Colorado Bouldering Guidebook Fiasco

The Falcon book is out and apparently it's worse than I imagined. Go to B3bouldering for more specifics. I hope that every guidebook publisher can learn something from this fiasco. Both the author and the publisher should retract the book and seriously reconsider the project. I personally can't recall a more spectacular failure in the history of climbing guidebooks.

It will be interesting to see if any of the magazines decide to pick up the story. The angle as I see it is that we are increasingly in a post-guidebook era where new areas and even word-class testpieces are in a kind of fluid state of documentation that is ever evolving and changing over time. Falcon was trusting in an older model of recording climbs that depended on a single expert setting down an agreed upon body of problems. The new model is one where users of the "book" rewrite it as it is being written and a tentative consensus emerges within a self-created community. Hence the importance of online guides such as Mountain Project and the new generation of blog guides, as exemplified by Chip's Flagstaff guide. Eventually with new bandwidth capacities, video guides will be common for many routes and areas. This has already happened at Fontainebleau, where a single book could never encapsulate 15, 000 problems.

The move is more and more to "lifestyle" guides that emphasize beautiful visuals which climbers will buy not as references per se but as accessories that enhance the sense of pleasure they get from visiting an area. This is a very significant change that both Wolverine and Sharp End have moved forward on. Falcon, which I do not sense is run by climbers, is way behind the curve on this trend.

Battaglia's Bottom V7/8 Video

Another hidden gem at Flagstaff. Short, steep and good holds. Well worth a visit.

Cryptic Magician V7/8 Flagstaff Mountain

Cryptic Magician is one of the great problems on the mountain with technical and delicate movements and a little bit of exposure at the finish. I was hoping to flash it but took a few tries to get it. My beta seems more straightforward than some descriptions I have seen.

Updates

Well I have gotten off dawn patrol as even lower chaos was too hot at 7:30 and I was clearly not getting much sleep. A visit to the graham boulder left me feeling like I had the beginnings of elbow tendinitis, a sign I am not getting enough recovery time. The conditions were too warm but maybe this week things will begin to cool down a bit.

Getting closer on the first V10 crux on the Spotdala, a likely V13 crimp problem I set at the Spot. Daniel Woods and Tyler Landman had a crack at it yesterday and said it was pretty hard.

Otherwise not much to report. I heard that Heart of Darkness, a 5.13 I put up in Boulder Canyon has substantially broken leaving a likely 5.14 which is great news. Another project!

Visit my Boulder Canyon Guide and check out updates for the Graham Boulder and Castle Rock areas.

Red Wall Traverse V9

I sent the L to R Red Wall Traverse first try this morning after a few tries yesterday. Here's the video. Might be soft V9. Conditions were surprisingly good despite some warmth. I'm looking at the R to L version but I think it would be nice to have some cooler weather. However that is pretty unlikely.

Guidebook Controversy

Over at frontrangebouldering.com, a question has been raised about the appropriateness of including Area A at Mount Evans in an upcoming guidebook from Falcon Books authored by Bob Horan. At this point Horan can't be that much in touch with the current Front Range scene and his guidebooks have long been notorious for factual errors and sheer fables alike. There is a great need for an author who is up on current developments and is an active boulderer. Here's Falcon's description:

"Colorado is one of the world’s premier bouldering destinations, and Boulder resident Bob Horan has been climbing them all for 35 years. Horan has established hundreds of new routes and boulder challenges, pushing standards such as the first free ascent of the Rainbow Wall, which is Eldorado Canyon’s first 5.13, as well as Beware the Future (5.14) in the Flatirons. This original book contains nearly 4,000 individual routes covering the entire state, with some listings found nowhere else. Geared to all skill levels, the book is enhanced by roughly 900 detailed maps and full-color color photos accompanying Horan’s comments. "

Given the tone of the paragraph, Falcon seems pretty out of the loop. Nothing like those "boulder challenges" to conquer a sheer rock face or two.

Anyway, it is a terrible idea to publish Evans which has become a total zoo, especially Area A. Rock and Ice started the ball rolling with a big article a couple of years ago and relentless publicity for problems such as Ode to the Modern Man, Clear Blue Sky, and No More Greener Grass has only upped the crowds. Proximity to Denver, lower elevation, no entrance fees and a less barren environment has made Area A more and more like the Happy Boulders of Colorado. The fact that it's a wilderness area is lost on the masses of visitors. I am hoping that the aura wears off eventually and given the number of quick repeats/flashes of big number ticks, maybe this is already in motion. But until then, despite my ambivalence towards hoarding "secret" areas, Evans should not be published.

Email your comments to guides@falcon.com.

Here's the text of my email:

"Dear Falcon Books,
A serious issue has been raised regarding a planned bouldering guidebook to Colorado and that has to do with the publication of "Area A" at Mt. Evans. This is in a wilderness area and is already in jeopardy of having access restricted or eliminated. I would suggest that the author be prevented from including Mt. Evans and that Falcon Books seriously consider the impact its book will have on a very fragile access situation. I would also highly recommend that the book be vetted by currently active participants in the Front Range/Colorado climbing scene. If you need some names I would be happy to forward them. Please take this issue seriously. Two other major publishers in the region have passed on publishing Evans."

I was surprised to see in the same message board that a prominent Boulder climber has apparently installed a crash pad at Evans. This is a major dab. During my early morning forays to RMNP, I keep my eye out for any stray pads and am happy to carry them out. I look forward to letting readers of this blog know whose gear I find up there. If the owner doesn't identify him/herself on the pad, I'd be happy to add them to my quiver. I'm already hauling 3+ up and down and one more won't make much difference.