Ascent: The Climbing Experience in Word and Image

This issue of Ascent is superior to some of the others. More professional and less flaky, it contains gripping trip reports and hilarious satire. The poetry is overall good, though very focused on the work of one author. The photography is beautiful but too much of it is in black and white. I found the reproduced paintings to be luridly colored and uninteresting. Overall, though, this book is well worth reading, with highlights including excellent work by Kelsey and Viola.

The scope, quality and depth of the prose in this issue of Ascent are of astoundingly high quality. Each one of the essays and stories in this collection provokes thought, and the sheer variety of the material, from farce through introspection to commentary, makes this a trove for climbers who love to read.Alas, I cannot comment on the poetry, as I skipped all of it without reading a line.The images in this issue are of more varied quality than the prose. While the colour photgraphs are crisp and rich, the monochrome photos are genreally poorly-reproduced, being flat and lacking in contrast. I was not impressed with much of the non-photographic art, as little of it has any quality that might draw attention to itself other than its subject matter.Overall, I think that the 1999 issue of Ascent easily justifies its purchase price for the wonderful prose alone. If you are looking specifically for photography or artwork that pertains to climbing, though, you would do well to look elsewhere.