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New Must-Have Western Canada Guidebooks for 2016

While many climbers have turned to keeping track of their ascents on sites like 8a.nu and Sendage.com, nothing will replace the convenience of a guidebook. Some sites such as Mountainproject.com and thecrag.com have built reliable resources of route info, but they lack the local’s touch and comprehensive crag info that can be found in the below guidebooks.

Vancouver Rock Climbing: West Coast climber and photographer Rich Wheater teamed up with award-winning Quickdraw Publications to produce this great new guidebook. Vancouver’s North Shore Mountains have long served as a convenient playground with hundreds of trails, three ski resorts and a sun-drenched coastline.

This guidebook is the climbers’ source for beta, and is packed with 300 routes, 600 boulder problems and a handful of fine alpine objectives. This is the first guidebook provide comprehensive coverage for Vancouver’s rock climbing. Available now here.

Vancouver Rock Climbing Guidebook

Jasper Rock Climbing: Francois Laplante took on a the task of completing a detailed guidebook to the Jasper area in Alberta. With world-class climbing, the National Park never had a modern guidebook and the task too Laplante two years.

Using kickstarter to raise money for publishing, he created a top new guidebook with over 500 sport, trad and multi-pitch climbs and over 50 bouldering problems. He put countless hours into detailed maps and drawings, included hundreds of coloured photos and historical info. Available now, for more info see here.

Jasper Rock Climbing

Sport Climbs in the Canadian Rockies: With the seventh volume expected out this summer, Sport Climbs in the Canadian Rockies has sold over 15,000 copies since being published in 1995 by Jon Jones and John Martin. Award winning publishing house Rocky Mountain Books has produced dozens of top-selling guides, but this is the most-loved by climbers.

It has been revised to include colour photos and updated topos, including topos to many new areas including Echo Canyon. With 500 new routes added, the book has over 2,3000 now. The full-colour maps and 300 topos add to the climbing experience. Available in 2016, see here for more info.

Sport Climbs in the Canadian Rockies

Squamish Rock, Rockies Alpine and Rockies Scrambling: Kevin McLane’s High Col publishing has produced a number of top guidebooks over the years, including Canadian Rock, Skaha Rockclimbs and The Climbers Guide to Squamish. With David Jones, High Col is producing the second-to-be-released volume in the new four volume The Climbers Guide to the Rocky Mountains of Canada. It will include alpine climbs in the western reaches of the Canadian Rockies.

High Col is also working on a new volume of The Climbers Guide to Squamish, which promises to be one of the most comprehensive guides to the area ever. Visit here for more info. Rocky Mountain Books released the third volume of Alan Kane’s classic Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies, more info here.

Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies

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