All the 4000s – The thin air of high altitude

The culture of information flowing across the web will probably supplant a large part of paper publishing.

Looking for information is becoming ever simpler and more immediate with the help of a good computer and a good search engine. Some books, though, will remain irreplaceable, at least for the present generations. This is even truer if we think of books like hiking guides (books), which do not use up their purpose in a single reading but live and live again, over and over, in their readers' hands.

“Tutti i 4000 – L'Aria Sottile dell'Alta Quota” (All the 4000s – The thin air of high altitude) is one of the latest great efforts of the Turin publisher CDA Vivalda. A book born from the collaboration between the publisher, the CAI (Italian Alpine Club) of Turin and the Club4000.

You get a distinct feeling that something in today's publishing is changing. Many publishers are finding the creative strength to free themselves of the many stereotypes that forced them to publish according to certain overly restrictive canons. The text, in fact, is not just a guide to the 4000s of the Alps. A broad introduction takes us by the hand through the many possible meanings of “collecting summits above 4000 metres”. The “4000 project” and the founding of the “Club4000” have the same roots; they end up being the same story and having the same meaning.
The guide to the 4000s, which makes up the bulk of the text, does not include technical fact sheets for the ascent routes. Then again, it would not have been possible to bring order to the endless possibilities the Alps offer. However, for the description of each single summit, from the most important to the least “notable”, the authors have given an enormous amount of space to the descriptions, including thorough historical research and a precise knowledge of mountaineering techniques.

The 17x24 format seems intended to give space to the photographs, which however are, in our opinion, too few. The choice is probably deliberate. Then again, there are already plenty of photographic books on the Alps. A lot of space, on the other hand, is given to the text. Photos, texts and summary tables are in any case presented with the right balance.

A book that opens no competition but simply encourages you to live the endless possibilities offered by the highest peaks of the Alps, whose summits end up seeming not as far away as people believe. It matters little if the great mountaineers maintain that mountaineering can no longer give great emotions; it matters little if, with risk cancelled out, there is no longer either emotion or knowledge. The mountaineering of the past laid the foundations for the mountains to become accessible to the many. In spite of all this, this book is proof that the mountains still have a lot to give.

Book CONTENTS

If you prefer the summits closer to home, you can read our thoughts on how to collect the summits of the Apennines.