Verbose route descriptions

Do we really want/need the full beta spraydown on MP route descriptions?

Here are two classic routes posted: the first
mountainproject.com/v/inter…

with a verbose description while the second has a complete description but probably terse for some people. The two descriptions have about the same amount of text but the second route is 8 times longer! I prefer the second.

I like detailed descriptions. I don't really understand why you would start a new thread about it. WTF does it matter to you? Stop reading if it makes your brain hurt. It's just electrons dancing on a computer screen...it's the only medium out there that doesn't cost more to have more information.

It doesn't "matter" to me. Nothing on this site really matters to me. Just a preference.

BTW this is what the Discuss MountainProject forum is for and you just voted.

TMI.... unless I am going to go lead it, then ..thanks!

i definitely prefer a bit of a description. the '8 bolts to anchors' description seems a bit lackluster.

Dave,
I would prefer Mono's description to descriptions like this:

mountainproject.com/v/color…

Do I need a full blow by blow of every move on a given route? No, but I would at least like to know where the route starts. I would say that in general, Mono's descriptions are fantastic and I am not going to fault him for taking the time and effort to post what he did. IMHO, error on the side of completeness, otherwise you are just posting a route that contains no useful information (and the fact that you posted it, means that nobody else can post an actual useful description).

Personally I love the verbose route descriptions. I can pick up a guidebook to get "Start by the large pine, 8 bolts to anchors". I enjoy reading the complete and entertaining route descriptions that Mono writes. If you are worried about blowing your onsight then why are you reading the route descriptions at all?

What point is it to simply copy the guidebook when posting a route?

I like Monomaniac's entry because I'm a fan of route descriptions that give you some clues as to how the contributor likes/dislikes the route. The move-by-move section doesn't bother me because if I ever thought I'd actually do the route, I just wouldn't read that part.

Josh's entry, on the other hand, is shorter but still includes some editorial comment; more importantly, it has the pitch-by-pitch details I look for on a multi-pitch route.

So in a nutshell, I don't think Mono's is too verbose or that Josh's is too terse. The ones that bother me are junk routes with no description at all, like this.

JL

more beta is better than less beta. Ill just stop reading if it is too much.

Mike Anderson wrote:...it's the only medium out there that doesn't cost more to have more information.

This is false. Sending information across the internet requires energy. Hell, internet information IS energy. If anything, it's the medium where it's easiest to calculate how much it costs to have said information.

seems pretty true to me. (?)

David Aguasca! wrote: This is false. Sending information across the internet requires energy. Hell, internet information IS energy. If anything, it's the medium where it's easiest to calculate how much it costs to have said information.

This useless post is an excessive waste of energy. Please get it out of my sight.

Mike Anderson wrote: This useless post is an excessive waste of energy. Please get it out of my sight.

This post is an even more egregious waste of energy. This is a moral outrage!!!

Mike Anderson wrote: This post is an even more egregious waste of energy. This is a moral outrage!!!

OK, get a rope and round up a posse. This inexcusable waste of fossil fuels and work time productivity must cease! Find this "Mike Anderson" (if that is his real name) and make him PAY for his atrocities!!!

johnL wrote:I want to know how to get to the route, how to get off, and if it takes any special gear beyond a standard rack. Otherwise, keep it to yourself.

i like route descriptions this way, as well - i'm not a fan of crux beta at all.

that said, some of my own route descriptions are definitely a bit wordy, but i don't think i've got any spoilers in there. here's one, a bit long for just one pitch, but i don't think it gives anything away -

P1 - Climb the side of the flake (left side is easier, right side is much nicer and only about 5.7) and a short stretch of face above to a crack that runs through two small roofs. Clamber over the roofs (5.8 or 8-), passing a fixed pin after the second. Continue up the enjoyable crack as it squeezes down to nothing and spits you out on thin, protection-free, friction climbing. Man up, crimp down where possible, and work out the sequence (5.10b, R) up and left until you reach a large ramp. Belay here. 5.10b R, 150 feet.

Can someone who has done this route (I haven't) send an updated description to the author? Lets just say it needs a lot of work.

mountainproject.com/v/wyomi…

It's not really that long if you consider it's 7,000 vertical feet of climbing:

Pitch 1: Hike from your car to the trailhead. 60 meters, gear

Pitch 2: Hike from the trailhead until you run out of rope. 60 meters, gear

Pitch 3: Hike until you run out of rope. 60 meters, gear

Pitch 4: Hike until you run out of rope. 60 meters, gear

Pitch 5: Hike until you run out of rope. 60 meters, gear

Pitch 6: Hike until you run out of rope. 60 meters, gear

Pitch 7: Hike until you run out of rope. 60 meters, gear

Pitch 8: Hike until you run out of rope. 60 meters, gear

Pitch 9: Hike until you run out of rope. 60 meters, gear

...and so on....

Dave Kesonie wrote:Can someone who has done this route (I haven't) send an updated description to the author?

It kinda works if someone would just edit out the personal observations and sanitize it down into just a pure route description.

But, then it would be a sanitized route description.

I kinda agree with the commment that it reads like a trip report.

It's pretty hard to describe long alpine routes. I give the guy kudos for trying.

I belayed 20 pitches on that route (!)....

Mike Anderson wrote: OK, get a rope and round up a posse. This inexcusable waste of fossil fuels and work time productivity must cease! Find this "Mike Anderson" (if that is his real name) and make him PAY for his atrocities!!!

Lol, thanks for the good humor.

Dave Kesonie,

Thank you for taking the time to call me out on this. So, I followed your advice and have now posted a much more abbreviated description. Hope you like it.

Julian Smith

johnL wrote:I want to know how to get to the route, how to get off,

And nobody else is jumping on this stellar opportunity for thread drift?!?!!???!?