About Us

We only publish guidebooks to places we'd go to ourselves—it's an unspoken rule here.

Fred Knapp wanted to share his love and knowledge for climbing, so he founded Sharp End Publishing in 1992. We have always been a family-run, grassroots publishing house of passionate climbers.

In the two and a half decades of operation, Sharp End has evolved from producing small pamphlet guides to becoming one of the leading publishers of climbing, bouldering, and outdoor guides in North America. We introduced the first full-color climbing book to the US market with the Indian Creek guide in 2001. We kicked off the legendary Women of Climbing calendars in 1998 and continue to deliver inspiration with it today. We published award-winning climbing books. All the work we do is born from a passion for the sport of climbing.

We want to inspire everyone to get outdoors, and we are here to provide the resources to do exactly that.