By Jason Lathrop

Himalaya Alpine-Style, a new coffee-table book by Andy Fanshawe and Stephen Venables, honors Himalayan climbing at its most daring and graceful. In addition to detailing geography, weather, and beauty, this weighty volume chronicles the bravest alpine-style ascents of 40 Himalayan peaks in a vivid full-color format.

After the great Himalayan mountains had all fallen to siege-tactic expeditions, climbers began looking for fresh challenges. Bold sprints by lightly-equipped teams--alpine-style climbing--became the standard of excellence against which Himalayan alpinists held their own technique. Himalaya Alpine-Style sets out to honor the greatest of these ascents, and it does so magnificently.

For climbers this book presents an uncommon level of information in a straightforward format. Each dedicated to a single peak, the 40 chapters contain overall descriptions of the climbing history, route descriptions, notable efforts and mishaps, and local details. They also each have a drawing of the mountain with route names, first ascenders, and years indicated. At the end of each is a chart listing the vitals: altitude, location, brief route summary, first ascents, base camp altitude, climbing season and weather patterns, permission requirements, success rates, and a bibliography on the peak.

In the introduction, Venables writes, "this is a book for climbers." Though the meticulous detail does make it a powerful reference, the book's clarity and plain narrative open it to those who aren't climbers, even if that's not what the authors had in mind. Take this description of Chris Bonington and Doug Scott's first ascent of Pakistan's The Ogre (7285 meters): "He and Bonington finally reached the top at sunset and it was nearly dark by the time Scott set off down on the first abseil. It was whilst reversing a difficult pendulum that he skidded on newly frozen verglas, swung across the face, and broke both his ankles ... Luckily, Scott had enormous mental and physical reserves and, although his ankles were broken, he still was able to use his knees."

The photographs accomplish as well any collection has, the daunting task of communicating the beauty of the landscape. Himalaya Alpine-Style has page after page of images borrowed from the collections of the world's foremost mountaineers. They are neither repetitive nor cliché. They range from the close and personal, such as a shot of Doug Scott rappelling with the broken ankles described above, to the splendidly expansive, such as a two-page spread of Everest's summit.

In penning Himalaya Alpine-Style, Fanshawe and Venables follow in an old literary tradition, the mountaineering book. Few pursuits lend themselves so well to written accounts as climbing, with its stark challenge, painful ordeals, and, if successful, conclusively dramatic finale.

But few pursuits resist broadly appealing summary quite as tenaciously as climbing: Non-climbers want human stories. Climbers also want detailed descriptions of routes, topography, and methods. And for both, only a lavish presentation can begin to capture the visual impact of high mountains

This book, amazingly, does all three. Whether it ends up on a shelf with your climbing guidebooks, or lounging on a coffee table for your armchair climbing, it's a sumptuous winner--and a worthy tribute to climbing's finest style, alpine.

Himalaya Alpine-Style. $45 from The Mountaineers Books, 1001 SW Klickitat Way, Suite 201, Seattle WA 98134.