Introduction to Rock and Mountain Climbing

This is one of several books authored by the Mendenhall’s on climbing and backpacking. This includes what the absolute beginner needs to know, do, have, and take!

John Mendenhall (1911 – 1983) is well known in Sierra climbing circles. His first ascent of the NE gully of Laurel Mountain in 1930 is regarded as the first belayed climb in the Sierra Nevada. He pioneered early technical routes in the Sierra and helped develop climbing at Tahquitz Rock. Ruth Mendenhall (1912 – 1989) was one of America's first and most important women mountain climbers. She began her climbing career at the height of the Great Depression, at a time when the opportunities for women to climb were essentially non-existent. Over the course of her fifty-year mountaineering career, Ruth and John made over 21 first ascents in North America including some of the most classic in the Sierra Nevada: Mount Whitney, Third Needle (1939), Mount Sill, Swiss Arete (1938), Temple Crag, North Peak (1940), Mount Whitney, Southeast Buttress (1941), Lower Cathedral Spire, Yosemite (1948), Mount Williamson, North Face (1957) and Mt. Mendenhall.

Neate M81.