Colorado Scrambles: Climbs Beyond the Beaten Path, 2nd Edition (Colorado Mountain Club Guidebook)

First, this is a well-put-together book. Well-illustrated, good, thick pages. Lots of color. It gets to the point and shows information at a glance. Organizes these scrambles by difficulty, time investment, and so forth. My only disappointment is over the term "scramble." I had been under the impression this referred to something akin to hiking in which one would need to clamber over some rocks and use one's hands and arms some. This guide states on page 16, "All of the climbs in this book involve Class 3 and/or Class 4 scrambling..." Class 4 is "Simple climbing often with exposure. A rope is often used. A fall on Class 4 rock could be fatal. Typically, natural protection can easily be found." I find that a little vague. Not sure at that point if these are technical climbing routes or not. (I'm not looking for that.) Anything with Class 5 ("Where rock climbing begins in earnest...") is something for which I'm perhaps a bit old to be doing.I'm not an outdoors-neophyte. I did a prodigious amount of rucking in the Army 20 years ago. I also had some basic mountaineering instruction back then. (I would _definitely_ need a refresher before attempting anything slightly technical now.) But we didn't use all of the same terminology. I see that several of these should be doable once the variability in the present weather flattens out. And I especially liked the "off the beaten path" subtitle as anyone who has experienced the Disney-like crowding at RMNP can attest to.

I am a current Colorado Mountain Club member and I purchased this book after completing the 14ers. This book is an extensive resource for some pretty "off the grid" gnarly scrambles. I highly recommend it for locals that are already familiar and savvy with Colorado's trail-heads, mountain ranges and route finding. Some of the route descriptions are already mentioned in Roach's 14ers book. Yes, some descriptions are a little vague and open to interpretation and improvisation. Furthermore, it is a excellent reference for those looking to expand their climbing adventures on treacherous terrain.The photo below is on the "true" summit block of The Little Matterhorn in Rocky Mountain National Park compliments of this great book.

Short but informative descriptions with good photos. Every time I pick this book up, it really gives me the itch to get back to Colorado and go climbing again.

Great book for Scrabbling peaks in Colorado.

great for the (more intense) hiker

Overall not a bad book but VERY short on details, driving directions, etc. Also, the author did not defend the reason the summit was chosen to be included in the guide. I believe there are better books out there for the money.

So why bother issuing a second edition when not making any significant changes with peak selections, routes, photos, beta, etc. Just disappointing to see a re-print that yet again includes some rather obscure peaks and then omitting some notable others. Why were the Elks dropped? Just the like first edition, map details and binding quality are rather sad. Overall still nice collection but stick with first edition if you can find it.

We got this book last year and loved doing these hikes (did roughly 10 this summer).The route descriptions are good and easy to follow, and pointed us to some great climbs we wouldn't have otherwise considered.I would recommend this book to anyone looking for challenging hikes. Need to have some off trail and route finding experience to feel comfortable on these mountains, but the descriptions give accurate assessments of difficulty.

very nice book!Many scrambling routes!