Best guide for RR?

Lost my old Swain guide. There seems to be a lot of debate about which is the best guide (Swain, Brock). Opinions?

Try Jerry Handren's book, Red Rocks, A Climber's Guide. I don't think any others come close, except for Joanne U.'s first guide, which is a great resource but clearly outdated. JH did a super job with this work.

second that. Handren's book is amazing.

+1 on Handren's book

Handren. One of the best guidebooks for any area I have ever owned. Shit, buy it for the copious amounts of eye candy photography if nothing else.

Handren's is the best and most accurate. Gearloop Topo is nice while climbing, instead of getting the book out every pitch, but can be out-dated. Saves a ton of time and you can consult it in the middle of a climb as well.

Drew Bedford wrote:Lost my old Swain guide. There seems to be a lot of debate about which is the best guide (Swain, Brock). Opinions?

Drew, there's no debate. Handren's guide is not only the best source for Red Rocks beta, but, it really sets the bar for guidebooks anywhere.

I look at mine with a drool cup...

When you going? What's on the tick list?

Cheers,

-Brian in SLC

I don't think the Handren guide is near as good as some are making it out to be. That said, the Brock and Swain guides are complete trash and the Handren guide is far better.

Definitely Handren's.

Aaron, what exactly do you dislike about the Handren book? I agree with Brian, Handren's book really does set the bar for what a guidebook can be. I don't know of any other book (though Marty Lewis' guides are also damn good) that takes such a complex area and provides such useful and beautifully presented info. Just the logistics of all of the photos of the walls in a place like RR is amazing itself.

Just curious.

Thanks for the guidance. Sounds like I'll be picking up a Handren guide. Anyone know if they're available at Desert Rock Sports?

Desert Rock will almost surely have copies.

Interesting note about the R/X ratings John. I had not thought of that, but it is true that routes such as Drifting do not get an R rating in his book, but do include some runouts. However, as you mention, if you read the route description carefully, it should be apparent which climbs have some runout climbing. A minor complaint in my opinion, but valid nonetheless.

No 'R' ratings and almost no topos is annoying and could be particularly so for someone new to the area. The star ratings seem really off and there are some minor errors in places, although these are pretty small complaints that could be made about pretty much any guide book; I just think it's over the top to be calling this the best guide book ever. The book does have the best information on a number of lesser known climbs. The pictures are pretty but when a book uses a cool picture of a route that isn't in the guide I get more annoyed than I probably should.

While the Handren guide rocks and kicks the Brock and Swain guides squarely in the crotch, one should not visit red rocks without reading "Red Rock Odyssey" by Larry and Bill. Actually, I think the Odyssey puts all other guides to shame. Can you imagine if Handrens book was written to this level of detail for 100s of routes!, although it would take decades no doubt

verexpress.com/vp/rro.html

Is X-15 runout by any chance? There definitely seems to be a star bias towards routes that are less protectable among the ones I've done, but maybe I've just gotten 'lucky'.

I hope he got permission from the owners of this site and acknowledges mountain project in the acknowledgements.

Aaron S wrote:Is X-15 runout by any chance? There definitely seems to be a star bias towards routes that are less protectable among the ones I've done, but maybe I've just gotten 'lucky'.

Yes X-15 is runout....and the runout is a "low-probablity" pitch....No matter how good of a climber you are you might not pull it off, even if you have before. I took at least 2, 20 footers on a fixed RP.
I argee that Handren seems to give more stars to runout climbs and harder climbs.
Also some of the newer, harder routes were put up as Head points. They are runout and somewhat devious. They were Mini traxioned into submission....completely dial in before the "FA". Non of this is clearly stated in the Guidebook. Then the routes are given multiple stars and have awesome pictures, which will make more folks want to climb them. So this could cause some serious situations....if you are a solid 5.11 Trdaitional climber and get on a route that is really only 5.11 if you know the exact seqence, and it's runout....well you do the math.

I really like Handrens guidebook, it is an absolute step up (more like 10 steps up) in Compprehensive (excluding Supertopo)Red Rock guidebooks. But I feel it does lack some rather important information.

josh