I need your photos
May 5, 2011
Please don't send your butt shots!
I need action photos for the upcoming MN&WI guidebook revision. Here are the guidelines
Deadline is June 1.
Also, if you’ve noticed any changes to climbs this spring (broken holds, etc.), you can submit that info until June 1. For example, Jump Start at Red Wing had a hold break last fall and now may be a bit harder. Send info to guide{At}mfarris.net.Deadline is June 1. I will not take ANY information from mountainproject.com. You must send me any info that you may have posted here. Read why here.
Tags: revision
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Hundreds of photos
April 26, 2011
About 200 photos at Red Wing on Thursday, then 250+ at Devils Lake on Saturday and Sunday. The weather gods were kind, giving me clouds when needed and sun when needed. There were still some piles of fresh snow from the storm last week, and some trees and branches down as well.
While shooting telephotos from the top of the East Bluff Sunday I was surrounded by turkey vultures and this hawk as they were riding the thermals. The vultures were pestering the hawk by diving at it; unfortunately I couldn’t catch it with the camera.
Next weekend is Taylors Falls and maybe Red Wing again.
Hawk over Devils Lake
Tags: revision
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Why I won’t take guide information from another web site
April 22, 2011
Writing a climbing guidebook is serious business. Deadly serious. While there are opportunities for humor, I constantly remind myself that the lives of the users could be endangered if I make a mistake.
The rise of electronic social media has changed the way many people interact and how they think that others should interact with them. I was in on the social media thing from the beginning. For example, I followed rec.climbing early on, then quit reading it when the info-to-noise ratio got too low.
I’ve had many very good climbers who post online send me their suggestions. It isn’t possible for me to contact each of you directly, so I have to make impersonal pleas for info on these online forums.
Mike bouldering at Bhulebhule, Nepal
Why don’t I just harvest info from the climbing web sites? Here are some reasons:
*I can’t depend on the comments of anonymous people. Screen names like ‘rokluver69′ don’t instill any confidence in your comments. I have no idea how long you have climbed or where you have climbed.
*I don’t have time to wade through all of the junk that’s online. Those who talk the most generally have the least to offer. Or there are trolls/ flame wars/ etc. that waste everyone’s time.
*Online reports are often filed in the flush of victory (or in the throes of defeat). You finally completed a project; what are the chances you’ll downgrade it or call it a crappy route? A more sober, balanced assessment is usually only possible upon reflection.
*There are legal issues as well. If I found parts of my guide posted on a web site, the publisher would take legal action against the owner of the web site. If I take from a web site, the same could be done against me.
Also, if I was sued over the guidebook I need to show that I practiced due diligence in assembling the information that was published. Harvesting info of unknown quality from anonymous sources online clearly isn’t the best approach for accuracy.
So send me info if you have it, but if you don’t send it to me I can’t use it.
Tags: revision
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Devil’s Lake 4/16-17
April 18, 2011
Sometimes Crack, Devil's Lake. Note the tree shadows.
A crazy weather weekend at the Lake. I drove down Saturday and arrived in Baraboo and was greeted by blowing snow. After lunch and a bit of driving around I put on the running gear and ran/hiked around to check photo angles. I was the only car in the parking lot.
Sunday dawned clear with a biting, cold wind. I walked around (in several layers of clothes) and took photos in the sunshine. After a midday break it warmed up. I ran into Eric Landmann (climbingcentral.com) who was training for Denali by doing laps up the bluff.
Got some more shots but messed up by using my neutral density gradient filter inappropriately a few times. The Phottix Plato wireless remote I bought from Ebay ($40) works great and is tons cheaper than the Nikon remote.
I need to go back when it’s cloudy. The tree shadows are my nemesis! Maybe next weekend if it doesn’t snow 
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Blue Mounds April 4
April 4, 2011
Jon Cupka and I took photos and located routes at Blue Mounds on Saturday. After a cool start it was a great day–sunny in the morning, then clouds later. The clouds were important because the tree shadows make some sunny shots useless. While the sunny photos are prettier, the cloudy shots often have better contrast and reveal more detail on the cliffs.
It was very easy to get around, though there were still some snowdrifts in the gullies. We ran into Jasper and Pete Hunt (Mankato State) and climbers from South Dakota and Wyoming.
Blue Mounds, Everyday Buttress
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Recent progress
March 8, 2011
I hunkered down the past two weekends, saying NO when friends asked if I could come out and play. Also I was sick this weekend with a chronic inner ear issue. So I worked on the guidebook.
I finally started the climb-by-climb revision work. I’m through about 80% of the Taylors Falls descriptions / approaches and have a first draft of difficulty and quality ratings for Red Wing. Next up, working through many newly described routes at Blue Mounds and an initial swipe at Devils Lake.
I was hoping that photography could start soon, but the snowpack just won’t melt. Spring break is in two weeks and I hope to be at Blue Mounds or Devils Lake (or both) that week.
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Guide update
February 12, 2011
Just wanted to give you a quick update. The revision is in progress. Information is still coming in and I’m still spending a lot of time deciding exactly what needs to be updated. You might think that it’s just a matter of changing the ratings (one climber suggested, “add 1 to every rating”) but there’s a lot more than. Since the previous edition was finished (1999) both the Internet and indoor climbing have become far more popular. Both will have an influence on the guidebook.
Have you read the Introduction to the current guidebook? If not, this is a good time to do so. You’ll get a good idea of my philosophy and approach.
If you see a copy of Stewart Green’s Rock Climbing: Colorado guide (in color), that’s the format for my new guide. The color photos on glossy paper will really help show some details that were lost in the printing of the current guide. Virtually all of the photographs will be new; I’m putting together my shot lists right now so I can hit the crags when the snow melts.
It’s not too early to submit action photos, so check out the contributor guidelines.
Tags: guidebook
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I need women!
November 29, 2010
Guidebook authors and contributors are overwhelmingly male, so the published difficulty and quality ratings reflect this male bias.
So please, female climbers, send me your opinions and help make this guide reflect the increasing presence of women on the rocks.
Also, I just modified the spreadsheets in the contributor’s packet. Some people had been having trouble so I removed all of the protections. Hopefully that’ll solve the problems. If not, let me know. Thanks once again to Microsoft for ‘undocumented features” (=bugs).
Tags: revision
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Devils Lake and a Comment about comments
October 29, 2010
I’ll be at Blue Mounds this Saturday (10/30)–maybe I’ll see you there.
Since there is a new Devils Lake guidebook (so I hear, I haven’t seen it), I plan to trim back my coverage of that area in the revision. Currently I have about 140 routes in my guide; I’d like to slash that by about a third. So when you send me your input, give me suggestions on which routes or areas at DL to drop. My philosophy is to minimize competition with guides that are in print and up-to-date.
Unknown climber on Shovel Point, MN
You may wonder why I don’t allow comments to this blog. Frankly, I don’t have time to moderate them! Most comments I receive are either spam or irrelevant to the topic at hand. I enjoy a good discussion but seldom find one on other forums I visit, which doesn’t encourage me to open the floodgates here. So turning off comments makes my life less stressful. Which is good.
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Photos photos
October 14, 2010
I took photos at Carlton Peak, Palisade Head, and Shovel Point last Saturday. The weather was glorious, and I talked to a number of climbers enjoying the great weather. It was the first day with my new camera and there were the usual learning pains. For example, I got up to Carlton Peak and couldn’t remember how to set the self timer! I did figure it out, but I’ll bring the manual next time.
Besides the color photos in the new edition, I’ll be taking photos with people in them to give a better sense of scale. Here’s an example of the same shot with and without a person for scale.
No person for scale
With climber for scale
The new camera is great (Nikon D700). I needed it because many photos need to be taken close to the rock and the only way to do that digitally is with a full-size sensor. My radio remote shutter release arrived this week, so now I can take photos with me in them much more easily. Not that I want my picture in the book, but if nobody else is around, it has to be me.
I’ll be up north again this weekend: Section 13, Sawmill Creek Dome, Shovel Point, and Palisade (and maybe Wolf Ridge area). Maybe I’ll see you there.
Tags: revision
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