This large book appropriately promotes its more than 200 photographs through its title.
They tell a story of mountaineering in this country in their own right.
But do not undervalue the text in this fine publication.
As well as substantial explanatory captions, John Wilson writes his chapters clearly and effectively.
He lucidly develops themes from the 1880s beginnings to the decades when guides led the way, to the amateur era through the 1930s and then onwards to the present day.
He chronicles, too, advances made possible by crampons, pitons, ice screws and the shorter and curved ice axes.
Wilson discusses why climbers climb, why they take risks and the comradeship in the shared endeavour and hardship.
As an experienced climber himself, here and overseas - from the late 1950s and into the 1970s - he has an eye for what makes New Zealand distinctive; the ''rotten'' rock, the long walks in, the snow and ice challenges, the rivers to cross, the self-sufficiency, the changeable weather.
With a PhD in history from Harvard University, and as a former newspaper editorial writer and founding editor of the Historic Places Trust magazine, it is hard to imagine anyone better qualified to bring together the various images and threads.
He also makes sure he writes for a general audience, explaining what many climbers might take for granted.
The photographs are, again, aimed at those with a general rather than a technical interest.
While some of the pictures are spectacular, they, as Mr Wilson notes, are about telling the story rather than presenting climbers in ''impossible'' poses.
He also makes the point his book is about mountaineering in New Zealand, not stories about individual mountaineers or feats achieved overseas.
While Wilson acknowledges his Canterbury bias, there is a decent sprinkling of images from the Aspiring region and Fiordland.
New Zealand Mountaineering: A history in photographs makes for pleasurable browsing and rewards closer attention.
• ODT editorial manager Philip Somerville is a keen alpine tramper.
