Sand Castles

Yosemite Valley and southeastern Utah’s desert towers are America’s two unique contributions to climbing geography—the places that, for topography and climbing potential, are like none other on Earth. Of the two, Yosemite’s climbing lore has been much better documented. Now, Steve “Crusher” Bartlett has redressed this gap—and then some—with his 352-page, coffee-table survey of tower-bagging history, Desert Towers: Fat Cat Summits and Kitty Litter Rock ($49.95, sharpendbooks.com). To create Desert Towers, Crusher spent more than two years interviewing climbers, chasing down articles, and unearthing hundreds of photographs. The author list is a who’s who of desert climbing, including Chuck Pratt, Layton Kor, Ed Webster, John Sherman, and Stevie Haston. And Crusher brings the story right up to the present, with feature stories from as recent as 2009. This is a bedside book to return to again and again. Editor’s note: See Climbing No. 289, page 62 to read a feature excerpt from Desert Towers. —Dougald MacDonald