, fish, ski or...
- Basic Safety Systems
- BelayingBelayingthumb|200px|right|A belayer is belaying behind a lead climberBelaying refers to a variety of techniques used in climbing to exert friction on a climbing rope so that a falling climber does not fall very far...
- Rappelling
- Alpine Rock Climbing Technique
- Rock ProtectionProtection (climbing)To make climbing as safe as possible, most climbers use protection, a term used to describe the equipment used to prevent injury to themselves and others.-Types of climbing:...
- Leading on Rock
- Aid ClimbingAid climbingAid climbing is a style of climbing in which standing on or pulling oneself up via devices attached to fixed or placed protection is used to make upward progress....
- Snow Travel and Climbing
- Glacier Travel and CrevasseCrevasseA crevasse is a deep crack in an ice sheet rhys glacier . Crevasses form as a result of the movement and resulting stress associated with the sheer stress generated when two semi-rigid pieces above a plastic substrate have different rates of movement...
Rescue - Alpine Ice Climbing
- Waterfall IceIce climbingIce climbing, as the term indicates, is the activity of ascending inclined ice formations. Usually, ice climbing refers to roped and protected climbing of features such as icefalls, frozen waterfalls, and cliffs and rock slabs covered with ice refrozen from flows of water. For the purposes of...
and Mixed ClimbingMixed climbingMixed climbing is a combination of ice climbing and rock climbing generally using ice climbing equipment such as crampons and ice tools. Mixed climbing has inspired its own specialized gear such as boots which are similar to climbing shoes but feature built in crampons... - Expedition Climbing
- Leadership
- Safety
- First AidFirst aidFirst aid is the provision of initial care for an illness or injury. It is usually performed by non-expert, but trained personnel to a sick or injured person until definitive medical treatment can be accessed. Certain self-limiting illnesses or minor injuries may not require further medical care...
- Alpine Rescue
- Mountain Geology
- The Cycle of Snow
- Mountain Weather
Editions
| Edition | Year | Editor(s) | Size | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1960 | Harvey Manning Harvey Manning Harvey Manning was a noted author of hiking guides and climbing textbooks, and a tireless hiking advocate. Manning lived on Cougar Mountain, within the city limits of Bellevue, Washington, calling his home the "200 meter hut"... |
430 pp. | |
| 2nd | 1967 | Harvey Manning | 485 pp. | |
| 3rd | 1974 | Peggy Ferber | 478 pp. | |
| 4th | 1982 | Ed Peters | 550 pp. | |
| 5th | 1992 | Don Graydon | 447 pp. | ISBN 0-89886-201-9 or ISBN 0-89886-309-0 |
| 6th | 1997 | Don Graydon and Kurt Hanson | 528 pp. | |
| 7th | 2003 | Steven M. Cox and Kris Fulsaas | 575 pp. | ISBN 0-89886-827-0 |
| 8th | 2010 | Ronald C. Eng | 592 pp. | ISBN 978-1-59485-137-7 |
The title as a reference
The title of the book is a reference to the ancient medieval European tradition of "Freedom of the CityFreedom of the City
Freedom of the City is an honour bestowed by some municipalities in Australia, Canada, Ireland, France, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, Gibraltar and Rhodesia to esteemed members of its community and to organisations to be honoured, often for service to the community;...
", that conferred upon the recipient access to a city. The reference implies that with the knowledge in the book, a certain equivalent freedom of the wild mountains can be attained.