High Adventure

Publication Year: 1952.

High Adventure, by Bob and Ira Spring. Text by Norma and Patricia Spring. 128 pages, 150 illustrations. Seattle: Superior Publishing Co., 1951. Price, $8.50.

The cover of High Adventure states that it is by “America’s Outstanding Mountain Photographers.” Whether one accepts this claim or not, any reader will grant that the illustrations in this picture book are exceptionally fine, certainly the outstanding photographs of the mountains of the Pacific Northwest yet to appear. We see rock, snow and ice climbing, and camps on the heights and among the flowers. The text, by the authors’ wives, is chatty and “homey.” It contributes feminine observations on camping in the Pacific Northwest; it supplies tips, such as the one that aluminum foil can be used instead of a fry pan for simple cooking. “Trout cooked in its own juice in foil is a gourmet’s delight.”

That Bob and Ira Spring are professional photographers is at once evident. Fewer illustrations, further “bleeding” and more imaginative format would please this reviewer. Still, High Adventure is a most attractive picture book, and should be sought especially by those who know or wish to know the mountains of our great Northwest.

Robert H. Bates