The Guidebook of the Future

Colorado peak questions, condition requests and other info.
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jmanner
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Re: The Guidebook of the Future

Post by jmanner »

benners wrote:Just to play devil's advocate here, I'd argue that guidebooks still hold their value over TRs in several areas:

- As someone else said, there's just something about a physical hard copy that you can hold in your hand, beat up, mark up, etc (and I don't really consider a pile of printed 8 x 11 paper stapled together to be the same thing). I can't count the number of times I've sat down to read a guidebook while camping, sitting inside a tent on a rain delay, or at a TH before/after a climb. I wouldn't really consider doing this with a Kindle or an iPhone.

- Though details in guidebooks can become out of date, the same thing can happen with TRs and not very many people go back and edit theirs when information changes either. And there are always edition updates for books.

- The consistency of information in terms of style, presentation, and accuracy is hard to find online like it appears in a book (save for Bill's online guide, which he constantly updates, and others like it). Having a single person create all of the information in a single, authoritative place is a lot different than having to go online and sort through multiple TRs from multiple authors and take the average of all of their observations, hoping that the information is accurate.

- Guidebooks are great for ideas, and are often presented in a style that stirs a certain amount of inspiration in the reader, which I personally like a lot. They are also often much more detailed than TRs, and thus the nature of an objective is more completely conveyed to the reader.

- You don't have to stare at yet another computer screen (maybe this matters more to me than others).

Don't get me wrong I love reading and writing TRs, and they are still very useful in the absence of a guidebook. But if a guidebook exists, it's generally what I'll look to first. If I decide I want to go ski something in the Tenmile Range over the weekend, I'll go thumb through Fritz' book for ideas and find an outing that matches up with what I'm looking for. I probably would not go online and start searching for ski TRs on various Tenmile peaks, many of which might not have the kind of information I'm looking for, and spend the better part of an hour before arriving at an idea that I could have found in 5 minutes looking through his book.

Furthermore, Sarah, I'll echo that I'd buy a 13ers guide from you guys in a heartbeat, as I'm sure many others would. And writing one might just be more fulfilling than you think :wink:.
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HuskyRunner
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Re: The Guidebook of the Future

Post by HuskyRunner »

My only experience with e-guides is for climbing areas, in almost every case I wind up printing the sections of the e-guide that I intend to use. I have the Mountain Project Android app on my phone, use it rarely, mostly for downloading multiple areas as a back up reference in case we change our minds about the route/area we're intending to climb in. I'll always print out the routes, route descriptions or take a published guide book as my main reference.

For hikes, backpacking, trail running, ski touring, etc. is a similar routine. If the area is new we take a guide book or photo copied section, maps, and maybe some relevant material we find on the interwebs (like 14ers) but have never considered taking electronic copies. I could see trying to use a phone to browse for info if a question came up but seeing as back country coverage is questionable it's likely not much value. I could see some value to having an electronic guide for use as I use Mountain Project, as a backup for additional reference if plans change in the back country, but I wouldn't pay much for that additional use, maybe $5 to $10, otherwise I'll rely on my map, printout or take the entire guide book.
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NM_Hiker
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Re: The Guidebook of the Future

Post by NM_Hiker »

12ersRule wrote: A remote controlled drone while hiking would be pretty cool. If you can't see a particular part of a route, just send the drone out to check it out. That is the future!
Also, once youre about to summit send the drone out for a six pack of beer. The future looks great
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James Dziezynski
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Re: The Guidebook of the Future

Post by James Dziezynski »

Wow, great responses... thanks a ton for taking the time to add your thoughts everybody!

I am a big fan of the print guidebook for the same reasons mentioned here: it's great to have a consistent voice, it's fun to do planning around a book and once in the field, you aren't relying on technology for guidance. Likewise, I was a fan of Roach's 14ers map-pack, which ultimately is what people would print out and bring to the outdoors.

I love the possibilities that new tech offers, but finding a model that works for the author/publisher is difficult. It's going to be interesting how future guidebooks pan out...
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rmd
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Re: The Guidebook of the Future

Post by rmd »

There is something to be said for both guidebooks and for going without guide books (and also the pre-internet period.) In 1975 a friend and I visited Colorado. It was the first time I had seen any mountains other than the Appalachians. We were thinking about climbing Longs Peak and had read warnings about the chance of danger and something about a "narrow ledge." (I had a naive picture in my mind about a sidewalk-type path on the side of the East Face.) We decided to hike up Estes Cone instead, which turned out to be better idea, since we would have probably started way too late (but at least the parking lot wasn't full at 3 a.m.)

In 2008 when I finally climbed it, the mystery and romance had disappeared.
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