UKC

I can recall going out to Majorca in the dim and distant past armed with 20 or so pages tucked away in the back of the Chris Craggs guide, locating ‘the man’ in Palma and buying a bundle of photocopied scrawls passed off as topos which led us to some superb climbing. And inspired return visit after return visit. How far have we come from my filed away copy of the dodgy, pock-marked black and white A3 sheet topo that was the Sa Gubia guide?

Read the full review... http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=304

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

This is simply not good enough: your reviewers should be required to show a smiley portrait shot we can snigger at.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

i wanna get on them tufas!

In reply to Offwidth:
I don't do smiles on wednesday afternoons.

In reply to Offwidth: I've seen him and its not a pretty sight... <ducks behind sofa shortly before running out the door hiding behind bin lid>

In reply to Andy Say:

Take the photo in the morning. Just out of bed with a big hangover and people will think twice before publicly critising your work. Positive reviews of Rockfax.... the great and good columnists will be twitching again.

In reply to Offwidth:
http://tinyurl.com/pmscq

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

"maybe a Spanish photo-topo guide to Stanage"


good to see your reviewer has a sense of humour as well!

In reply to Andy Say:

Just to clear up the issue about the route names.

I had a lot of communication with the locals during the writing of this guide (a process which is continuing which is great for future guides). Miquel Angel in Pollensa was very helpful with sorting out curious spelling anomalies and offering the names for routes in the North East. Carlos Raimundo also helped in the central area and now Pedro Pons has started offering routes names for the new crag at Can Ortigues.

The problem is that the whole Rockfax guide process revolves around a tight integration between the database and the book. Each new book edition is fed back to the database which then slowly evolves again to be fed back into the new book (with grade decisions being taken at this point only). The process works really well unless you get the situation like we had with the last book where loads of the routes were just 'Route 7', 'Route 8', etc. In this case the feedback loop can fail in that people lose any idea of what route they were on, additionally, and more importantly, we have to rename all the numbered routes in the next edition if there is a new route. Then we get two 'Route 7's in separate editions.

I decided to give neutral names to the un-named routes in the guide this time to get around this problem. The route becomes more identifiable and we can continue the name into the next edition. I will also change any route name to the local or FA name as soon as requested.

It is never the case that we change route names to our own choice. We will always name a route based on information we have received. We don't get all the German and Spanish magazines so it is possible that some route names get published elsewhere which we miss.

As an example of the confusion that can occur when different nationalities try and co-ordinate information: Route 9, Sector Es Torrente at Gorg Blau, on page 103 is known locally as 'Muscul Man' because the locals didn't know the name. The guy who put the bolts in emailed me and told me it was called 'Akkupunktur'. Nobody is trying to offend anyone or steamrolling over local preferences here, it is simply a matter that when compiling that quantity of information, it is far form clear where one needs to look.

Alan

In reply to Andy Say:

Approach to Cala Magraner is now accurate and has been for a year or two. This approach was supplied to me by the person who owns one of the farms.

Dog on Gubia Normal descent has never been there on my trips but it is possible that he could be lurking somewhere in the farms down that hillside.

Calvia access appears to be fine at the moment.

Alan

In reply to Alan James - UKC:
We are going back a few years! Right at the bottom of the track you walk past a house just before you get onto the road. There was a lethal black dog on a chain; the chain that was carefully calculated to allow its slavering jaws to get to within three feet of the wall at the side of the track away from the house as it leapt at your jugular.

You could have been eviscerated.

I passed with care!

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:
Thanks for the review. Is there a list anywhere of the crags covered in the guide?

Thanks

In reply to Nao:

Click the more information link at the bottom of the review Nao.

http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=304

In reply to Alan James - UKC:
The process works really well unless you get the situation like we had with the last book where loads of the routes were just 'Route 7', 'Route 8', etc. In this case the feedback loop can fail in that people lose any idea of what route they were on, additionally, and more importantly, we have to rename all the numbered routes in the next edition if there is a new route. Then we get two 'Route 7's in separate editions.

i've got a sneaking feeling that this might actually put some people of going to a crag like that, thinking that because there's no name or blurb the route might not be so good. au contraire, two fo the best crags i've been to in spain are Alcalali in C. Blanca and Margalef in C. Daurada.

All with fantastic un-named routes....off topic but any updates planned for these areas Alan?

In reply to Morgan Woods:

Alcalali for sure. Chris is out there at the moment documenting the new routes.

Margalef is much less likely and will probably only appear when we produce a new guide, which is a long time away.

Alan