UKC

A hypothetical question as, to my knowledge, it’s never happened. We’ve all seen product recalls in climbing gear, children’s toys, electrical good and cars.

Despite the authors best efforts, sometimes guidebooks aren’t perfect but I’m wondering how many errors or what type of errors would actually mean a guidebook would need to be recalled? Any legal minds out there able to provide an answer.

Would it be about the seriousness of errors? i.e. you could have an accident if you followed the guidebook?
We all know that as climbers we take responsibility for our actions but where does the liability lie if a guidebook is incorrect?

In reply to Lakesben:

I think the Gogarth South guide was recalled after some of the topos showed incorrect route lines.
Something to do with the printer joining up the belay points on multi pitch routes with a straight line instead of showing the actual line of the route.

In reply to Lakesben:
Heres one from the last couple of weeks
https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=668532&v=1#x8610317

In reply to Lakesben:

It sort of happened, the old Peak limestone (Wye Valley it was called) guides (two volumes) were not distributed until some potentially libellous comments were covered with a sticker.

In reply to Lakesben:

Crags are dynamic (albeit in geological time) therefore guidebooks cannot be accurate all the time. This year a massive flake fell off Dow crag. It was on C Ordinary route and the flake (rather than lack of) is included in the guidebook description. The guidebook was correct at time of writing, but isn't now. Will be a similar story for many other crags.

In reply to Mark Eddy:

Absolutely, guidebooks like maps are only as accurate as the day they are printed.

In reply to Lakesben:

To some extent, given that the natural environment changes, maps and guidebooks are bound to suffer changes being only as good as the day they are printed. That's why I always prefer guidebook publishers who volunteer updates to their guides on their website. Sunflower Books are one such outfit that offer updates on their webite that come to mind and I'm sure there are other publishers who do it.

However, people might draw a distinction with errors at print time that might e.g. cause fatalities.

In reply to GarethSL:


Well, to be pedantic, only as accurate as the day it was written / surveyed

JW

In reply to Lakesben:

Wasn't one of Cicerone's Scottish Winter books recalled a few years ago due to an error in route directions that could have put people in danger?

In reply to John Ww:

very true!