What's the best guidebook ever written

No love for Peaks, Passes, and Trails?

Or how about the mythical comprehensive Yosemite guide which is due to come out any day now?

Best route description ever (form the Paul Williams Cloggy Guide):

*** The Indian Face 150 feet
(a.k.a. The Headmaster's Wall)

Standard: E9; Exceptionally Severe (Excessively so). Rubbers.

It has been said that up the face to the right of A Midsummer Night's Dream, a pitch of such appalling difficulty as to be almost beyond the realms of human comprehension has been ascended without mechanical machinations or other insidious practices normally associated with a route of this calibre...

Protection is at best illusory; the whole sweep of rock affords not so much as a single nubbin on which the thinnest line may be secured, nor a single crack in which the most vestigal of chockstones could hope to gain lodgement. Should the leader fail to negotiate the crux, or be seized by a palsy high on the pitch, disaster must be imminent...

The successful leader, even though he be of a modest disposition, may relax, and justifiably award himself a 'pat on the back'.

 I'd like to toss in my vote for a classic: "The Stonemasher Guide to the Kern River Canyon and Environs" by E.C. Joe and Richard Leversee.  Early and honest beta to the CA Needles, Dome Rock, and some rarely visited obscura.  The book is full of hidden gems like the perfect drawing of the correct way to sling a chickenhead.

John Page's "Recommended Climbing Routes in the Needles of South Dakota" is great, even though it only includes a small number of routes.

The ones it does include are well described, classic, and usually reasonably safe, with clear descriptions of the presence or absence of pro.

All you really need for a quick trip to the area.

Unfortunately I think it's long out pf print.

Richard Rossisters Boulder Climbs North, The Super topo guides

Buck Rogers wrote:

Damnit!  That looks AMAZING!  Guess it is time to switch out my Mellor for this one!

Ordering it today.

I like Mellor's book too, but guidebooks have evolved.

Mark E Dixon wrote:

It's super obscure, but I think the Bellefonte Quarry guide by Jim Bowers is the funniest, hence best guidebook I've ever seen.

More route by route history (probably half lies) than anyone ever wanted, the occasional Horst slander, unredacted route names to offend everyone, unrepentant drilling and chipping. 

Very old thread, but another vote for Bellefonte and Jim Bowers! I knew I had this somewhere and finally found it today. Have never seen another copy.

Gotta plug Joey Henson’s hand-drawn map to the Linville Gorge boulders. As a guide, it’s enjoyable to use, visually descriptive, and an awesome labor of love. 

Adrienne Mehalow wrote:

Very old thread, but another vote for Bellefonte and Jim Bowers! I knew I had this somewhere and finally found it today. Have never seen another copy.

I have a photo copy of that book and did much of my formative climbing there in the mid 90’s. Such a cool spot. It was fun climbing while punk bands played powered by generators and getting ice cream where we parked to sneak in. 

Central PA choss for the win! Missed you by a few years. I was there around 2000. Pretty quiet by then but still good fun.

Perhaps it's because it was the first guidebook I ever owned, and used the most: Don Reid's Yosemite guide.  The hand-drawn topos are the easiest format for me to read and understand, far better than a photo with a thick line drawn on it.   He could draw an entire crag so you could recognize it easily, and find features along the base to guide you to your climb.  The coded lines meaning arete or corner or roof or ledge convey meaning with great simplicity.  I wish every area had a guidebook drawn that way.

Vince Nett wrote:

The black: rock climbing in the black

Canyon of the Gunnison 

Second this 

Mark E Dixon wrote:

It's super obscure, but I think the Bellefonte Quarry guide by Jim Bowers is the funniest, hence best guidebook I've ever seen.

More route by route history (probably half lies) than anyone ever wanted, the occasional Horst slander, unredacted route names to offend everyone, unrepentant drilling and chipping. 

Even an 11b crack climb created with a masonry saw-

"Manufractured"- 'Well, what can I possibly say about this route. It cost 80 bucks'

I also like the Thin White Line, A Climber's Guide to the Seward Highway, which features a color picture of a dead, roadkill bird on the cover.

"Have you ever shoveled while hanging on a rope? No, we were not sober."

 "Matt McMillan, the world's foremost candidate for rejection by females." Jim Bower, Bellefonte

throwing in little river canyon by Adam Henry. Route quality measured in mullets? Jokes about Chattanooga climbers? Great southern feel

Maybe not objectively the best but I have the fondest memories of the Grey Dick.

https://www.mountainproject.com/photo/105798846/dick-williams-new-trapps-guidebook

Southern Pisgah Rock and Ice.

Extremely well detailed with tons of awesome historical context about a spectacular granite climbing area. 

Some of my faves:

Rossiter's Boulder Climbs South

Ortenberger's Climbing Guide to the Tetons

Anybody with that Bellefonte guide able to scan it? Would love to check it out.

Vince Nett wrote:

The black: rock climbing in the black

Canyon of the Gunnison 

A third vote for this. No other guidebook captures the spirit of a climbing area quite like this one. 

Hands down the Ten Sleep guide Swallow the Lightning