Photo Credit: Lady Lockoff

          
We were stoked! We finally got some time off and were ready to nab some multi-pitch climbs in a new area. Birds were singing, the sun brought an edge of warmth to the perfect winter day, and pump was in the air. I whipped out the guidebook to get our bearings.

“It says take the obvious trail going left, walk 10 minutes, go right at the trail by the green tree, walk 15 minutes to the large boulder surrounded by trees, veer right at the obvious wash, walk another 15 minutes, veer left, then you are there.”

Sounds good. We are on it! We tread past trees, round past multiple boulders, and enter washes galore. We haggle over whether we are walking on a small wash, an animal trail, or a “real” trail. “Hey, is that it?...There’s a tree, there’s a boulder, there’s a wash… How long have we been walking? Shit, 40 minutes?! Ok, where are we?”

We keep walking and see a rock wall, albeit amongst many. We venture to guess we are there and search for identifying features. We turn to the marked guidebook page and study the drawing carefully.

“Here is a bulge and a crack, “ points out my partner. I squint at the drawing and think to myself – A bulge and a crack, I think that is what those lines are supposed to represent. I point to the image, “Does that feature look like it to you?” We both shrug. I wonder, What if we turn the guidebook upside down?

Daylight is burning. I temper the frustration that is starting to build. I am about 80% confident this is the climb, good enough, let’s do it.

“It says follow the obvious crack right then left, the first belay spot is on a small ledge. The second spot is in a small corner and the crack splits. It doesn't say much about the other pitches. Pro to 2 inches. Rap rings at top, walk off trail at bottom of rap is obvious. OK.  One 70 meter rope should cover the rap. Does it say?” No it doesn't. I suppress my "little voice," hop on the rock and take the first lead.

“Shit! This is a 5.7?” I yell to my partner who is now about three feet below me. I inch up at glacial speeds placing pro like I have an infinite supply. I find a good resting position and yell down for beta. “Hey, do you remember, is this where I go right? It splits here too.”

I check my available pro. I wonder if I’m as high as I should be for the first pitch. My mind has its own conversation. Damn. The book didn’t say the crack is mostly 1” all the way to the first belay. I got nothing left. There is no way this is a 5.7!  Small ledge right here, is this it? The pro I have left will fit. Fuck it, I’ll belay here.

My partner and I tag team, swinging pitches. The shadows bring an abrupt chill. By the time I reach him on the (supposed) next-to-last pitch we are completely in the shade. Damn the sun drops fast in the winter.

We study the multiple options above and pull out the guidebook in hopes of clues that we had forgotten.

“I don’t see the top, do you?” He shakes his head no. My head is fuzzy. “I think this is the last pitch. Can you take it? You are faster than me. The book says follow the left line…I don’t know which one – can’t tell.” He jumps back on and forges forward. Go, go, go.

I’m visibly shivering. “Hey!” I yell, “Rope halfway!” No response. The rope keeps moving. I watch the middle drift upwards away from me. The point of no return. I keep feeding rope. Shit, less than 5 m of rope left. 4 meters. 3 meters. How long did the book say the last pitch was? Did it say?

Oh, he’s stopped moving. Brrrrr…. Fuck….  Waiting. I think that sounded like “on belay.” His voice was faint. He gives a tug. “Climbing!”

This is a 5.7?

A nut is stuck. Screw it, donation. Onward. Wow that’s a long way between pro. I’m glad I didn’t lead this.

Relief fills me as I knee clumsily over the top. I study the empty terrain and his anchor settings.
“Oh my God, you belayed off of that?” He laughs nervously.  “Thank goodness I didn’t fall… Wow, even if we did have pro left, there is nothing to place it in. It definitely would have been helpful to know we needed copious amounts of webbing… You did a kick-ass, creative solution. Nice job.”

My partner shakes his head in disbelief.  The warmth from the climb wears off quickly and I begin shivering again. We scope out the rap rings and see nothing.

“I thought there were rap rings up here?”
Where the hell are we? Are we even on course? We look around for a good 15 minutes. The view is beautiful but reminds us we are pretty damn high and there is no walking off. Anxiety begins to creep in as the sun moves lower in the sky. My partner finally yells to me.
 “You found them!? Yes! What the??? Way over there, UNDER the boulder?”
The book says obvious trail at bottom of rap. Sure there is.
“Do you have your headlamp?”

This is a story that, in variations on the theme, has played itself out more than once. I have heard the same from friends. What is the common denominator? Guidebooks missing critical info.

To me, the guidebook is required gear. I love them. I NEED them. I am not an adventure-climber-extraordinaire, able to go into the great unknown and tackle whatever grade, rock conditions, and top-outs are thrown at me. I need hand-holding and the more the better. I will buy multiple books for the same area just to maximize the beta.
As a climber who works full-time and escapes for weekend trips and holidays, I rely on guidebooks to minimize wasted time and get me home safely. For my own sanity, I need to get on the rock, at my climbing level, fast. (Not to mention how good beta saves time for all the people waiting for me while I am flailing around on the wall.)

I have found that many books provide helpful information about comfort, like the solar orientation of the site and basic climb types, like crack, but lack critical elements, like photos, detailed, accurate information about the approach, climb, and conditions at the top of the climb and the descent. Although every climbing trip yields smiles, they also inevitably yield stories of guidebook woes.

Assuming you make it off a climb without rescue or injury, such a story can make for a good post climb, beer-drinking conversation and a laugh. But the truth is, when you are in the middle of a situation like that, it is not particularly fun. Without a doubt I am very grateful for guidebook authors and the work they produce. I bow to their efforts. But there are improvements that can be made to take guidebooks to the next level. Here is a plea to guidebook authors.
 
Must Haves
 
Must haves are details that help you find the climb in the first place and details that impact the safety of the climber. Most books have some of these, few books I have used have all of them.

• General orientation maps of the area with trails and parking AND detailed subset maps (BTW, you can get some detailed climbing approach and walk-off maps at Climb-On Maps)
• Detailed descriptions of how to get to and identify the climb, photos of the wall from angles we will actually see during the approach (sorry, Google Earth): Include time estimates for the approach that consider climbers unfamiliar with the area. Identify common mistakes. Describe distinguishing features, such as color changes or a bulge that looks like an elephant on the far left upper half of the wall (not just a statement like “the wall has a bulge”). Unless a tree is truly out of the ordinary for a location, avoid using features that die or are not distinguishable from one another.
• Accurate climb rating: If it is PG, R or X absolutely include it. Indulge us MTV-next-gen climbers and make an attempt to use today’s ratings, perhaps in lowly parentheses next to the “honored old school rating”.
• Detailed notes to keep you on course during a climb: Getting off course can have some very real consequences, including running out of protection or ending up in an area way above your climbing grade.
• Belay details for multi-pitch climbs: This includes clear descriptions of established (bolted) or good trad anchor spots. If there some spots to avoid for anchoring say so and why – such as shallow cracks, which you can’t easily judge from below. Provide detailed descriptions on the belay conditions at the top. Are there bolted anchors? Are the anchors also used for the rappel or do you need to move?  Do you need to build your own anchor and if so what pro sizes or webbing lengths should you keep on hand? Are there lots of good anchoring options so almost any pro will work? Are the only anchoring options far away from the top out and how far?
• Distance of climb and, if there are clear belay spots, distance for each pitch (in meters): Doing conversions from feet to meters when you are tired is a recipe for error.
• Details on how to get down from a climb that tops-out: When there are multiple rappels, does the rope fall naturally to the next rappel spot or do you need to work it? How long is each rappel (in meters)? Is there is risk of missing a hidden rappel spot, overshooting it, leaving you hanging at the near end of your (knotted) rope? Is it a pure walk-off and which direction do you go? Does the walk off have exposure, and if so what type? (One Joshua Tree guide failed to mention you had to jump across a deep ravine to get off – I did it, but with great distress. No thanks!)
• Quality of the rock on a climb: Please note if a climb has loose or insecure rock and how that might affect protection placement.
• For bolted routes, list the number of bolts; for trad routes provide a description of the range of sizes of pieces AND if it requires lots of one size pro; if the climb is mixed or there is run out and additional pro might help, describe it.

 
Granted, there may be hard-core climbers out there who don’t want the level of detail I desire in a guidebook, and that’s ok. There is a simple solution, either leave the guidebook at home, or, hand the book to me. I’ll read it and will keep my mouth shut when you are leading! I admire people with such gumption, but for a cookie-cutter climber like myself, I will lay down the bucks and kiss the ground for a great guide book.

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Two guidebooks that include almost everything on the above wish list are:

• Squamish Select: The Best Routes in Canada's Top Climbing Destination by Marc Bourdon (there is a new one  - 2018 - out now that I have not seen yet...)
  
• The Trad Guide to Joshua Tree: 60 Favorite Climbs from 5.5 to 5.9 by Charlie and Diane Winger

Thanks Marc, Charlie, and Diane (and all who helped create those books, since we know those are labors of love and many)!

Climb-On Maps also now helps solve the finding-your-way dilemma!

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