A 520 page tome published by the American Alpine Club and distributed by Mountaineers Books, the American Alpine Journal purports to be the "journal of record" for "the world’s most significant climbs." It’s hard to argue with that since it’s been published annually since 1929.
Also not up for debate is the gorgeous photography and top-notch narratives by noted climbers such as Steve House, Tommy Caldwell and many others. For the 2006 edition, edited by John Harlin, there is a special section on Alaska’s Ruth Gorge written by an expert on the subject, Joe Puryear.
I don’t know what it is about staring at picture after picture of giant slabs of rock and ice with squiggly black lines on them that gets me all sweaty-palmed, but I like it like that.