Rocky Mountain National Park: Classic Hikes and Climbs

Rating:
Summary: Summit Bagging Made Easy
Review: As a frequent visitor to Rocky Mountain National Park I'm always looking for the best in solid, compact field guides. Gerry Roach's little gem is an good example. The text and tone of the book benefits from Roach's personal familiarity with the trails and summmits described.

This is an excellent guide to summit approaches for those interested in bagging the major peaks in Rocky Mountain National Park. Roach provides his readers with concise information on distance, elevation, grade, class and snow steepness with a modest amount of editorial. For nearly every peak Roach provides alternate roots suitable for both the casual or technical climber. The book is punctuated with black and white photographs of a number of the better known mountains in the park and their key landmarks.

Those intimately familiar with RMNP will most benefit from this book. Descriptions are generally terse and primiarly dedicated on how to get from Point "A" to Point "B". The book suffers from lack of either topographical or overview maps. For the reader more interested in hiking or backpacking, as opposed to bagging summits, Dannen's "Hiking Rocky Mountain National Park" (8th Ed.) is the best I've found and a much more thorough and enjoyable read in a pocket format.