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General Climbing Discussion

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Are guidbooks killing the adventure climb ? 21-Sep-2007 At 2:44:18 AM james

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I certainly am more inspired by looking at a line & thinking "..that looks cool I want to try it..". maybe I'm not so good at judging my limit reliatve to the line. So I do usually look in a guide book or ask someone, but I don't like having beta or gear overload - I only really want to know 2 things (1) that its not 5 grades above my limit & (2) that there's enough gear so I won't hit the ground if I happen to fall off. There's still scope for adventure even if you have some (limited) beta/knowledge.

to answer your question, IMO having guide books doesn't totally ruin adventure. There are plenty of areas that either have no guide; or the guide is so old that its out of date; or areas see little traffic hence few signs to know you're in the right spot; or the author's "obvious" feature is not so obvious to others. Guides are just that, & very much open to interpretation.