Select Peaks Publishing

04/08/2025

Family time!…a week of AK backcountry skiing the old fashioned way…on foot!

03/21/2025

The Backcountry Film Festival is this Saturday at Old Wilson Schoolhouse. Come celebrate what turned out to be an awesome ski season!

12/12/2024

I will be at REI in Jackson signing books tomorrow and Saturday. Come by, pick up some gear and gifts, and your season passes to the JH backcountry! …(Teton Pass Backcountry Guide and JH Backcountry Guide:South…and Select Peaks for ski mountaineering and peaks!)
Friday, Dec 13, 4-6pm and Saturday, Dec 14, 11am-1pm

10/22/2024

The new hardcover edition of Select Peaks is in the house! SelectPeaks.com

07/08/2024

Lizard Head Peak in the Wind River Mountains, shown here in a photo by Tom Bennett, is one of the Select Peaks that baffled me for many years during research for 𝘚𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘗𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘠𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦. Firstly, I simply didn’t see the cleanest and safest way up the vast and confusing south face, and thus had trouble writing the route description. And secondly, available information about the peak’s early climbing history was obscure and contradictory—bordering on controversial. In the new edition, I was determined to dig deep and solve the mysteries. To figure out the best route up, I had to talk to a lot of climbers and make several attempts on the peak and nearby mountains for birds-eye views. For the historical part, I collected every legend, old article, government report, and guidebook tidbit that I could find and, like puzzle pieces, tried to reconstruct a reasonable chronicle of events…including the intriguing Native American interest in the peak and Billy Owen’s exploits in the 1890s. I generated enough text about Lizard Head Peak that, in addition to a general info section about the peak and route description, there is a “Deeper Dive” section featuring the peak as well. Check it all out on pages 343-348 in the new edition of 𝘚𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘗𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘠𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦. ⁣

06/30/2024

This fantastic article by Lauren Burgess about the journey of "Select Peaks of Greater Yellowstone" just came out in Mountain Outlaw Magazine. Thank you Lauren for your keen listening, understanding, and wise expression!

Thrumming with the resonant call of the wild, the compilation of route descriptions, geology and history of 107 prominent peaks across 13 mountain ranges, known as Select Peaks, has for decades been a backcountry essential akin to scripture for those who view the alpine as altar. Routes have been sc...

06/12/2024

One of the most challenging and time-consuming research projects during my six years of work on the revision of 𝘚𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘗𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘠𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦 was the Deeper Dive about early mountaineering history in the Beartooth Mountains. As I was setting out to rewrite the introduction to the range, I recalled how little had been written about exploration, mapping, and early ascents there. I could skim over those subjects as I did in the first edition, but I wasn’t going to do that again. This time, I wanted to write a fresh and definitive history of Beartooth exploration. Some of the big questions I tried to answer were: 1) Who were the earliest explorers, both native and nonnative, to venture into Greater Yellowstone’s most rugged range, and why? 2) When were the first detailed maps of the range made, who were the surveyors, which peaks did they climb, and how did they fare in such a colossal task? 3) What are the peak climbing stories of early adventurers such as James Whitham, Fred Inabnit, and members of the Kimball survey?⁣
⁣
To read the full story, check out pages 119-131 in the new edition of 𝘚𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘗𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘠𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦.

04/04/2024

Tom Turiano updates his 2003 bible, Select Peaks of Greater Yellowstone—A Mountaineering History & Guide: The new edition is gold.