Classic Alpine Literature : Land Above the Trees, A Guide to American Alpine Tundra (Hardwear Sessions)

By Cynthia Houng

A mountain is a vertical world. As we move upwards, we travel through layered ecosystems. Here in the Sierras, we pass through open sagebrush desert (on the dry East side) or rolling grasslands, then chaparral, then forest (pine, occasionally mixed with oak), high montane meadows (often wet with mountain streams), until finally we break through the timberline and enter a strange but beautiful land.

Washed by intense sunlight and scoured by strong winds, these high alpine landscapes are a study in contrasts. Delicate, jewel-like plants blossom beneath an endless sky. Miniature columbines and gentians grow amidst massive stone peaks.

I fell in love with these alpine landscapes while still in graduate school. Those long summer breaks seemed designed for long trips to the mountains, and I spent as much time as I could outside, above timberline. This became our summer pattern -- to alternate days of hiking or climbing in the high Sierra with lazy days lounging with my papers and notebooks. On one of these rest days, I picked up a copy of Anne Zwinger and Beatrice Willard's classic Land Above the Trees: A Guide to American Alpine Tundra. First published in 1972, Zwinger's book remains a classic in the field, presenting a lucid overview of North American alpine ecosystems.

In their preface to the 1996 edition of Land Above the Trees, Zwinger and Willard note that in 1972, theirs was the only book describing North American alpine regions. Today, Land Above the Trees is no longer situated on ecology's cutting edge, but it is still a model of descriptive natural history. Zwinger and Willard give the reader precise, lyric images of alpine ecosystems. Zwinger's delicate line drawings are extremely useful, giving form to unfamiliar flora and fauna.

The book is divided into two parts. Part One, "The Alpine World," describes the various components of the alpine landscape, covering everything from plant adaptations to the geological processes that shape this environment. Part Two, "Alpine Areas," presents brief descriptions of North American alpine landscapes, taking readers from the Rockies to the Cascades.

Land Above the Trees lifts the veil, for those of us who are mere "day trippers" above timberline, and gives us a glimpse into the forces that shape this extraordinary landscape. They transform these landscapes from static vistas into dynamic systems. After reading Land Above the Trees, I can never look at a scree field in the same way again. Even the mosses and lichens have taken on new meaning, no longer splashes of color but actual living organisms integral to the high alpine ecosystem. Though these ecosystems appear robust, they are actually quite fragile, easily destroyed by a rockfall or a footprint. Zwinger and Willard shed light on the alpine tundra's delicate equilibrium. It takes decades to establish a bit of alpine meadow turf, and a few minutes to wipe out the entire thing. Above timberline, things are perpetually in flux, and nothing is ever certain.

There are more technical books on the market, but few can match Land Above the Trees in elegance. Those who love to venture above the timberline will enjoy the book's precise descriptions and crystalline language.