My two cents much better than the old guide book used it this past weekend and thought it was the cats meowwwww

There is a rumor that it's getting reprinted already. So I guess the first edition sure didn't last too long!

Edit - oops, I should have read a little more, apparently others are having the same problem with the lamination


My original, hasty post:
Anybody else have problems with the cover finish "cracking"? The cover is bent from being open, but there seems to be a clear coating on it that isn't holding up well at all. Hopefully it won't end up flaking off.

Just took my first trip to the Dacks last weekend, and while the rain really sucked, the area itself was amazing. The new guidebook got us to some crags that dry out quickly and that we were actually able to climb comforably on.

As for the guidebook, if I can offer one piece of advice for the second edition (or for the website): overview maps of each of the 11 regions (or maybe just for Lake Champlain, Chapel Pond, Keene, Wilmington Notch and High Peaks?). Cliffs within 10 mins of each other ended up 100 pages apart in the book (i.e., Beer Walls vs. Deadwater), which made it difficult for us newcomers to find other (possibly drier) options nearby. The main overview map in the beginning of the book doesn't really help as the cluster of red dots around Keene/Keene Valley is indistinguishable.

That being said, the book is remarkable in its detail and once we decided on a particular cliff, the directions were accurate and straightforward. The topos and/or descriptions of the routes were great as well. It's always fun reading the history of the development of the cliffs.

Thanks to the authors for their hard work.

Chapter overview maps have been requested before, and I think it's a really good idea. We'll see what can be done here. Perhaps something can be put online to supplement the other area maps in the book. The 2"-high overview map in each chapter head serves no purpose other than to orient you where the chapter fits in the overall park. The scatter plot on page 5 is for showing roughly how climbing is distributed within the park, not for actual cliff identification.

As for putting cliffs next to each other, well, in a way they are, but even so it's simply not possible to get every cliff next to every other cliff. For Chapel Pond Pass, we organized cliffs by parking area for exactly the purpose you mentioned -- so you can find other cliffs without having to move your car. As for them being 100 pages apart...well, there's a lot of cliffs and routes. Bummer that. :-)

Jim

Is this what you are looking for? It's a multi-page PDF, with one page for each section of the park, with all (or nearly all) of the cliffs labeled.

Also, you might want to check out this cool use of Google maps. This isn't anything new, and is described on the book web site.

Jim

So, however long it's been since the book came out, I just want to observe that I think I've seen fewer people climbing than I have in the past. This is probably a combination of other people going to new places, as well as going to new places myself. Sure, I'd probably have gotten to them eventually, but it's been a lot more enticing with the guidebook.

Went up to the Courthouse on Sunday and I totally recommend it, especially if you can get up there in the next week or so, because the trees are TOTALLY peaking and it's a really amazing year for color. Owl's Head would be another awesome place to go. I wish I wasn't trapped down here in the finger lakes

I can recommend Owl's Head as an AWESOME fall location! Thanks to Strat... Who took a group of us there one year...

Funny how life situations and perspectives differ. I've been trying to plan a trip there for 2 years

I assume you mean stuck in the "I'm studying 23 hours a day and there is no climbing nearby" sense of stuck.

TS

Studying? Who's studying?
I just can't afford the gas every weekend (ever?!) now that I'm on a strict, limited budget of entirely borrowed money.