UKC

Courage. Determination. Raw Talent. Discipline. Drive. Self-confidence. These are all great characteristics of amazing athletes. Athletes also can have specific areas that they excel in such as power, strength, speed, balance...I regard mine to be my ''Off the couch performance''! It's maybe not something I should be proud of, but is there any other test of endurance than sitting on your bum for a while then going for a jolly over the Grandes Jorasses?

Scottish Alpinist Ally Swinton regales us with a tale of a full-on day on the Walker Spur.

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In reply to UKC Articles:

Great write up. Is this rockfax topo just a one-off for the route or part of a larger guide?

In reply to Morgan Woods:

Good article.

Would also be very interested if this is signs of a Rockfaxx guide in the works for the Mont Blanc Massif?

In reply to UKC Articles:

Which Rockfax guidebook is the topo from?

In reply to all:

We are well progressed on a Rockfax guidebook to Chamonix. It is being written in the main by Charlie Boscoe, with help from Jack Geldard, and will cover the best of the climbing in the area. This means valley sport crags, mountain routes and big faces. A massive undertaking in a similar style to the Dolomites guide.

We are aiming to publish early next summer in book and App form.

Alan

In reply to UKC Articles:

Haha, Rockfax Chamonix (or whatever) has seemed like an obvious title to publish for a long time. With the AC guides looking extremely dated by modern standards and confusing even by old standards and with French guidebook writers' apparent inability to release guidebooks of similar scope to the AC guides, I'm not surprised you lot have stepped into the breach. Looks good.

In reply to Alan James - Rockfax:

Interesting and the sample looks great....might I suggest route lengths would be a good addition to the descriptions.

In reply to Morgan Woods:


Yes, we are aware of route lengths being important. We will still be using the floating height boxes as well, but probably in conjunction with an overall length.

Alan

In reply to Alan James - Rockfax:
I've always thought that the route 'lengths' given for Alpine routes are actually heights. Works fine I think.

Height boxes only work if the routes start at the same level and as the GJ topo shows that's not always the case.

In reply to UKC Articles:

Rockfax alps would be good. There are some decent alpine guidebooks, the two volumes of Damilano's Snow, Ice and Mixed are well worth picking up.

In reply to Alan James - Rockfax:

I'd buy two volumes of a smaller size book for what it's worth, rather than one in the normal RF A5 size. I'd pay more for this were production costs more. Weight being more critical for Alpine. The app I know would get around this but personally I wouldn't like to rely on my phone for route-finding in alpine conditions. I like to switch my phone off and bury it somewhere totally dry and safe in case of emergency, rather keep it at hand for route finding. Battery power is also more of a problem when spending a few days high so a small light weight hard copy would always be my preference. I can see the advantage of the app for accessible stuff like Aiguille Rouges though.

In reply to Alan James - Rockfax:

Hi Alan

Would you consider publishing a separate pocketz sized guide containing all the alpine routes? As well as an a5 book containing all the valley and alpine routes.

There is no way I'd want to be relying on my phone battery half way up the walker spur. Apps drain batteries very quickly and I like to turn my phone off so I know I'll be able to call for rescue incase of mishap.

Tom

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:
I've taken to writing out route descriptions on paper and perhaps laminating it. That also allows you to combine beta from different guide books, camp to camp etc. Takes a while but worth it as a single guide book is often wrong or inadequate somewhere. Admittedly this doesn't work for photos so I use a phone in flight mode and/or a camera. So really a small, accurate guide book would be great!

In reply to Misha:

Photocopy plus a few extra notes.
Rip the page out of the guide ( even buy a spare book for the job )

Make sure you are carrying the correct pages ( from personal experience ) , like the descent for another hill.

In reply to Rick Graham:

Sure, photocopy if possible. I've thought about ripping out pages but can't contemplate desecrating a guide book even if it's a spare copy...