Tough Schist - Anyone own this?

Nick Goldsmith wrote:it's about the culture of wanting everything for free on the internet.. i am pretty much adamant these days that i do not want rout descriptions on MP. if we keep putting the stuff up on the internet where its usually very incomplete with little or no history sooner rather than later there will be no real guide books. there will be no history and a huge part of climbing will simply disappear into cyberspace. support real guide authors....

I'm afraid you will be disappointed in what the future is almost sure to be. MP and other beta sites will replace the books, or the books will be compiled and updated online by the authors. And then probably merged into MP or something like it.

What is not a possibility is the future you hope for, an MP without more and more routes and descriptions.

As far as the history thing, I think the internet still permits discussion of history.

To the topic at hand: it's a great book. A few omissions I've noticed but it is really well done. If you're a native Vermonter (not op) and climb here often, donate x amount to CragVT and receive a signed book for free!

+1 to everything Nick said. Support your local guidebook authors... how do you think most people putting routes and crags on MP found them? Probably the guidebook.

But to the original question: Good book, good climbing in Vermont, maybe not quite as worth it if you live in Rumney but for those of us farther west it saves a couple hours of driving to play clip-n'-whip on schist.

I'm sure there's a store somewhere near you which has a copy you can look through before buying (?). Still, if you pay $27.95 retail and you only use it to find The Rose and The Thorn it's probably still a deal.

Come to Vermont. Buy the book. The climbing is fun and the crags are quiet. Get yourself off the beaten path in smuggs and you'll have yourself a true adventure.

Many of the route descriptions on the web that are not plagerized from a guide are close to useless. for all the great things the web has done it has done some dammage as well. most of our news these days suffers from a wall mart effect caused by us expecting our news to be free. Social media is fabulous for getting real time updates on what is happeneing right now but it basicly sucks for in depth serious journalism. The folks who are still trying to do serious journalism are much fewer in numbers and get paied much less than they did a few years ago. several of my friends who were photojournalists have given up and moved on to other jobs. The last major cover I got paied a whopping $30.00 like it or not this is the future. You do need to know though that you are directly responsible for the decline in quality of both the news and climbing literature. we demanded it for free and most simply did not even notice when it turned into complete crap.......
Yes if there is a book in print even if it is a bit out dated I support the author and boycot web based free route descriptions. Especially if I know the author is working on a new edition. The area that I have developed I carry a hard copy of the guide in my pack that I will give to motivated climbers that I get a good vibe from on the condition that they will not post route descriptions on the web. The web is a great place to share climbing stories, rock fall news, bug conditions, access issues, gear head tec tips etc. Web is a great place to ask about that cool climb you just found. If it is a known area the answer will come for all to see, if it's a low key spot you usually get a pm with the scoop. For me and my concept of what makes for the best climbing experiences i am keeping my routs off the web. stareing at your phone while belaying simply does not stack up to reading a real book by headlamp planning the next days adventure.... Obviously YMMV

• paid* Fixed your spelling

I'd buy it. I bet there is a store that carries it where you could preview it but it is a good book and the money goes to a good cause; I'd just get it online. We're not talking about a ton of dough here. And I don't know about you but I have a bunch of guidebooks from all over the country, some for places that i haven't even been to, that I enjoy looking over when I'm on the toilet or something. (That said, like Nick I'm still a fan of the printed word and don't even have internet unless I get a good signal from my neighbor on a clear day.)
Vermont also has really good climbing. It is not condensed so takes some exploring but I think that it has a good sampling of everything that could be found in NH, excepting long alpine routes like on Cannon. Quality not quantity. People drive hours to get to Rumney, I drive almost as long to get to Bolton. I think it's worth it. Hope everyone puts their beta-sharing ethics aside and get out to enjoy this beautiful weather!

I agree with what max said. Even the busy areas are usually pretty quiet, with the exception being smugglers notch, maybe. The book is commensurate with the great experiences I've had climbing in VT. I doubt you'd regret giving it 1.35" on the bookshelf but hope you can thumb a copy soon if you don't want to take anyone's word for it.

This is a great book! used it again last weekend to find climbs in northern VT

Own it. Like it.