Chinese on Everest - 1960

Now that the Chinese are in Base Camp on the North side for their attempt to get an Olympic torch to the summit, I thought some of you would be interested in the story of their first climb. For decades, Westerners doubted the claim that the Chinese had summited Everest in 1960. Eventually, enough convincing evidence was provided that they were grudgingly given credit but there have been few good accounts of that expedition.

The following is an excerpt from a book published in 1993 by Shu Ren, "Records of Exploration by the Chinese." The translation was provided by my friend Tuan Luong and I've cleaned it up a bit. If anything, it speaks to the determination of the Chinese...you can bet good money that they will get that torch to the top this season, no matter what it takes.

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BACKGROUND

In 1958, 100 experienced mountaineers of the Soviet Union wrote letters to the head of the Soviet and PRC, proposing a joint assault on Mt Qomolungma (aka Everest). An agreement was made between the governments.

PREPARATION
The Chinese assembled their team, which went to the Soviet Union to train in August 1958. 17 summitted Lenin Peak (7134 m) in Sept. At the end of 1958 a reconnaissance team reached 6,500 m.

According to agreement the Soviet was to provide equipment. The Chinese constructed a 300 km road from Shigatse to Rongbuk Monastery.

1959 March, uprising broke out Tibet. Climbing was postponed.

End of 1959, the two countries became hostile due to ideological disagreement. The Soviet withdrew form the expedition. The Chinese decided to do it alone. Team leader Shi Zhanchun went to Switzerland to buy equipment.

On March 19, 1960, the base camp was established at the end of the Rongbuk Glacier. Shi and vice leader Xu Jing had done five years of mountaineering and climbed quite a few peaks in China. The team members were from all walks of life — miners, forest workers, soldiers, peasants, scientists, and college students.

The weather was bad. Logistics support was a feat. Meteorology and high altitude medical data were collected.

A siege strategy was planned to carry out the climb in four acclimatizing climbs:
1) BC-> 6,400m ->BC
2) BC->7,600->BC
3) BC->8300->BC
4) BC-> 8,500 camp -> summit

FIRST CLIMB
March 25
The entire team started from BC.

March 26
Reached the 5,900m camp.

March 27
Found a mummified unrecognizable body in English made green down suit. Buried it. They reached 6,400m. Back to BC.

SECOND CLIMB
Xu, Liu Dayi, Peng Shuli, and other four reached the North Col (aka Bei’ao, 7,007 m) in a day. It was technically difficult. Xu later went up again with another team to fix ropes and ladders across crevasses.

April 11
The bulk of the team started from 6,400 m to reach the North Col. Attempt to reach further was stopped by very bad weather. Wang Ji died of mountain sickness.

THIRD CLIMB
April 29
The entire team started from the North Col. -37C. Soft snow. Frostbite. Zhao Ziqing died. Liu Lianman (a porter) chopped steps for the team with 30 kg pack on his back all the way. Reached 7,600 m.

May 2
Shi, Xu, Laba, and Myma went up to 8,100 m. In order to acclimatize they didn’t use their O2. Reached camp after dark. No food left. (Support team didn’t follow up.) Laba and Myma went back to 7,600 camp. Food was sent to the high camp over-night.

May 3
The team passed the First Step and the Yellow Band. Shi and Wang Fengtong went past the reconnaissance point and reached the Second Step. It was a 60 to 70 degree smooth rock face about 100 feet high, almost devoid of holds.

Shi and Wang climbed to somewhere near the top of the second step when it was getting dark (13 hours UT). Decided to bivy so they could see what it looked like to go to the summit from there the next day. They dug out a snow hole in a crack between rocks. The temperature was -40 C. No food. They didn’t use oxygen, saving it for the next day (a first time at that altitude).

May 4
Clear. The Summit was about 700 feet higher. They found a route and went down.

LAST TRY
Many team members were sick or injured. Shi and Wang went back to Shigatse and Lhasa to recover. Time flew by. Spirit at the base camp was going down. Beijing sent instruction: Get the summit at any cost. Han Fudong, the head at the BC, talked to the team members and assembled a group, including Wang Fuzhou, Kongbu (with a sprained ankle), and Liu Lianman.

May 14
During a good weather spell, equipment and food was sent to 7,600 camp.

May 17
The team swore at the BC. Depart at 1 hour UT. With the national flag of China, they also carried a plaster statue of Mao Zhedong.

May 18
Reached Camp 4.

May 23
Porter Qu Yinhua carried oxygen and a movie camera to the 8,500 camp. He planned to go down after shooting some footage the next day. Food had run out that night.

May 24.
Good weather. Vice leader Xu collapsed at the camp. Wang, Liu, Qu, and Kongbu started the last 1,200 feet, carrying oxygen, the flag, Mao’s statue, paper, pencil, and the movie camera.

Two hours later they reached the Second Step exhausted. Tried to circumvent. Didn’t work. Zigzagged to the middle of it, where they found a crack. Decided to climb it.

Liu climbed to about 10 feet from the top. The face became vertical and smooth. He hand jammed, with boot tips smearing on the face. Fell four times.

Liu, who used to be fire fighter from the city of Harbin, proposed Qu to stand on his shoulder so that he can push Qu up. Qu took off his boots to get up, and nailed in a piton in the crack. He lost his toes and heel to frostbite during the feat. (The same piton was used 15 years later to hang a rope ladder.) Then Liu pushed Kongbu up and went up himself with Wang on rope.

It had taken them 3 hours to do the last 10 feet of the Second Step. Not much oxygen was left. It was getting late. Liu fell down continuously, and stayed on the lee side of a rock, semi-conscious. The other three pushed on. Liu used some oxygen, savoring warmth, and became sober. Proceeded to turn off the oxygen and wrote a note for the three - “There is still some oxygen in the canister. You three can use it when you come back. It may be helpful.” And fell asleep.

The other three went on 60° slopes in the dark, on all fours to avoid accident, navigating using starlight reflected on the snow.

150 feet from the summit, all three had run out of oxygen. Ditched the canisters. Inched their way to the summit.

At some place where rock bordered snow, Kongbu, who was in front, suddenly shouted, ``It’s downhill to go on.’’

Quietly, in darkness and surrounded by silhouette of the mountains, they crawled to the top of the world. It was 4:20 am, May 25, Beijing time (UT+8), 19 hours after they had started. 15 minutes later, they left the flag, the status of Mao, and a note at the summit and went down with some rock samples (gift for Chairman Mao). Liu was waiting for them with his oxygen at 8,700 meters, saved their lives.

May 30
They were back to BC. Wang and Qu were 176 lb and 170 lb before they had climbed. And 111 lb and 110 lb after.

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After the PR China was founded in 1949, there have been two Extras from the official newspaper People’s Daily: one was the first Chinese ascent of Mt Qomolungma, the other was the successful A-bomb test made by China during the heydays of the Cold War.

Study: Rock climb for aerobic fitness

When they hear the term "aerobic conditioning," most people think of things like running and cycling. Indeed, rock climbing probably doesn't occur to many as a way to improve heart and lung function. But researchers in Italy put climbing to the test and found that it's actually very aerobic according to a report just published in the Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research.

The scientists enlisted 13 recreational rock climbers (8 men and 5 women) and tested their aerobic fitness (VO2max, etc) in a lab. Then the subjects strapped on a portable system for measuring oxygen uptake and climbed easy routes on an 80-foot high wall. After the climb, blood lactate samples were taken.

What they discovered was that climbers of both genders naturally choose a speed that puts us near our performance/anaerobic threshold (I don't use the term lactate threshold because it's obsolete) and maintain this level of exertion. Of course, this makes sense because we generally want to get up a route quickly without going so hard that we flame out.

This level of exertion (about 73% of VO2max) is what the ACSM considers a good level for maintaining cardio fitness. Not surprisingly, they also found that rock climbers tend to have superior aerobic fitness (VO2 max around 40), roughly in the 85th percentile of the normal population.

As many of us know, climbing in an indoor gym is a form of moderate- to high-intensity interval training (something that gets a lot of buzz in the fitness world these days). The typical length of each bout, including recovery, is 9 minutes and this is repeated 10 to 15 times per session, with two to three sessions per week. In this study, they found that climbing burned 1000 - 1500 calories per week.

The bottom line is rock climbing is both good resistance training, which we already knew, and also decent aerobic training. Of course, if you have higher goals such as mountaineering, you still have to do endurance aerobic workouts and serious resistance training (read: lifting weights).

More Great Climbing Books

Following up on my post Top Ten Climbing Books of All Time, here are 40 more titles that are well worth seeking out. These books offer good reading as well as historical perspectives. Some are out of print so it will take some effort to track them down. If you have more suggestions, please leave comments.

Barker, Ralph. The Last Blue Mountain. The 1957 Harmosh expedition.

Bates, Robert G. Five Miles High. First American K2 expedition in 1938.

Bechtold, Fritz: Nanga Parbat Adventure. Ten fatalities in 1934.

Boardman, Peter. The Shining Mountain. Two men on Changabang.

Bonatti, Walter. The Great Days. A more recent autobiography with more epic ascents.

Bonington, Chris. Annapurna: South Face. An epic ascent.

Brown, Joe. The Hard Years. One of the hardest of the hard.

Browne, Belmore. The Conquest of Mount McKinley. Written in 1913.

Burdsall, Richard. Men Against the Clouds. Americans on Minya Konka in 1932.

Clinch, Nicholas. A Walk in the Sky. Only American first ascent of an 8000 m peak, in 1958.

Davidson, Art. Minus 148º. Denali in winter, say no more.

Diemberger, Kurt. K2: The Endless Knot. The tragic summer of 1986.

Ferlet, René. Aconcagua: South Face. Epic first ascent in 1955.

Harding, Warren. Downward Bound. A humorous perspective of Yosemite and climbing in the early 1970’s.

Hargreaves, Alison. A Hard Day's Summer. Six classic north faces, solo.

Harrer, Heinrich. Seven Years in Tibet. A fantastic true story.

Heckmair, Anderl, My Life As a Mountaineer. Much more than the Eiger.

Herzog. Maurice. Annapurna. First conquest of an 8000 m peak, in 1950.

Hunt, John. The Ascent of Everest. The official account of the 1954 first ascent.

King, Clarence. Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada. What they were doing in 1872 will surprise you.

Krakauer, Jon. Into Thin Air. One perspective of the 1996 Everest fiasco.

Languepin, Jean-Jaques. To Kiss High Heaven. Missing climbers on Nanda Devi in 1951.

Maraini, Fosco. Karakoram: The Ascent of Gasherbrum IV. Incredibly difficult climb in 1958.

Messner, Reinhold. The Seventh Grade. Postulations on the future of climbing from a 1973 perspective.

Messner, Reinhold. Solo Nanga Parbat. Probably the best from the best.

Murray, William. Mountaineering In Scotland. Hard routes in the 1930’s.

Newby, Eric. A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush. Afghanistan adventure in 1956.

Patey, Tom. One Man's Mountains. Wry Scottish humor and hardcore climbs.

Rebufatt, Gaston. Starlight and Storm. Six of the greatest north faces in the Alps.

Ridgeway, Rick. The Last Step. Americans on K2 in 1978.

Robinson, Doug. A Night On the Ground. Sierra Nevada climbing tales.

Roper, Steve. Camp 4. A controversial history of Yosemite’s Golden Age.

Rowell, Galen. The Vertical World of Yosemite. A classic about the Valley’s in the early 1970’s.

Shipton, Eric. Blank On The Map. One of the great explorers in the Karakoram.

Smythe, Frank. Camp Six. The 1933 Everest expedition.

Tasker Joe. Savage Arena. Hard climbs in the great ranges.

Tichy, Herbert. Cho Oyu. A successful small expedition in 1954.

Tilman, Bill. The Ascent of Nanda Devi. Brits and Americans join forces in 1936.

Whillans, Don. Portrait of a Mountaineer. The hardman’s hardman.

Whymper, Edward. Scrambles Amongst the Alps in the Years 1860-69. One of the most famous mountaineering books ever published.

Study: Geezers on Everest

Now that the mad dash to the South side of Everest has begun, it looks to be a banner year for accidents and fatalities. With the North side closed because of the Chinese publicity stunt, the South Col route will be more crowded than ever.

What makes this the perfect storm for death is the new stipulation that nobody can go above Camp 2 until May 11. At only 21,500 feet, that is still a long ways from the top (29,028 feet). Then the sheep, er I mean climbers, will be corralled in base camp for 10 days from May 1st to the 10th so they lose even some of that acclimatization.

Assuming the fake Olympic flame actually reaches the summit on schedule for the evening news—a big IF—the climbers in Nepal then have 20 days to get to the top. By June 1st, the Khumbu icefall (photo) is so dangerous only those with a death wish will still be going through. So there will be lots of poorly acclimatized wealthy clients popping Diamox like candy and quietly shooting up dexamethasone all ready to rush up in the small window of opportunity.

As if that combination wasn't bad enough, a study published last Fall in the journal Biology Letters makes the prognosis even grimmer for those over 60. Entitled "Effects of age and gender on success and death of mountaineers on Mount Everest," it presents a statistical analysis for 15 years (1990 - 2005) of people making their first attempt.

The results indicate that your odds of summitting diminish past the age of 40, which kinda sucks. From about age 25 to 40, the odds of reaching the top are about 1 in 3. After that, it's a linear drop off to about a 1 in 8 chance of success at age 60.

But the odds of dying also go up past the age of 60, which really sucks. Until that age, the odds of your becoming a corpse are about 1.5%. The newbie sexagenarians face a 5% chance of kicking the bucket while on the mountain (Everest veterans have better odds). If the geezers do make it to the top, there's roughly a 25% chance they won't make it home alive!

This research is brought to us by the same scientist, Raymond Huey (who really knows his fruit flies and lizards), that showed using oxygen on Everest and K2 greatly increases the chance of survival and that Everest was only climbable less than one third of the past 570 million years due to low oxygen levels on the planet.

New Frostbite Procedure

File this one under: Good to know, hope I never need it.

I've never had frostbite though I've certainly had plenty of cases of "screaming meanies" (ask any ice climber if you don't know what that is). But as a mountaineer, frostbite is something that I need to be prepared for--quite a few of my friends have lost bits of fingers and toes.

This week, a paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Society of Interventional Radiology about a breakthrough treatment for frostbite that has the potential to prevent amputations. The technique involves using an IV to infuse the affected limb with a drug (Tenectaplase) through arteries upstream of the injured area so this likely isn't something that will be done in the field. The results appear to be a dramatic improvement over the standard protocols, which often resulted in small blood clots that wreak havoc on thawing tissue.

Since this research is so new, if you end up in the hospital with frostbite, it's likely that you may have to inform your doctor about the procedure. The press release gives a nice summary of the research. Here is the PowerPoint presentation if you want full details and the typical gory photos.

Study: Climbing hurts

Half of the climbers in gyms and at crags have been injured bad enough in the past year that they had to take at least one day off. One third have chronic overuse injuries such as elbow and shoulder tendonitis. Over a quarter suffer an acute injury, such as a torn A2 pulley in a middle or ring finger, from pulling harder than their body could handle. Yet only 10% of the waylaying injuries came from a fall.

That's the result of a survey of over two hundred climbers in Britain that was published last December in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Titled "The epidemiology of rock climbing injuries," the authors also found that climbers are a stubborn lot when it comes to seeking medical attention. Only 11% went to a doctor and 18% to a physical therapist for treatment while 14% asked the advice of other climbers.

While half of all climbers bashing themselves up isn't a good thing, at least we aren't as bad as dancers at abusing our bodies. Another survey in Britain found that 80% of professional dancers had suffered an injury in the previous 12 months.

The study of dancers also found that 25% have had eating problems (anorexia and/or bulemia) and 10% were underweight to the point that it threatened their health. This question wasn't tackled in the climber survey but it's quite likely that eating disorders are nearly as common in the sport climbing and bouldering communities.

This study reinforces the danger of overdoing it in any sport. Overuse injuries are the ones most likely to take you out of action. But they are also the most easily prevented by getting sufficient rest, training underdeveloped muscles, and eating properly.

Review: Mountain Hardwear Transition Jacket

My closet floweth over with wind shells, soft shells, hard shells, ultralight shells, burly shells, and shells that defy classification. My first mountaineering shells in the early 70s were a wind and water resistant 60/40 parka and a waterproof cagoule. Then along came the miracle GoreTex fabric in my Early Winters parka that was supposed to replace the others. It did for a while but the concept of the one-shell-for-everything never panned out in the real world.

Now, decades later, I have found the one-shell-that-does-damn-near-everything. I've used the Mountain Hardwear Transition Jacket with great success for highly aerobic activities (road and mountain biking, skate skiing, running), interval activities (climbing, lift-served skiing, whitewater rafting, hiking), and inactivities (hanging around camp, around town, outdoor cafes). The only thing this shell doesn't excel at is keeping me dry in a heavy rainstorm but it isn't intended for that and it does great in light rain.

The Transition Jacket uses the latest generation of the Gore Windstopper SoftShell (formerly called Next2Skin). I've tried most of the previous versions of this fabric and was only mildly impressed; some were heavy, others uncomfortable. The interior laminate of this shell is brushed polyester, which is very soft and helps transfer moisture. The outer laminate is a jersey knit that disperses moisture for fast drying. The total fabric package is just warm enough for chilly days without being too thick for working hard.

If you are familiar with the Marmot DriClime Windshirt, a true classic piece of outdoor wear, this Transition Jacket is the modern replacement. Like many of you, I wore my DriClime for almost everything but now it hangs sullenly while the Transition is my go-to shell due to superior comfort.

The trim fit of the Transition keeps it from flapping in high winds and allows you to throw a fleece or hard shell over it when conditions warrant. The athletic cut gives plenty of arm reach when climbing and biking and allows excellent freedom of movement that is aided by the 3-way stretch of the body fabric and even greater stretch of the side panels. Seams are taped to minimize any chaffing and help reduce water leaks in light rain.

Amenities of the Transition Jacket include a nice hood that fits under helmets and lays unobtrusively when unused, reflective patches, and Lycra cuffs with thumb loops. The interior zippered chest pocket and exterior zippered rear pocket both have holes for earphones, plus there is an elastic routing loop to keep the cable in place. Total weight for a men's large is 15.0 ounces.

The slight downsides include limited abrasion resistance of the outer jersey knit (it tends to pick) so this isn't a great choice for bushwhacking but that is a necessary tradeoff. The only detail missing is the ability to use the rear pocket as a stuff sack.

With a suggested retail of $150, it does cost more than a DriClime ($85). But this is a shell that I wear so often now that it seems like a great value.

Study: Climber's High No Myth

No doubt you have heard of the "runner's high," which is the buzz achieved by an endurance workout. It has long been speculated that this blissful feeling results from the release of endorphin, a natural opiate produced by the body, but it had never been proven and some scientists considered this a myth.

Recently, scientists in Germany demonstrated that two hours of running does indeed cause the brain to release endorphins. In addition, the opiates preferentially bind to the prefrontal and limbic areas of the brain, which are involved with emotional processing and the suppression of pain.

As reported in the journal Cerebral Cortex, ten runners worked out for two hours and then underwent a PET scan. This is similar to a CT scan that digitally dissects the body except a radioactive isotope is injected into the bloodstream and the PET detects where it is metabolically active. In the case of the runners, the scan showed that opiate receptors in the brain after exercise were occupied by far greater amounts of endorphin. This also corresponded to an increase of euphoria and happiness at the end of the runs; the more intense the feelings, the more endorphin was binding to receptors.

While this study was conducted on runners, it also applies to all athletes and you don't have to work for two hours to experience it. Runners, cyclists, and other endurance athletes can fairly easily get into the "zone" after a half hour of working out.

It's fair to say that most climbers feel a strong buzz when they get to the top of a long, strenuous pitch. We may get a similar feeling on easier terrain only after a lot of vertical gain. In the case of crack climbing, that endorphin blast helps us ignore the pain in our feet. Climbers are frequently accused of being adrenalin junkies but we may really just be addicted to endorphin.

Review: Arc'teryx Dually Belay Jacket

After a particularly frigid climbing trip to Indian Creek over Thanksgiving (the infamous frozen sushi fest), my wife decided that my much beloved Feathered Friends Volant Jacket was going to be hers. Fortunately for me, the new Dually Belay jacket from Arc'teryx arrived soon thereafter.

Over the years, I've tried quite a few synthetic parkas from a number of manufacturers. The appeal was being able to toss it over wet clothing when belaying on ice climbs. But I always ended up going back to down-filled jackets with a WP/B shell because of their warmth, compactness, and longevity. Until now, it just hasn't been possible to get that combination from any of the synthetics in a well-designed parka.

The Dually Belay jacket features a proprietary synthetic insulation that has a DWR coating on each fiber. Arc'teryx calls it ThermaTek, which is a hollow-core, continuous filament insulation--essentially Polarguard Delta with an extra water repellant treatment--that is glued to a 30 denier high-tenacity ripstop nylon face fabric. 

If this insulation sounds familiar it's because Wiggy's has been using pretty much the same technology since 1986. Jerry Wigutow is a maverick in the outdoor industry who has been railing against the marketing hype of the synthetic sleeping bag companies for ages. While Wiggy sometimes sounds like a crackpot, there is also a lot of truth to his rants particularly what he says about laminating insulations. I'm not a fan of his product because the design and detailing is lacking (I've been spoiled by high-end gear for too long to compromise on the little things) and they tend to be heavy (a 3.5 pound sleeping bag does not deserve to be called Ultra Light).

A few years ago, Mountain Hardwear was the first mainstream outdoor company to knock-off Wiggy's insulation concept with their Lamina sleeping bags, which proved less than successful so they had to redesign. Arc'teryx also made an attempt by laminating Primaloft but the performance left a lot to be desired and it had a stiff hand. Now Arc'teryx is back with ThermaTech and it appears they've got it mostly right this time. 

I've used the Dually Belay Jacket most of the winter and it is quite simply superb. The jacket maintains its loft and fluffs quickly after unstuffing so it provides a lot of warmth. Amazingly, at 22.2 ounces (men's large) it is 1.1 ounces lighter than the Volant down jacket and it fits into the same stuff sack. Let me repeat, the Dually is lighter and stuffs to the same size as a high-end down jacket of equal warmth.

Other niceties include a good high collar with wind seal in the neck, Lycra wrist seals, two zippered handwarmer pockets, and two large internal mesh pockets. The cut is trim yet athletic to allow good freedom of movement. The face fabric, which is the same both inside and outside the jacket, is very wind resistant and acceptably durable.

That's the good news, the bad news is breathability of the jacket is not as good as the down parka. Not a deal breaker though since this is more for standing around than working in the cold. The material doesn't have the soft hand and drape of down either but it's adequate. One design oversight is the lack of a pocket that doubles as a stuff sack (should be a no-brainer). And one very irritating design error is unprotected top of the zipper that chaffs at your chin when zipped closed (somebody smack that production manager).

But the really bad news is the cost. The Feathered Friends Volant Jacket with eVent outer shell (arguably the best down jacket on the market) retails for $330 and an optional detachable hood costs $55. The Arc'teryx Dually Belay Jacket has a suggested retail of an astounding $425 or the Belay Parka, which is the same except it adds a non-detachable hood, is $475. Considering this synthetic jacket requires a lot less labor to assemble (fewer seams) and the premise for the technology is twenty years old, it's hard to see how they can justify the asking price.

No doubt, if you need the wet weather performance (or if you get pro deals), the price may not be a factor.  Aside from the cost, the Dually truly is an exceptional piece of kit, no other synthetic jacket is even close, despite a few minor design issues. 

Available from Backcountry.com

Mountain Weather

Until not so long ago, expeditions to the Himalaya and Karakoram relied on intuition to predict the weather before making their summit bids. Anyone climbing in Patagonia simply expects the weather to be lousy most of the time while watching their barometer for the telltale rise indicating a brief good window of opportunity.

But in this age of satellite imagery and the internet, it's getting a lot easier to know what is about to happen. A new web site is now offering detailed weather forecasts and histories for Everest, K2, and Cerro Torre. For the Europeans, there is also weather information for the Tirol region (Italy/Austria border) and the Sierra Nevada of Spain (near the southern tip).

You can see the wind profiles  for different elevations on the peaks, temperature, humidity, and satellite images of the regions. One of the coolest features is a moving color chart that illustrates the wind direction and speed during the previous two weeks. Watch those big red areas of brutal winds slam into the Patagonian peaks and be thankful you weren't there!

Top Ten Climbing Books of All Time

Among the many great things about climbing are a rich history and great literature. Unfortunately, many of today's climbers are unfamiliar with this legacy.

A while ago, I polled some friends with extensive book collections to see what they consider the best reads of all time. I gathered lists from Bob Ader, Fred Barth, Greg Crouch, Jim Moss, Gary Neptune, and myself. There were over 50 books suggested but many of the titles were recommended multiple times.

The following list is ordered by the number of recommendations. These are truly must-reads for any climber or armchair adventurer. Start with these books if you can find them (several are out of print). Later, I will post the list of 40 runner-ups.

1. Joe Simpson. Touching the Void. Epic survival in the Peruvian Alps.

2. Walter Bonatti. On the Heights. One of the alpine greats.

3. Heinrich Harrer. The White Spider. First ascent of the Eiger’s North Face.

4. Felice Benuzzi. No Picnic On Mt. Kenya. An incredible ascent in WW II.

5. Hermann Buhl. Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage. Messner considers him one of the best.

6. Tom Hornbein. Everest: The West Ridge. First traverse of Everest, in 1963.

7. Charles Houston. K2: The Savage Mountain. Near disaster in 1953.

8. Lionel Terray. Conquistadors of the Useless. Best book title ever and a good read.

9. Kurt Diemberger. Summits and Secrets. One of two men who made first ascents of two 8000 meter peaks (Buhl was the other).

10. Albert Mummery. My Climbs in the Alps and Caucasus. A mountaineering classic first published in 1895.

Review: CAMP Pulse ski mountaineering helmet

I was getting ready to write a scathing review of the CAMP Pulse helmet after a disappointing experience. This is one of the only helmets on the market (Dynafit also makes one) that passes the CE standards for both skiing (rather weak) and climbing (quite demanding). The concept is brilliant for ski mountaineers, alpinists, and ice climbers. But I thought I'd found a major flaw.

We were up at Loveland ski resort recently and the wind was howling. Not only were my ears freezing but the ear flaps actually channeled wind in so that hearing was very difficult. It may not seem like a big deal but it truly can be during a storm. I tried readjusting the straps at lunch to no avail. This was particularly dismaying because Lou Dawson had given this helmet a positive review at Wildsnow.com; we don't always agree but this appeared to be a glaring oversight.

This morning, I discovered the problem...the earflaps were put on the wrong side. That’s how the helmet was shipped to me. But it’s an easy mistake since they are not marked left and right and the difference is subtle to the eye. Once I disassembled the flaps and put them on properly, the problem was solved. Now I've marked them to prevent the error after I remove the Winter Kit for summer skiing.

My bigger issues are matters of fit so these may or may not affect you. First, the sizing runs small compared to many other helmets. The size 2 just barely fits a large head; there’s no way it will fit anyone who takes extra large. They really need a size 3 as well.

Second, due to the very oval shape, I experienced significant pressure on the upper rear “corners” of my skull which I don’t get from other helmets (including the CAMP StarLight and Petzl climbing helmets and several different Giro bike and ski helmets). This pain isn't noticeable right away but it gets almost unbearable after a couple hours and there doesn't appear to be any easy modification possible.

Minor nits: The adjustable front vents can rotate slightly so they don’t quite align with the holes and the handle could use more texture so it's easier to operate while wearing gloves. The goggle clip is less than ideal when using a headlamp with a battery pack on the back.

As with many helmets, the side straps are difficult to adjust and the instructions are poorly written. Fitting helmets should be simpler so people will do it. Currently, few stores take the time to help customers get a proper fit and few will do anything more than tighten a chin strap. This means the helmet has a good chance of not working when it's actually needed due to improper position.

Still, the Pulse is a very nice helmet. Having been spoiled by ski helmets with adjustable vents (Giro and Smith), I will never go back to a helmet that lacks them. This is an invaluable feature for temperature control on the fly. In addition to the sliding front closures, the CAMP Pulse has removable plugs for the rear vents, which is an acceptable compromise to reduce weight.

The total weight of the Size 2 with the Winter Kit is 14.0 ounces. For comparison, a Giro Fuse is 13.7 ounces and a Giro Omen is 21.2 ounces--and neither can pass the climbing tests for energy absorption or penetration of a falling rock. The CAMP StarLight is 10.3 ounces but lacks the vents and earflaps for skiing.

Overall, assuming this helmet fits your head, the pluses far outweigh the minuses. At a price of $100, plus $20 for the Winter Kit, it is a good value and offers better than average performance.