They say “Great minds think alike”, which was the conclusion that Thierry Souchard and I reached when we found we’d chosen the same four words to headline our efforts to share the wonder of less well-known climbing venues with a wider audience. A bit of Googling will reveal that Rock Around The World is also a record label, a geology website and a 1957 film starring Tommy Steele. Great minds indeed!
In Thierry’s case, RATW, subtitled grandes voies autour du monde, is an unusual guidebook, describing 180 multi-pitch routes from seven areas around the world. Regular readers of https://rockaroundtheworld.co.uk/ will know that’s a topic very close to my heart, so I had to get hold of a copy. Having done so, and used it successfully for my recent trip to the Calanques…
… I felt compelled to write a review to bring it to a wider audience. Here goes…
The unique concept of RATW is that it focuses only on multi-pitch routes and provides an introduction to these across seven widely spread geographies: the Calanques and Verdon in France; Sardinia, Italy; Meteora in Greece; Wadi Rum in Jordan; Tsaranoro in Madagascar; and Zion and Red Rocks in the States. There’s a couple of dozen routes in each, more than enough for a week or two, and as Thierry points out, you can view this guidebook as a good guide for a first trip, with all the info you need for six more at your fingertips.
Students of Parois de Légende (another of my climbing bibles) will spot a strong cross-over with some of the ground covered by Arnaud Petite’s book, but RATW is a nice complement rather than a substitute, giving more scope and depth. As an added advantage, it is also translated into English (as well as French), and the standard of the translation is excellent.
In another departure from at least some selected climbs guidebooks, the author has actually climbed almost all of the routes (that might seem a basic requirement, but…). Clear photo-topos are supplemented by a few words of description and some scene-setting ambiance. Importantly, there’s a solid introduction to each area covering key logistics and trip-planning beta, with clear maps, approach descriptions and QR codes for parking.
This is very much a “guidebook” rather than a “coffee table” book (though it’s packed with inspiring action shots), but with more than 300 pages you’ll probably want to take photos rather than lug it up a long route with you. As an alternative, some of the areas are also covered in a bonus Web app which you get free access to with your purchase. I have to confess that we experienced a few glitches, but this may well have been “operator error”.
I’ve visited all but two of the areas covered, but barely scratched the surface, and this book has certainly motivated me for some return trips. Madagascar and Wadi Rum are both firmly on the “To Do” list, so keep an eye out for some http://www.rockaroundtheworld.co.uk blog reports inspired by Thierry’s Rock Around The World. Meanwhile, you can get hold of your own copy at https://omegaroc.com/en/multi-pitch-climbing-guidebook-rock-around-the-world/
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