Guidebooks

A guidebook collection shared on MountainProject.com. (Notice also the inclusion of Freedom of the Hills on the far left).


If the surveyed group of climbers for this study are any indication, guidebooks are far from being labeled a dead medium. And if that small sample group is not enough proof, a recent MountainProject thread shows us that there is still hope for the handy guidebook yet.  One climber from the thread has three full shelves of guidebooks, while another insists he has more than a dozen for Joshua Tree National Park alone.  A respondent from the interview portion put it aptly: "guidebooks are much more detailed, contain better photos/route maps, and are more consistent in grading."  Nearly all the respondents confirmed using guidebooks at one point or another, and about half suggested guidebooks were their go-to option. 

But, as one MountainProject user joked, pulling up a screenshot of the app itself, "My guidebook collection is huge!"  MountainProject Route Guide is still prevalent in the climbing community. It coexists alongside guidebooks, and not always harmoniously: as another respondent described, "It's stealing most of the time if you're gonna get pedantic about it." Guidebooks contribute to the climbing community by supporting those who maintain the areas, develop the routes, and are active in the community. The relationship between guidebooks and MountainProject is a study in evolving media that is best saved for the analysis section of these forums.