Pawtuckaway Climbers guide?

Has anyone ever heard of this climbers guide before?
pawtuckawayclimbing.us/
I cant find a single reference or review of this guide anywhere, and for about 50$ after shipping, Id love to hear a review or something if anyone has any experience with it. It took quite a bit of searching just to find this site, which honestly seems a little shady to me considering no one has ever mentioned this guide before anywhere it seems.

I have been searching for some real good specific NH guides but theres not very much out there. The New England guides are generally too broad, and the Rumney Guide is forever missing. If anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear them.

That guide is the most comprehensive list of routes and problems in the park and has some pretty good pictures with the lines drawn in (for like 75% of the climbs). Other than that it sucks pretty hard. For some wacked out reason the authors decided to go with a "ski grade" system and left the V-scale out of it completely, despite leaving in the route grades. So Easy climbs are green circles (or white circles for super easy zeroes), V3-5 or so is a Blue Square, 6-8 is a black diamond and everything else is a double black. Super lame. On top of that it doesn't have any sort of an index (neither by problem name or grade lists) like a lot of other guidebooks have. Makes finding specific problems a pain in the ass.

I saw that in the preview section. I did think it was odd. I figure if I combine it with Mountain Project app I could figure it out though. Being fairly new to climbing, I just dont have someone show me where everything is. I love the mountain project app but its not the best at actually pointing out where a route is most of the time. Maybe I will pick it up then. The website seemed kind of suspicious to me.

The reasoning for the ski grade system on the boulder problems, from what I have heard, is due to threats of a lawsuit if it was published. I am thinking it was their way of differentiating the book from other guide books, from a legal standpoint.

I have the guide book and it is great, as far as I am concerned. Though some of the beta is less intensive on climbs, the topos are great and leaves a bit of adventure. I bought the mosquito cover.

I have the guide, it's somewhat useful and looks pretty good, but it's not great.

The ski grades might be nice if you're a very strong climber (V7-8+), where each grade in the lower range is less meaningful. However, the novice climber won't find all the greens, for instance, of similar level and some blues might be tenable while others are just absurd.

I've also had some trouble finding problems in it, having to cross reference MP. I have not seen any of the other guidebooks for the area, so I can't compare, but it's better than nothing for me.

Are there any other recommendations for guidebooks? I'd be willing to invest in a different one.

The other bouldering guidebook available, if you can find a copy, is Bouldering New England, Tim Kemple. The Rock Climbing New England, Stewart Green, has a section for Pawtuckawy as well.

I have been using the book for lead climbing not bouldering so I guess I don't have too much of an opinion on the ski grading system.

eddysamson wrote:That guide is the most comprehensive list of routes and problems in the park and has some pretty good pictures with the lines drawn in (for like 75% of the climbs). Other than that it sucks pretty hard. For some wacked out reason the authors decided to go with a "ski grade" system and left the V-scale out of it completely, despite leaving in the route grades. So Easy climbs are green circles (or white circles for super easy zeroes), V3-5 or so is a Blue Square, 6-8 is a black diamond and everything else is a double black. Super lame. On top of that it doesn't have any sort of an index (neither by problem name or grade lists) like a lot of other guidebooks have. Makes finding specific problems a pain in the ass.

This is far too harsh, and silly, the underground pawtuckaway guidebook wouldn't be purchased by someone who doesn't already frequent mountainproject and/or have the Kemple guide. If you climb at pawtuckaway enough to warrant needing the underground guide you already know the area well and want information on the lesser-frequented areas, which the guidebook does an incredible job of comprehensively describing. The price is a drawback, as is the dead author, but is necessary due to legal issues surrounding production.

Ian McAfee wrote: This is far too harsh, and silly, the underground pawtuckaway guidebook wouldn't be purchased by someone who doesn't already frequent mountainproject and/or have the Kemple guide. If you climb at pawtuckaway enough to warrant needing the underground guide you already know the area well and want information on the lesser-frequented areas, which the guidebook does an incredible job of comprehensively describing. The price is a drawback, as is the dead author, but is necessary due to legal issues surrounding production.

Kemple Guide? Which one is that? Do you have a link for purchase? Im not sure Ive seen that one.

Charlie Boulanger wrote: Kemple Guide? Which one is that? Do you have a link for purchase? Im not sure Ive seen that one.

It's this one:

amazon.com/New-England-Boul…;ie=UTF8&qid=1430604662&sr=1-1

You can probably pick it up at an EMS for 20$-25$

IIRC, Tim's guide is out of print currently. I have a second edition I picked up second hand. Great guide book.

Ian McAfee wrote: This is far too harsh, and silly, the underground pawtuckaway guidebook wouldn't be purchased by someone who doesn't already frequent mountainproject and/or have the Kemple guide. If you climb at pawtuckaway enough to warrant needing the underground guide you already know the area well and want information on the lesser-frequented areas, which the guidebook does an incredible job of comprehensively describing. The price is a drawback, as is the dead author, but is necessary due to legal issues surrounding production.

Nah thats not at all too harsh. Like someone else said the lower ski grades are terrible for people that don't climb over V6. The New England book is out of print and priced ridiculously high now so this guidebook is what most people will buy because its the easiest and cheapest to get their hands on. Its definitely not just for people who know the area well. Its now the main option for guidebooks at pway and because of that, the ski grades SUCK! Sorry to say but a lot of people I've shown it to share my opinions.

I personally love the underground book... I like that it has both routes and boulders... I like a lot about it really but I also understand the complaints... Personally the #1 thing I wanted from this book was to know where everything is and it helps me with that...

eddysamsonwrote: This is far too harsh, and silly, the underground pawtuckaway guidebook wouldn't be purchased by someone who doesn't already frequent mountainproject and/or have the Kemple guide. If you climb at pawtuckaway enough to warrant needing the underground guide you already know the area well and want information on the lesser-frequented areas, which the guidebook does an incredible job of comprehensively describing. The price is a drawback, as is the dead author, but is necessary due to legal issues surrounding production. Nah thats not at all too harsh. Like someone else said the lower ski grades are terrible for people that don't climb over V6. The New England book is out of print and priced ridiculously high now so this guidebook is what most people will buy because its the easiest and cheapest to get their hands on. Its definitely not just for people who know the area well. Its now the main option for guidebooks at pway and because of that, the ski grades SUCK! Sorry to say but a lot of people I've shown it to share my opinions.

Joining the conversation late, but seriously the best guide out there. The reason for the “ski grades” ( relayed third person to me ) was do to legal considerations and certain people believing they own the rights to certain public information.