Idaho: A Climbing Guide (Climbing Guides)

We have used Tom Lopez's book extensively for exploring hundreds of Idaho's many wilderness peaks and it is required reading for anyone interested in peak bagging. Exploring is the operative word here; you will not find a blow-by-blow description. Rather, key information is provided.For example:1. How to access the mountains (used in conjunction with topographic maps, US Forest Service maps, BLM maps, and a back-road gazette, we have always found public-use access points and have never gotten lost or trespassed). This is invaluable information and very time-consuming to get otherwise.2. Approaches and general routes (for example, which drainage, face or ridge to follow). The details are just enough to point you towards a route that works, leaving you with a sense of accomplishment and adventure as you work out the details on-the-spot. This is a huge time-saver for weekend warriors like us.3. YDS ratings to let you decide what level of technical difficulty you want to tackle. Tom and his contributors are veteran climbers and scramblers and that experience is invaluable in appropriate route rating.4. Background information about geology and early explorers, perfect for rainy days or armchair travels.Idaho's wilderness is vast and although hundreds and hundreds of peaks are described, not every summit is included. Some folks say that this is part of the charm of Idaho's wilderness, which is true. Other folks say that a new edition is long overdue, and that is also true (Mountaineers Books, are you listening???). But by the time you have tackled many of the routes described, you may find your sense of adventure sharpened to the point that you feel comfortable and eager to explore undescribed areas on your own.Like us, by using this book you will likely grow to truly appreciate the solitude of Idaho's backcountry.

I just spent 3 weeks in Idaho climbing peaks and this book was my bible. A great guide covering so many peaks! The route descriptions are short, and tough to plan a climb with just this, but considering how many peaks are in the state (and covered in the guide) it would be impossible to go into too much detail. Having lat/longs for the peaks would be nice.

Tom Lopez can be commended for attempting to fit a whole state worth of mountains into one book. However, as one would expect with such bredth, it suffers greatly in depth. In many cases routes are mentioned but not described, multiple descriptions are incorrect or contain factual innacuracies rendering the description potentially dangerous (for example The Book on Finger of Fate -- no mention is made of the several 5.8 pitches that form the body of the climb in the dihedral, the only reference to 5.8 refers to the summit block, and the majority of the climb is described as a scramble!). It appears as though the author may not have climbed many of the routes described. Save your money unless you want an inventory of the names of peaks in Idaho and various thin and potentially misleading descriptions of locations and routes.

concise, informative, and organized by area

Very good climbing guide book

We took this on our trip to the Sawtooth Mts. near Stanley, ID, and also used to expore the near-by Cloud Mts.

For a guide book on finding climbing routes in idaho,look elsewhere. Great information if you want to hike and scramble. Information on actual climbing routes is super limited. I feel like I wasted my money on finding climbing routes. Falcon is a much better choice.

This book is more of a collection of the main summits in Idaho than a hiking book. I enjoyed the historical and geaolical information to understand a little bit more on the area I'm living but otherwise it just list the main summits (there is a lot of them thought) in Idaho. You can't just use it for planning purpose but it is a nice addition and collection of information for planning.

Smaller insert maps are great, but the book in general is quite difficult to follow and/or excessively vague when it comes to any routes. Perhaps trying to cover an entire state filled with mountains could only end up this way? After spending some time trying to use it, we switched to USGS quadrangles, summit post, and local climbing store topos instead. Maybe it's great for hiking, but I wouldn't bother getting this if you are planning to do roped climbing.