A Climber’s Guide to the Rocky Mountains of Canada, by Howard Palmer and J. Monroe Thorington. Third edition. 12 mo.; xviii + 275 pages. New York: The American Alpine Club, 1940. Price $3.00 ($2.50 to A. A. C. members).

The third edition of this handbook of mountaineering in the Canadian Rockies, which has proved its worth during the twenty years since it first appeared, is the authors’ final endeavor to correct and amplify the work already recorded, their personal observation forming the basis for the revisions and additions of the new edition. The total number of peaks included is approximately 750, with more than 600 routes outlined. Passes to the number of 95 are described. The general grouping of peaks remains the same as in earlier editions, the eastern frontal range warranting an additional section S. of the Canadian Pacific railroad.

The arrangement is progressive from S. to N. Part One includes the peaks from the International Boundary to the main line of the Canadian Pacific railroad; Part Two extends the description to Yellowhead pass, crossed by the Canadian National railroad, while Part Three embraces the region as far N. as Jarvis pass, beyond which the mountains are less typically alpine.

From areas recently surveyed more than eighty new peaks have been added to this edition, while mountaineering since 1930 has necessitated the inclusion of 107 first ascents and sixty-seven new routes, much material appearing here for the first time. The Lake Louise-Jasper highway, opened throughout in 1940, is described and affords limited access to several hitherto remote groups.

With its companion work on the Interior Ranges of British Columbia (1937), the two volumes form the American Alpine Club’s chief contribution toward the preservation of North American climbing records. The authors’ diligence is in marked contrast to that of the Geographic Board of Canada, which has failed to solve the obvious problem of nomenclature for the many important unnamed peaks in areas long since covered by governmental surveys.