Hooking Up - The Ultimate Big Wall and Aid Climbing Manual - Order now!

URGENT: Get Hooking Up now ... or Yer Gonna Die!!!

How's it goin', eh? I have 300 copies of Hooking Up - The Ultimate Aid Climbing and Big Wall Manual - here at home ready to ship out, BUT I am heading to Australia etc. on Wednesday for the ultimate dirtbag* trip. There is a time constraint, so you must ACT NOW, or else wait til spring when I return ... if I ever return.... or get it from Marc-Olivier Chabot at Verti-Call. if I have time to get him some before I bail southwards. [You would too if you hate the cold as much as me]

*I would like the thank my sponsors Aeroplan, TD Visa Infinite, American Express, and all these other outfits who have handed me all of these frequent flyer miles, and benevolent folks like Dave Barnes and John Deucey Middendorf and Paul Pablo Pritchard in Tasmania, those devils who are willing to put me up, and put up with me. And take me climbing, please.

The price of the book is $60 US or $80 CAN. This includes my cost of shipping this three-pound 670-page 3000-colour-photo tome across the ocean fromma da Eye-talians and the duty the Hoser Customs charged me to clear the pallet past the polar bears and the beavers on guard for thee at the airport. So for people like MILFy Dargie and Cory Eskra to whom I will be hand-delivering books, like, you don't have to pay shipping, but you might have to buy me a beer, eh?

If I courier to you in the the You-Ess, the cost will be $25 US, so the total price to you is $85 US please.  My PayPal email address is my regular one, which is:   passthepitonspete@hotmail.com 

Please tell PayPal it's "FOR FRIENDS AND FAMILY".  This way there are no fees, eh?  I'm sorry, I can't figure out Venmo yet for the cross border stuff.... We are currently shipping via UPS in case of the government shutdown! 

If I ship anywhere in Canada, the courier is $25 CAN, so you can immediately etransfer me $105 CAN to this same email address which is:  passthepitonspete@hotmail.com 

All books shipped will be autographed by the diabolical Dr. Piton himself, including a personal message if you included something to mention in your email to me. Otherwise, heaven help you.

If you have not already done so, please send me an email:

passthepitonspete@hotmail.com

In the subject line, please include the word "book" rather than the title so it doesn't end up in your junk mailbox. 

Once I gotta you money, I shippa you the book. Capisce?

In all seriousness, Fabio Elli and I worked on this for three years, and we believe that yous guys and gals are really gonna love our book! There's something in here for everyone, and if you are actually a climber, the tips you learn will save you so much time, energy and money that you will immediately underwrite the cost of the book on your next wall.

Cheers and beers,

Dr. Piton, B.S., M.S., Ph. D.

Everyone knows what B.S. is.

M.S. is More of the Same.

And Ph.D is Piled higher and Deeper

P.S. Please share this post, eh?

FWIW: Hooking Up is only really worthwhile if you already have Andy Kirkpatrick's Higher Education Bigwall Book.  

I've got both books and was quite disappointed with the high ratio of bluster:instruction in Hooking Up versus Higher Education. Hooking up reads more like a glossary of aid terms and items with some tips here and there whereas Higher Education will actually get into the minutia of how and why things work or don't work on the wall. (Compare the sections on hooks in both books for a perfect example of this)

All in all, if you want a coffee table book full of stories and anecdotes, Hooking Up is a great text.
If you want a book focused on instruction that will get you prepared for the weirdness and the overwhelming technical requirements of bigwalling, Higher Education is emphatically the "better way" to go.

kevin deweese wrote: FWIW: Hooking Up is only really worthwhile if you already have Andy Kirkpatrick's Higher Education Bigwall Book.  

I've got both books and was quite disappointed with the high ratio of bluster:instruction in Hooking Up versus Higher Education. Hooking up reads more like a glossary of aid terms and items with some tips here and there whereas Higher Education will actually get into the minutia of how and why things work or don't work on the wall. (Compare the sections on hooks in both books for a perfect example of this)

All in all, if you want a coffee table book full of stories and anecdotes, Hooking Up is a great text.
If you want a book focused on instruction that will get up prepared for the weirdness and the overwhelming technical requirements of bigwalling, Higher Education is emphatically the "better way" to go.  

FWIW higher education is also crap and Kevin has an ego that’s even bigger than the bolt ladders he calls FAs.

lol aid climbing

Christopher Smaling wrote:

FWIW higher education is also crap and Kevin has an ego that’s even bigger than the bolt ladders he calls FAs.

If you’re smart enough to aid solo without dying, get on with it.  If not, maybe buy Pete’s book?

8/10 would get trolled again

I have both books.  Definitely appreciate the character and stories of hooking up. Lots of good info.  Two thumbs up

Hooking Up is the best aid climbing manual there is.

I have both "Higher" and "Me, Myself" from Kirkpatrick - but speaking from an educator's viewpoint -  I think "Hooking" sets the standard for this subject. This tome is definitely "BBB".  Well worth the price just for the pics and personal anecdotes. There's a hilarious "legal disclaimer and assumption of risk" by PTPP and great forward by Jim Bridwell - followed by hundreds of pages of info, insights, tips, tricks and techniques that takes most of the mystery (except the "why") out of aid climbing.

I'm sure many can nitpick and find fault with various techniques presented - but the authors are clear in that they are staking no claim to any ultimate truths - they're just presenting the information they KNOW works best (for them!) - info that's been garnered and proven over many years and pitches.

I don't recommend anyone rely on any one source of information on any given subject (I'm talking to you "FOX only" news watchers!) - But if you had to pick one book to start learning aid with - this would probably be it. 

"Ultimate" is a pretty strong claim to make - but in this case - yeah, maybe it is :)  Two thumbs way up!

Where can i get a copy???

Comments on Pete and Fabio‘s book, “Hooking Up” . . .

As others have mentioned, it has great stories from wall experts, loads of photographs, the deep dive expertise you would expect from Pete and his vast experience, and his offbeat writing style.  The production quality is excellent, with nice heavy paper, sturdy binding, and good quality photographs.

Yes,, it is expensive, and may “offend your dirtbag sensibilities.” But, the way I look at it, Pete has shared so much of his knowledge so freely for so many years with so many people, this is perhaps a way to pay him back for it, now that pretty much all of it is summarized in one place.

Also, you can look at this book as an investment of your time from learning from the thousands of hours that these experts have spent on the wall. For the cost of a single nice cam, you can learn things that will save huge time off of your learning curve.

If you are brand new to the game, it will be a little hard to digest because many of the techniques are quite advanced. But, if you think this is the climbing niche for you, I recommend it, knowing that you will return to drink from the well many times.

And re: Andy Kirkpatrick's excellent book "Higher Education", I think they are complementary.

(Sidenote, it does not seem to be on Amazon distribution as I write this. If you search for “Hooking Up” you get quite a few more salacious books to choose from, ha ha.)

Hey everyone,

Thanks so much for your kind words about Hooking Up!  Fabio and I poured four years of work into this project, poring over every little detail, and it's great to hear that you-all are as pleased with the result as we are.  

Many of you have recognized that Hooking Up is the final product of over twenty years' writing on internet forums, starting with rockclimbing.com and including some posts here in MP and in Supertopo and other places.  So in fact, I've been writing this stuff since the late 90s, if only in my head along with my constant note-taking and refinement of my systems. There are a bunch of new never-before-published ideas in the book, and even know-it-alls will find something new that they never thought about before, which will make them climb better. Honestly, you only have to learn and implement a couple key ideas in the book to save yourself enough time and energy on your travel, approach, climb and descent to completely underwrite the cost of the book!  In other words, the book will easily pay for itself on your next wall. The more teachable your spirit, the greater will be your net benefit.    

And YES - we appreciate you guys' support of our project by buying our book!  Fabio and I ain't gonna get rich on this, but at least half of something is better than all of nothing. We calculate that our hourly writing rate is currently about seven cents, and we are hoping to raise this one day to at least a dollar an hour, which may hopefully happen in our lifetimes.

You can contact me directly to buy a book, and I will mail it out to you right away, along with a personalized autograph from Dr. Piton himself.  [Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!]  

My personal email is:    passthepitonspete@hotmail.com

Cheers and beers, eh?
"Pass the Pitons" Pete aka Dr. Piton

I don't have either one of these books for obvious reasons.

Broken Arrow Tool Co wrote: I don't have either one of these books for obvious reasons.

Because you are already a master aid climber? Because you can read and the internet exists? Because you don’t want to support these guys? Because you just got laid off and the trumpbux aren’t here yet?

C Limenski wrote:

Because you are already a master aid climber? Because you can read and the internet exists? Because you don’t want to support these guys? Because you just got laid off and the trumpbux aren’t here yet?

Guess it’s not obvious to me
luckily I got my hands on both the books before I was laid off so now I have much time to study master piton

Because aid climbing, my friend...is neither.

Pete is a warrior, a poet, and a. friend.

He knows his stuff.

Still waiting for a response to my email, Dr Piton....

I got out Don Harder's book to him right away, and I can also mail books to anyone anywhere in the world right away, too!  So if you are interested, you can PM me through the website, or contact me directly at    passthepitonspete      ... at ........    hot    mail    dot com with no spaces.  

Cheers, eh? 

Got my copy a couple days ago. Wow! Just wow. I’m not even a third of the way through and all i’m doing, at this point, is looking at the pictures and reading the highlights. I’ll go through it more thoroughly later. You hit a home run, Dr Piton. You CAN teach an old dog new tricks. 

Just got my copy a few days ago. I had heard that it was mostly stories and not that much instruction -- this isn't true. There are a lot of stories but also LOTS of instruction -- the book is like 600 pages long. Maybe even more technically in depth than Higher Education.

In any case, the book is a work of art and a great resource. Totally worth the money!

Up front, Pete has the books and will send them to you fast! It’s solid packed with information. You should buy it, even if you are experienced. There is stuff in here you could only get from conversations in Camp 4, until now. Great Job Pete and Fabio! Get it here: passthepitonspete@hotmail.com or hit him up on Facebook.

I’d been meaning to get a copy of Hooking Up since I first heard of it. I contacted Pete directly and asked "do you have any copies left and could you sell me one?"  The answer was immediate, "yes and YES!" We arranged a transaction through PayPal and email. He sent it out the next day. My book made it through CanadaPost and the USPS in under ten days!

When I finally cracked it open... Incredible! I've been aid climbing for decades and I think this book is worth every penny. There is stuff in it ranging from "Never thought of THAT", through " That’s a great description of the technique", and on to "SEE, I'm NOT crazy! That works!" Hooking Up has the most detailed discussion I’ve ever seen written about bashies, Anywhere! With pictures! ( Ever try to take a picture of a copperhead placement?) Every topic is covered in detail - pins, beaks,peckers, hooks, nuts, and cams. I love that there are a lot of pictures of unusual placement that get you thinking. They are gems of technofunkery and go nicely with the tech tips throughout the book, all the discussion of living on the wall is priceless. The tone throughout isn’t "Do this!" It’s "If this is what’s going on, here are some things that work. Pick what’s best for you."

Pete and Fabio did an amazing job with the whole thing.

Oh, and Pete even signed it for me! Nice touch!