Alpine Ski Tour. By Robin Fedden. London: Putnam, 1956. 93 pages, ills.; map. Price 30 s.

Anyone contemplating a ski traverse of the Haute Route would certainly find much of interest and practical value in this glorified guidebook to one of the finest and most popular of the big Alpine ski tours. There is much background material and there are large and superb pictures. All through the actual tour the author gives his attention to much more than the skiing and mountaineering problems—as well he may when an entire book is devoted to one ten-day tour. The most interesting of this to me was the historical material on the country traversed and the early uses of the passes to Italy. But the author concerns himself as well with life in the valleys below, the native inhabitants, birds, animal tracks, trees, and, of course, weather—to everything, curiously, except his companions on the trip who remain to the end merely names. This extensive accompanying detail provides much interest too, even to those people who are not at the moment embarking on this trip. There are superb pictures.

Miriam Underhill