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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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To those who would prefer I had left well enough alone, and not made a new guide, I’ll offer up a few thoughts.
The Needles is a world-famous cragging area. People, often lots of people, have traveled to climb there, guidebook or not. Beta (albeit incomplete) and countless beautiful photos are seen online and in books and magazines. The attraction is there, and climbers who want to go there do so.
When the word got out in 1990 that Greg Vernon and Patrick Paul were working on a guidebook, those of us who were regulars were horrified. The Needles were doomed. But nothing really changed. I remember seeing some parties show up at the trailhead and rack up at the car, stuff like that. Most of those types got their shorts blown off when they saw the place, and never came back.
Since then, the number of climbers visiting the Needles has steadily increased. I did a few extended stays there while I was working on the book, and met lots of groups from Britain, France, Switzerland, and so forth who had spent previous vacations at Yosemite, but took this vacation at The Needles. In some cases, it was the sole destination for their trip. Of course, holiday weekends are packed with more local climbers. This is just what happens when one of the best rock climbing areas anywhere gets famous at a time when there are more people climbing than ever.
So, I don’t think the guidebook is capable of making The Needles more well known or more of an attraction than they already are. People have said to me that the book makes the place more accessible, so more will come. But the famous climbs; Thin Ice, Igor Unchained, Spooky, Atlantis, etc., cannot be made more accessible by the book, all the beta anyone could need is on MP. So those are the routes with lines at the base when it’s busy. Now climbers at The Needles can look through my book and find many, many more great three and four star climbs which have been off the radar for most until now. Hopefully climbers will take advantage of this information and quit cueing up for the same eight or ten routes.
I thought long and hard about the impacts of a new book. I came to the conclusion that having a reasonably complete historical record of Needles climbing to put the climbing there into a context not found on-line, to have some beta on other things to do in he area, and to have documentation of every single route in the place, would be more of a service to the area than a disservice. Oh, I did miss one route, an old Laeger obscurity. If you can find it the beers are on me.
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Contractor
Boulder climber
CA
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Approaches, bolt spacing, rap exits and steep, hard routes will keep the herds manageable. It's the conduct of people that causes problems- like the multiple raging fires during fire restrictions I witnessed during a fall climbing trip.
Thanks for the fantastic guide!
BTW-We were awfully lonely on Hermit last spring.
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ec
climber
ca
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Kris, if you hadn’t done it, someone else might have. Richard and I caught sh!t, even BITD for the original ‘minimalist’ guide.
What changed everything was having the web. There’s no turning back.
ec
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norm larson
climber
wilson, wyoming
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ec is right the Jeannie is out of the bottle with the web. It's changed every climbing area and backcountry ski stash forever. Your book is appreciated.
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bhorowitz
Trad climber
Berkeley
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I'm one of those people who first went to the needles a bit ago (5 years?), pre-guidebook, and only really got on the classic/obvious lines I saw in the old masters of stone videos (airy, thin ice, atlantis). Went back this past summer with the lovely new guidebook in hand and got on some weird obscurities and had a great time! Thanks Kris!
But the real point of this thread; when will it be clear enough to get back this year? ;)
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