Best Guidebook?

Falcon guides suck

No love for Secor's High Sierra guide? That thing is so epic. I could spend a lifetime just trying to tick off all the routes in that book and probably wouldn't even get through a third of them.

Yosemite Climbs: Roper -- Informative and nearly pocket sized. Took a beating and never lost a page. Got me up a huge amount of rock.

Teton and Wind Rivers: Ortenburger -- history and accuracy plus illustrations.

Rocky Heights: Erickson -- 30 years later it's still in one piece and yielding useable info. Wit, wisdom, ethics, and practical portability. (same with Roach Flatirons)

pick it: Rossiter -- THE standard in my eyes. Took the topo form into the art form. Plus photos and descriptions. Rocky Park and Eldo were special.

honorable mention to Dennis and Hollis for Poor Person's Devils Tower. Where else could you get everything you need for less than $3 ?

What Mic said.

Don't forget the Guidebook Nobody Can Pronounce, Kimball and Salaun's masterpiece on Lumpy. Mine is a first edition, has survived too many trips to count, and is still in one piece, coffee stains and all.

Also, Dave Pagel's affectionate, massively entertaining, well-written guide to climbing on and near Lake Superior's north shore. If you remember that article in "Climbing" years ago about two midwestern climbers gone west, you know what I'm talking about.

The grey Dick, in my opinion.