Here’s a brief look back at my history with climbing guidebooks. It’s long– maybe too long!
Minnesota Rock: Selected Climbs (1995)
220+ routes at Blue Mounds, Red Wing, Taylors Falls, Palisade Head, and Shovel Point.
I got into the guidebook game indirectly. I was frustrated that the local guidebooks were out of print, I was frustrated that my job wasn’t allowing me to pursue the avenues that I wished, and I was spending a bunch of time at Blue Mounds, Taylors Falls, and Shovel Point doing research on cliff vegetation. Somehow, doing a self-published guide was my response. I did my own page layouts using the original Pagemaker program on my Macintosh SE/30 (with the small B&W screen). I put up the $3,000 cash to have it printed and bound on nice paper, then spent the next five years shipping and hand delivering nearly 3,000 copies (with three printings) to local and national merchants and individual climbers. All without the Internet.
Rock Climbing: Minnesota and Wisconsin, 1st Edition (2000)
First Edition
800+ routes at Blue Mounds, Devil’s Lake, Red Wing, Willow River, Taylors Falls, Elys Peak, Palisade Head, Shovel Point, Mystical Mountain Zone, Sawmill Creek Dome, Section 13, and Carlton Peak.
In spring 1998 I was in Australia with students. We had some email access and I received an email from Falcon Publishing, asking if I wanted to do an expanded version of my guide that they would publish. Standing in a phone booth in Brisbane, Australia, I had a long conversation with my future editor. He made it clear that Falcon was going to publish a guide, whether or not I wrote it. (Falcon was vacuuming up guidebooks at the time to become the big player that they are today).
I said OK and got to work after returning from Australia. Along with Bruce McDonald and others, I climbed most of the routes (in that book) rated under 5.10 (and a good number of 5.10s, a few of the 11s, and maybe one 12) at all of the crags except Palisade Head. I took all of the photos on B&W print film, and printed all of the photos myself. I then attached clear plastic sheets over the photos and drew in route lines, which Falcon then transferred to digital form.
Rock Climbing: Minnesota and Wisconsin, 2nd Edition
Nearly 1000 routes at Blue Mounds, Devil’s Lake, Red Wing, Willow River, Taylors Falls, Sandstone, Elys Peak, Palisade Head, Shovel Point, Mystical Mountain Zone, Sawmill Creek Dome, Section 13, and Carlton Peak.
I spent most of the decade 2000-2009 doing expeditions (or extended trips) abroad. Aconcagua, Denali, Kilimanjaro, Kanchenjunga, Broad Peak (twice), Gasherbrum II… I was on K2 in 2008 when 11 climbers died, and nearly died myself on Everest in 2009.
I also researched and wrote The Altitude Experience: Successful Trekking and Climbing Above 8,000 Feet.
I had verbally agreed to a guidebook revision before the Everest trip (I think– my memory is hazy and my emails have been lost). The main attraction to me was the upgrade to color photos. Due to frostbite on the descent of Everest I lost the end joints of seven fingers and eight toes were cut off to the webs. Clearly climbing wasn’t going to be the same game as it was before. However, guidebook research is mostly doing things other than climbing. Oh, and I lost all of my hearing and now have two cochlear implants.
So as I said in the most recent edition, I’m done, it’s your turn. Have fun!