MTUK Rockclimbing (3rd Edition) by Libby Peters Review

Anyone who has been on any rock climbing or mountaineering courses in the military or indeed in any of the national centres will be sure to have seen Libby Peters’ bright red Rock Climbing handbook. If you have been fortunate enough to have climbed, trained or been assessed by Libby, you cant doubt her credentials and exacting standards. An international mountain guide who assesses the highest standard of instructional awards in the UK for national centres.

This book is produced by Mountain Training and is part of a series that aims to give the budding instructor or mountain enthusiast a comprehensive manual to refer to. The other books in the series focus on winter, hill walking, navigation and also international trekking. Seeing the other titles in series will, hopefully, give you a feel what isn’t in this edition and therefore what this book is all about.

This new third revised edition is the biggest rewrite to have taken place since it first came out in 2004, and when this came out nearly 20 years ago this was an step forward from other instructional books on the market. Previous, mountaineering manuals were text and description heavy, which with a hands on activity like rock climbing was hard to decipher. Libby consciously made use of better printing including many more pictures and setting it out in a very specific and modern manner.

So much has changed since its first iteration not only with technique but also with culture. A growing indoor scene, bouldering becoming mainstream and the olympics pushing sport climbing to the fore. This book takes into account all these changes but is still a manual for instructors rather than coaches- Although the two overlap there are better books available for coaches and those focussed on movement technique. It’s been over ten years since the second edition hit the shelves, so this is well timed.

The first impressions of the book is that it has grown considerably in size and is a much thicker volume than its previous edition. The additional 134 pages contain new chapters and much more detail than ever. Firstly, it is still super easy to use and set out in a user friendly manner. Each chapter is colour coded and can be seen from the edge of the book for quick access if required. The ‘top tips’ for instructors have been expanded and are really valuable if you are on a journey to be mountain instructor of any description.

Personally, I really love the clear hand drawings that are visually enhancing to the pictures illustrated alongside it. One reason for the first book being such a success was these drawing clearly show each step in a process that photos can’t really do justice. The ‘crosses’ and ‘ticks’ illustrations are popular and show poor techniques and methods next to better or safer methods. This ability to see what is best practice compared to short cuts or inexperience is valuable.

The book is solidly aimed at UK mountaineering and takes into account all our national nuances with this activity. However, I do feel it would have benefitted from a chapter on alpine techniques (although this is probably a book in itself) as most serious UK climbers will want to make the transition at some point to the alpine environment.

Not exactly a must read (as you don’t really ‘read’ a manual), but definitely a book that supports practical learning and instruction. Anyone who climbs must own this book and use it regularly to keep on top of their standards.