Trip Reports in General

[daylward]

I have long, in fact, ever since I first became aware of the web as an entity, thought that there should be a web page where everyone in the region could post their trip reports for all to see for all eternity (or at least most of eternity). That way I could not only brag about my amazing feats (yeah right), but I could see a more-or-less complete history of attempts on a particular route before I attempt it myself! Wouldn't that be cool? I don't know if this page will live up to my farsighted dreams, but I'm going to do my best to contribute, and I hope everyone else does too. Eventually it would be nice to see this not in just a message format, but in a sort of indexed-climbers-journal format, organized by region. Maybe the moderators could yank out all trip reports from this message board and organize them in this way? Anyway, for the time being, we can make due with threads. If you have any insights or ideas on this, reply to this thread ("Trip Reports In General"). Ok, so now off I go to start writing trip reports...

Dan

[cascadeclimbers]

Dan-

Awesome reports man, we really appreciate your posts. And we totally agree with you on your "vision" of an indexed climbing journal. When we set out to create the site, that was our "vision" also, but we quite don't have the skills/resources/programing knowledge to make the vision a reality yet!

The good news is, that we are working on the acutal Climbing Database! We hope to have it up sometime in December, and yes we will add all reports posted on the board to this database. We currently have the database designed, but we want to make it perfect before we send it out to the world!

If you, or anyone else, has suggestions on features they would like to have in this "climbing journal", please let us know by replying to this thread or emailing us directly at climb@cascadeclimbers.com

Thanks again for your support, and we're glad you enjoy the site.

-Skippy

[daylward]

Among the people I've informed about this site, there has been some concern about this causing more people to go into the mountains, thereby compromising the wilderness experience for the rest of us. I do think there's a chance this might happen on occasion, but I can only imagine it happening very rarely.

The scenario would have to involve someone who fits into one of the following categories:

a) Someone generally interested in the mountains but with no specific plans to go do something

b) Someone who does have plans to go to the mountains but only do something popular & crowded (like Der Tigerhorn) because they don't know any better

In addition, they would have to be persuaded to do something (in the case of a)), or to change their plans (in the case of b)), by something they read on this site.

Possible. However, I would argue that this could only happen if they were inclined to "do something" or "change their plans" in the first place. If we can assume that to be the case, this site becomes merely a tool these people use to do something they already want to do. And if it weren't for this site, there are plenty of other tools out there they could use instead (guidebooks, the Mountaineers, etc.). In short, this site has the potential to make it easier for those who already participate in mountain activities, but I believe it will exert very little pressure for more people to participate; people must have the desire to begin with, and that being the case, they'll get out there anyway whether this site exists or not.

The other concern is about guidebooks. If this site becomes popular enough, and if enough people post trip reports, there may be enough information to do a trip without a guidebook; i.e., just based on information found in trip reports. I think it's still valuable to have guidebooks; lots of research has gone into their creation, and things like route topos and pictures are invaluable. I also think it's important to support those who write the guidebooks; they're the pillars of the climbing community. So, if you haven't already, go out and get your copy of Nelson & Potterfield's "Selected Climbs in the Cascades" (vol I and II), Fred Beckey's "Cascade Alpine Guides" (vol I, II, and III), Bryan Burdo's "North Cascades Rock", and any other book that comes out that has information you're interested in. Those are the staples, this site will be the (hopefully substantial) supplement.

[LhotseDreems]

Dan,

I commented on this same topic under a different thread. It's interesting to read your views on this, and I decidedly agree with them.

I would hope that people wouldn't take *JUST* the info off this site and head into the mountains (when put into text it looks foolhardy, and i would hope that people would realize that). Regardless of how well someone may claim to know the mountains, one must remember that this is the internet and not to trust everything that comes across. I definately don't think that a site should be in anyway confused with a guidebook, it's a beneficial tool BUT NOT substitute. I plan to use this site to get the latest conditions and hear other peoples experiences. And i think that would be the general trend - or at least i hope it is.