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REVIEW: Pembroke Rock

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 UKC/UKH Gear 09 Mar 2016
Pembroke Rock Review, 4 kbIt's always nice when a new guidebook comes out to an area you love, and there are few areas UKC's Rob Greenwood loves as much as Pembroke. With Easter just around the corner the arrival of this superb new Climber's Club guidebook could not have been better timed.

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 Wft 09 Mar 2016
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

A wonderful guide with such great pictures. I'm almost sad to be away this Easter and miss the 'Pembroke squeeze' in the St. Govans Inn
 jon 09 Mar 2016
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

Well done Emma and Paul. Remember Pat's forecast of 'a 1000 brilliant routes'? Four years later I wound up the intro with 'The boom will continue, 2000 brilliant routes seems a reasonable prediction... ' And now we have a SELECTED guide with 1000 (brilliant) routes! Let's hope it sells out soon and you become millionaires, you deserve it!
 Will Hunt 09 Mar 2016
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

I must say that the split between women and men in the action shots was something that stood out to me as well. Lots and lots and lots of photos of ladies climbing hard routes.
 BALD EAGLE 09 Mar 2016
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

A fantastic guide full of inspiring routes and images so maa-hoosive props to Emma and Paul!
 Wft 10 Mar 2016
In reply to Will Hunt:

matriarchal Bristol
 Offwidth 10 Mar 2016
In reply to jon:

These books are produced by voluntary teams led by the editors... not that anyone will ever become a millionaire in the UK from guidebook sales.
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 jon 10 Mar 2016
In reply to Offwidth:

I know. It was a joke.
 Offwidth 10 Mar 2016
In reply to jon:

Good greif!... I suppose humour is often weird and certainly way more lucrative.
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 jon 10 Mar 2016
In reply to Offwidth:
As my attempts at gentle humour regularly go over your head, I should make it clear that it was the millionaire bit that was a joke.
Post edited at 11:00
 Offwidth 10 Mar 2016
In reply to jon:

Loads of comedians faced tiny audiences, miscomprehension and unfair critical panning before their success... don't worry yet.

I guess I get tired and make assumptions when it is so obvious that many regular climbers have no real idea of the efforts put into these volumes: writing, editing, photographing, route checking and cleaning. The definitive I co-edited at the top of a team iceberg was well into working decades of effort. These wired guides of course sit on the efforts of the volumes they select from (and usefully re-use some of that definitive time)
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 jon 10 Mar 2016
In reply to Offwidth:

The manuscript for the 1985 edition that I alluded to in my first post was hand written. In ink. Via a nib.
 FactorXXX 10 Mar 2016
In reply to Offwidth:

The definitive I co-edited at the top of a team iceberg was well into working decades of effort.

Are you a Guide Book writer/editor? Gosh, I never knew that!


These wired guides of course sit on the efforts of the volumes they select from (and usefully re-use some of that definitive time)

Which Paul and Emma were involved in...
 winhill 10 Mar 2016
In reply to jon:

> The manuscript for the 1985 edition that I alluded to in my first post was hand written. In ink. Via a nib.

So you'd moved on from the quill but not as far as Gutenberg?
 Offwidth 10 Mar 2016
In reply to jon:

I never realised the clean hand gang alluded to especially careful calligraphy!?
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 Offwidth 10 Mar 2016
In reply to FactorXXX:
It's what happens when one doesn't realise that in a team, sometimes, not volunteering for the most onerous role means actively stepping back a way! Moff and I were possibly the least qualified for it but had plenty of drive and enough time for helping bring the definitive record into a modern context (moving to full colour topo layout, balancing inspiration with information, with proper respect for the majority punter purchasers, and the inclusion of bouldering).

Part of the reason I loved guidebooks was to wallow in and support the meticulous efforts often involved... I never expected I was underestimating those efforts so much. It puzzles me that when hundreds of thousands of hours are given for free every year, often with no charge for costs, to maintain access and produce information in the beautiful and highly usable modern guidebooks, that sales are not double or triple than they are (when sales support the continuation of those efforts).
Post edited at 17:43
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 jon 10 Mar 2016
In reply to winhill:

I lied for effect. It was a biro. Cut and pasting was with scissors and glue.
 Tom F Harding 10 Mar 2016
In reply to Offwidth:

Ignore all the dislikes. I'm with you in hoping that the new not-for-profit wired guides outstrip sales of for-profit guides covering the same areas. There is no excuse for not buying them when they are better quality, better researched and give back to the climbing community that we all love rather than cashing in from it.
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 Offwidth 11 Mar 2016
In reply to Tom F Harding:
4 dislikes.. thats not even a ripple... I got a hundred once when I rattled the cage directly. It may not be the children though, some otherwise sensible climbers hate being reminded how daftly mean they are at times. I'll cheer them up next time with a fictional jolly tale about how I used to steal from shopkeepers in Chamonix in the good old days...anarchic bewilderment, drugs and alcohol distracting from more deserved political targets.

Jokes aside, some of the current guidebooks are amazing for the astounding volunteer efforts and the quality of product (and not just fully volunteer definitives). In climbing guidebook terms we really have never had it so good. Maybe just at the time before the paper guidebook dominance fades!?

I do share your support for the Wired concept, why should the definitives just cede the selective guide 'low hanging fruit' to competitors when if they are doing their volunteer work properly they should know the ground best. True competition for the significant occasional visitor market.
Post edited at 01:52

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