Me too

Do you mean the "Gunks Select"? They've been OOP for years. Now that the Grey Dick is out, they're starting to pop up on used book sites, but for a while they were very rare.

You can check out a sampler at http://www.extremeangles.com/gunksclimbingguidebook.html

The hit "see what's inside"

isn't Minty a 5.3?

Yes, but probably not the bizarre way that they recommend doing...

I've always liked the color photos of routes. Much easier to follow. The overview maps appear well done as well. Doesn't mean the route descriptions are any better and I'm sure some would decry the loss of adventure. Makes sense for a guide covering a smattering of climbs but costing a fair bit. I'm sure many will be sold.

I understand having both a color photo and a route map to make a multi-pitch route easier to find... But the Gerdi block? Seems kinda silly...

And the comments before about wasted space! Now I get it... Why TWO of the same picture on the same page? It's a bizarre format!

Will I look at one in R&S when they come in? Yes... Will I buy one? Nope, probably not... With couple copies of the Swain, a grey & black Dick... And the select... Who needs ANOTHER book?

I am sure this is more for the visiting climber. I have not used a guide book in the Gunks in about 10 years.

Based on the sample, this is a kludged-together piece of crap that deserves to be boycotted by anyone who even remotely appreciates the hard work and dedication that Dick put into his guides. The sample is characterized by inaccuracies, omissions, bizarre choices, and a profligate enthusiasm for space-wasting irrelevancies.

Further comments:

Pros:

The overview maps are well done with excellent selection of details.

Color shots of the cliff are potentially more helpful than black and white, but the quality seems to be low. (This may, however, be an artifact of the .pdf reproduction rather than a feature of the book)


Cons:

Page 42. The blurry aerial shot of the Brat area has three rectangles labeled A, B, and C. Of these, the rock in B and C is totally obscured by trees, rendering them useless for any identification purposes.

Page 48 - 49. Two whole pages devoted to the Dirty Gerdie block? Although photos, and diagrams, and descriptions can helpfully complement each other, here they are almost entirely redundant, wasting at least one of the two pages with information that adds nothing. OK, they aren't completely redundant, since the drawing tells you where to place your black Alien on Dirty Gerdie and, for the convenience of the impaired leader, indicate the location (as of the guidebook creation date) of three fixed pins. Moreover, what appears to be a sloppy approach to route description surfaces here; the verbal description and the route drawing for Red Cabbage depict the start differently from the lines drawn in the photo. The only thing less useful than redundant information is redundant information that contradicts itself.

Pointless and space-consuming redundancy doesn't end with the route descriptions here, as half a page is consumed by a picture, repeated twice, of a young rugby-shirted of Russ Clune. In order to hold the attention of what the author must think is today's ADD-afflicted climber, one of these shots is sepia-toned and the other in ordinary color. The picture itself is an insipid shot of Russ topping out after the business on the Gill Egg. Blah!

Page 126: Another blurry aerial shot, this one labeled "Friends Wall." Surely the centerpiece of the selected routes is Snooky's Return, so why "Friends?" An extremely minor point, but indicative, I think, of the lack of thought that seems to characterize the entire enterprise.

Adding insult to injury, the author completely misses the excellent second 5.8 pitch of Snooky's Return, instead sending people up and right a few feet from Minty. Given the availability of accurate information, getting things like this wrong indicates an attitude close to cavalier disregard.

On this same "Friends Wall," the author apparently did not choose to include a climb, Beginner's Delight, that many many people think is the best 5.3 in the Gunks. This omission is utterly bizarre in view of the inclusion of the author's private rerouted version of the first pitch of the far-from-classic Bag's End, now tarted up with an outlandish three stars, omitting even a mention of the second and third pitches, where all the actual climbing happens. In my opinion, the incomprehensible choices in this sample together with the major inaccuracies disqualify the author from making the kinds of choices a visiting climber expects from a "selected" guide.

Page 128: The pursuit of wasted space continues unabated, with once again half a page devoted to, first, an uncaptioned photo of a belayer in tights and rugby shirt leaning against a tree, and a large picture of the "Minty Warren Trophy" awarded in the St. Francis, Ontario Midget Legion House League hockey team. The brain fart leading to the inclusion of a paragraph and color picture seems to be that the trophy has the same name as the "Minty" in the first ascent party.

Last page: A photo of Arrow, captioned "A fine example of rap-bolting in the Gunks." Considering that Arrow and Sente are the only examples of rap-bolting in the Gunks (together with one or two aid-bolting examples), I guess it is a very fine example indeed, but the caption certainly gives an impression that alludes to some alternate reality.

All in all, this looks like a winner in the Pimp My Guide contest but a giant leap backwards in guidebooks.

WOOHOO!

RG YOU SAID IT!

I am recommending R&S put this up as the "Review" when the book comes out!