Review: Selected Alpine Climbs and Ski Mountaineering Routes, The 4000m Peaks of the Alps Volume 1: West

Guidebooks and atlases, be they digital or print, often raise debate. That debate circles the drain with language arguing the masses, the unprepared, the non-locals, will denigrate the experience or even, damn it, slow the fast among us with their faffing.

As much as a good guidebook directs and corrects with beta, it also can serve as a history. The very best of the best of them are timeless. My dog-eared copy of Bugaboo Rock: A Climber’s Guide by Bensen and Green is priceless, despite a “good condition” copy being available for under $6 on the Interwebs.

I’m not a fool for any old guidebook. Conversely, I might be a fool for guidebooks promising a momentary escape while armchairing an adventure. I also might be a fool for seeking guidance from a guidebook to a place I won’t visit that often—it’s a long way from Bend to the Alps. However, something about Ben Tibbetts’ new guidebook, Selected Alpine Climbs and Ski Mountaineering Routes, The 4000m Peaks of the Alps Volume 1: West, drew me in.

Tibbetts is an IFMGA guide based in Chamonix. He’s also an artist, considering his formal training and deft skills with a camera and a drawing pencil. Along with his artistry, Tibbetts is a crusher with first ascents and descents, with a capstone of summiting all 82 4000m peaks in the Alps. He’s certainly qualified to write and publish such a wide-ranging tomb: the guidebook is ~310 pages with 320 photos. The photos alone slay. Tibbets clearly mustn’t get a ton of good sleep; he has an ability to rise and move in the dark, which is to our benefit. His images are luscious, vibrant, and energetic and seem to routinely catch the fleeting and intimate union of first light kissing a welcoming snow slope.

Geographically speaking, the west side of the Alps is a vast expanse. Tibbetts organizes these 4000m peaks from south to north, beginning in the Écrins Massif and terminating in Pennine Alps West. Sandwiched in between are the Gran Paradisso and Mont Blanc Massif. (Volume: 2 of 4000m Peaks of the Alps, to be released later, will include portions of the eastern alps north to the Bernese Alps.) If you are looking for a distraction and are either a guidebook navel gazer or fixing to climb/ski some Alpen objectives, there are many options.