UKC

The North Wales Slate Rockfax is now available for pre-ordering at the special offer price of £22.95 (RRP £29.95). Pre-orders will be sent out as soon as we receive stock which is expected to be in the first week of September.

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In reply to UKC Gear:

Looks superb - love the maps and the drone overviews.

 

M

In reply to UKC Gear:

I find the choice of cover a bit odd. I mean, Goose Creature is a lovely route but it's not exactly photogenic or particularly representative of the atmosphere of the quarries.

In reply to Alkis:

There's a bit of context surrounding its choice that is worth knowing before you cast judgement.

Simon Lake, the individual in the photograph, was badly hurt during a climbing accident earlier this year. He is the author's best friend, and currently it is unclear as to whether he will climb again, so the cover was done as something of a dedication to him.

May we all wish him a speedy recovery.

In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

Ah. Understood. I wish him all the best.

PS: To the one person that downvoted my post, how could I have possibly known this?

In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

How does the coverage in here compare with GU's guide? In other words, what's the difference?

In reply to Frank the Husky:

I haven't been closely involved in the project, so can't pass comment with too much authority.  That said, it's main USP in my eyes is that it's actually available - the GU guide has been out of print for a while now. 

All that said, I'm aware that isn't too helpful an answer, so I'll encourage Mark (the author) to post a more thorough outline of what's included. From what I've seen it certainly takes in a huge amount and whilst it may not strictly qualify as definitive, is certainly only a notch off.

In reply to Frank the Husky:

Hi Frank

The guide has about 6 new crags which have been developed since the last GU guide plus a host of new routes. Some of which were in the Slate App update, but many that were not.

In particular two new crags at the top of Australia, one has a couple of OK routes, the other has two great route and one OK and is definitely worth looking at for 6a-c climbers. There are also two new crags/ three new walls developed around the back of Heaven Wall. These are mainly sports crags in fantastic positions.

The other stuff we covered better because they were only just developed when GU published and went in the addendum of the GU guide is the host of sports routes in Twll Mawr itself.

There are other routes/crags we cover with what I think are amazing tops only possible with the drone. On top of that the overview shots and maps are really something else. I have climbed on Slate since 1995 and this really is a level up on what you have seen before. I really think that getting lost in the quarries is a thing of the past. Which I am quite sad about really as getting lost and having an explore was something that kept me coming back. 

With those overviews we also added a dedicated few pages for the snakes and ladders tour which I think are pretty great. 

More than that though as an author I had a great team behind me and whilst when writing the routes up I have climbed, I used my knowledge of the routes and other slate protagonists. Rebecca Ting who was editing also relied heavily of checking through the UKC/Rockfax logbooks to highlight any frequent comments on routes or 'themes'. The Harrison brothers Paul and Neil also had great eyes for potential issues and in the last few weeks saw me up the quarries on a daily basis re-checking and re-topoing a few crags to get things right. This way we have managed to bring together a lot of people thoughts and information. Not that GU didn't do this, but we have if you like tried to build on their work and add a new layer from the UKC/Rockfax database.

What there is not is the amazing stories and mini articles that the GU guidebook had. We simply did not want to try and replicate what GU had done and instead felt like we should focus on the content and visuals. I really do think in the visuals department when it comes to maps and overviews we have raise the bar to a new level and shown what is now possible.

Like I said this guide was a small teams efforts with some of my closest friend being involved. Simon Lake and I did a lot of checking of the new routes together, not to mention a lifetimes worth of climbing together since the 90s in the quarries. As alkis discovered the reason for him being on the cover is that in the final stages of the guide, Simon had an accident and he is still recovering, it was my ode to my best friend that saw him on the cover, he also features heavily throughout the guide.

Other friends Dave Evans and Callum Muskett helped with the Rainbow Slab where I think we have a accurate topo and description of the major routes there and some of the hard yet rarely repeated ones. we also have some rather good action shots of some of the hardest routes on the rainbow and elsewhere.

All in all I am immensely proud of the fact my name is on the cover of this guide but also know that I was just a cog in a much bigger machine. With the people I have mentioned in particular and of course Alan James who did the meticulous work on the maps which are geolocated for the app and getting me to write the book in the first place. 

If you have a GU book I would say keep hold of it. As you won't be getting those stories, which should be cherished. However there is enough new climbing in there to justify the new guide I think. Hopefully when the new app system comes online you will get some updates as new routes occur, the first amendment has already happen as Ian L-Jones has been busy with the drill again.

In reply to Mark Reeves:

Hi Mark, that's a really interesting insight, thank you. The drone shots do look outstanding, and I too might miss the fun of getting lost, although that's still possible. I'm sure I'll be leafing through it soon.

In reply to Frank the Husky:

Numbers-wise I checked this yesterday. The GU has 900 routes, the RF has around 1000. So there's another 100 routes. Me personally, I think I still have enough left to do in the GU without worrying about another 100 routes!

In reply to Mr. Lee:

 

You’re not exactly local to Llanberis are you?!

In reply to UKC Gear:

My prized GU slate guide has seen better days so I've pre ordered the new RF which looks awesome

Means the GU one can take early retirement to sit on the book shelf as a piece of superb climbing guide history, before it completely disintegrates!

In reply to UKC Gear:

Still no sign of a Rockfax app for Android. Makes it difficult for some of us to feel enthusiastic about the offer

In reply to UKC Gear:

I tried to pre-order but couldn't get past the PayPal bit. It says you don't need an account but won't let you progress without an account. I expect it was just me, but I gave up.

Looks like a good guidebook.