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jberk
Jun 5, 2013, 6:09 AM
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I know this question has been asked a million times but what is the best guide book for climbs at the Gunks? The last time as far as i can tell this question was last asked in 2010. Is the best book still Dick Williams? Are the pictures and details good enough for in Williams for someone who has never been to the Gunks to get oriented and located specific routes?
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Gmburns2000
Jun 5, 2013, 11:39 AM
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jberk wrote: I know this question has been asked a million times but what is the best guide book for climbs at the Gunks? The last time as far as i can tell this question was last asked in 2010. Is the best book still Dick Williams? Are the pictures and details good enough for in Williams for someone who has never been to the Gunks to get oriented and located specific routes?
Yup, get the grey Dick and you'll be set. There's also the purple Dick for the Nears, too. Both are the best books for the 'Gunks.
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Marylandclimber
Jun 5, 2013, 12:03 PM
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Grey Dick.
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gblauer
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Jun 5, 2013, 12:33 PM
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grey dick
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spiesbach22
Jun 5, 2013, 1:20 PM
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Dick and williams will both get it done.. I hear the Grey dick is a bit better..
I know what i'm about to say is blasphemy but My first few times at the Gunks I also had the extreme angles book and i found that the huge color pictures and topo's made it really easy to find alot of routes that would have bee tricky from the small black and white long distance pictures in the other books... unfortunately the extreme angles guide had completely mis graded alot of routes and has some iffy descriptions.. but it could be a great supplement to a first timer...
let the brow beating commence
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marc801
Jun 5, 2013, 2:39 PM
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spiesbach22 wrote: unfortunately the extreme angles guide had completely mis graded alot of routes and has some iffy descriptions..
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cracklover
Jun 5, 2013, 3:26 PM
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marc801 wrote: spiesbach22 wrote: unfortunately the extreme angles guide had completely mis graded alot of routes and has some iffy descriptions.. ...and some grossly inaccurate topos. Other than the pretty action pictures, the book is worthless.
Who cares if it misdirects n00bs into harder territory than the actual established climb, or gives them false and misleading grades? So long as they feel confident and the pretty pictures are easier to read, that's all that matters, right? I mean, if you have to wander around for five whole extra minutes before you find the climb you want to do, based off some book that's too long and in black and white - fuck that shit!
GO
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jberk
Jun 5, 2013, 7:42 PM
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Thank you all so much for your great advice!!
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dagibbs
Jun 6, 2013, 7:23 PM
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cracklover wrote: marc801 wrote: spiesbach22 wrote: unfortunately the extreme angles guide had completely mis graded alot of routes and has some iffy descriptions.. ...and some grossly inaccurate topos. Other than the pretty action pictures, the book is worthless. Who cares if it misdirects n00bs into harder territory than the actual established climb, or gives them false and misleading grades? So long as they feel confident and the pretty pictures are easier to read, that's all that matters, right? I mean, if you have to wander around for five whole extra minutes before you find the climb you want to do, based off some book that's too long and in black and white - fuck that shit! GO
And, its The Gunks, so there's never anybody around you can ask about which route they're on, to help you find the route you want.
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spiesbach22
Jun 7, 2013, 1:19 AM
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I said it was only good for pics..and some nice anecdotal stories.. plus it rates pink laurel as a 5.0 :) what bad could happen(that was a joke
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rgold
Jun 8, 2013, 3:07 AM
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jberk wrote: Are the pictures and details good enough for in Williams for someone who has never been to the Gunks to get oriented and located specific routes?
It depends who the "someone" is, in terms of experience in outdoor navigating and also in terms of expectations of precision. (And these two qualities are not unrelated. Inexperienced outdoorspeople often have high---and unrealistic---expectations about precision.)
Some of the problems are intrinsic to the area and aren't likely to be solved by any guidebook. The cliff face is flat and relatively featureless. There is a logic to the climbs once you are on them, but that logic may not be detectable at any distance. In all seasons but the winter and early spring, the trees hide most of the Trapps from view from the carriage road, which makes it harder to spot climbs and understand relationships.
The cliff diagrams are aerial photographs, and it isn't always easy to correlate those views with what you see from the ground. The photographs work better in the Trapps, where you have some perspective from the carriage road, at least when the leaves are down. The photos are ok in the two end regions of the Near Trapps, but are much less helpful for the short base-of-the-cliff routes in the wide midsection of the Near Trapps, since there really isn't enough detail in the distant aerial views to easily pick out the short routes.
The point is that no book is going to take you by the nose and lead you to the base of your chosen route. You might have trouble finding the route. You might start up the wrong route. This is actually part of climbing, although sometimes it is clear that some people neither understand this nor have any inclination to embrace it. They want their routes served up to them on a silver platter, but that isn't happening, at least not yet in this country.
The tiniest touch of adventure finding routes before you know the cliff intimately is part of the Gunks experience, and certainly part of the mountaineering context in which cragging resides. No guidebook is going to eliminate all uncertainty, but the Grey and Purple William's guides come as close as possible.
The Extreme Angles book is not just an inferior guidebook to the Gunks, it is among the all-time worst guidebooks ever written.
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curt
Jun 8, 2013, 4:49 AM
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rgold wrote: The Extreme Angles book is not just an inferior guidebook to the Gunks, it is among the all-time worst guidebooks ever written.
As is their guidebook to the South Dakota Needles.
Curt
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jberk
Jun 9, 2013, 12:42 AM
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Thanks so much for such a detailed response. I cant wait to climb the gunks  !!
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