Gauging New Guidebook Interest

Tal M wrote:

If they’ll take them! Have reached out to various places and gotten radio silence back thus far, so if you want to see them there, feel free to talk to them about it next time you’re in!

Have you tried the local gyms as well? 

Hey folks! 3 things:

• Got an email from the printer today that the books are shipping today/tomorrow - so I should have the copies early next week!
• I'll be out in Wonderland South this Sunday. If you'd like a tour of that part of Wonderland and want to either come work on the Man-Eater Wall projects with us, or bring your own posse and go cragging, feel free to hit me up. More details in the my partner finder post
• I'm reaching out to some local gyms/gear shops and it's looking like there may be a small amount of copies in some of them in the future as well. I'm prioritizing self-publishing since there's no required margin meaning that the maximum amount of money is going towards the common hardware fund, but will also try and make sure there's some local options as I'm able.

Wow ok Christmas came early! I’ll start shipping out copies on Monday in order of those who paid

Sounds like folks are starting to get their shipments! I know I've gone on some trips the last couple of weekends with folks out there, as well as run into some new faces out there. Wonderland is a pretty new area, so to the folks who have gotten the guidebook and/or checked out the area, feel free to give your unbiased reviews here so people know what they're getting into. You won't hurt my feelings (you will but I'll be brave)

Also, we've put up somewhere around a dozen new routes since the guidebook was cut already, including opening a new formation. If you see routes that aren't listed in the guidebook and don't have a red tag, feel free to jump on! Please respect red tags as these in-progress routes may be dangerous - I don't believe there's a single route in the region that's red-tagged just due to waiting for an FA send, anything red-tagged is for safety purposes.

Hey Tal, how are the conditions right now? Is it pretty snowy?

I was in at Seasoned Slab on Saturday morning after the new snow (working on the next new route for y’all), and there were 2-3 sparkling new inches of fluff blanketing the whole area, but by afternoon much of the rock had melted off and dried.  The ground was mostly snow free in the sunny spots and down to an inch or so elsewhere.  I imagine by now the rock is still seeping in the places where it does so, but most of it will be dry.  The trail in might still have some packed snow here and there, but nothing was deep anywhere, and so should be even less so by now.  

Josh wrote:

I was in at Seasoned Slab on Saturday morning after the new snow (working on the next new route for y’all), and there were 2-3 sparkling new inches of fluff blanketing the whole area, but by afternoon much of the rock had melted off and dried.  The ground was mostly snow free in the sunny spots and down to an inch or so elsewhere.  I imagine by now the rock is still seeping in the places where it does so, but most of it will be dry.  The trail in might still have some packed snow here and there, but nothing was deep anywhere, and so should be even less so by now.  

Josh, we were wondering whose footprints we followed! We saw them cut off but most of the snow was melted so we couldn’t tell where they went!

I was down there both Sunday and Monday - by Sunday afternoon it was completely snow free. I’ll be down there again tomorrow as well - though I imagine there’s a chance it gets a dusting Friday. Pine is typically a good place to check weather since Wonderland is only 3-4 miles south as the crow flies. Would co-sign to expect a light seepage on the highest-seeping routes (maybe one or two streaks on tiger stripe wall), but pretty much all of the seeping stopped by 2 or 3pm

Hey Tal I spoke to the people at mountain chalet in person and requested your guidebook from them. I gave them your email, they said they would do their best to get a few copies.

Hey Jeremiah, really appreciate your support! Haven't heard from them, but will keep an eye out!

Just an FYI to folks in the boulder area, I dropped a few copies off to G1 and to Rock and Resole late last week - I don't know what the turnaround time looks like for them to have them ready for sale is, but feel free to give them a call or swing by and see if any copies are available!

Also update: Thanks to the support of folks, as well as a few additional donations, we've officially placed our first order in for new hardware! Our priorities are opening a few new crags above the ranch geared towards beginners/intermediate climbers (one crag will be entirely 5.3-5.7 sport lines, another will likely be 5.6-5.10) and developing some new lines down by the river (potentially up to 5.14a!) to make the hike a bit more worth it. Additional hardware will go towards filling in some of the existing crags, with preferential treatment given to lines that get specifically requested - so if you see an undone line down there that you'd be keen on seeing equipped, give me a shout! And if you want to help with that, then reach out doubly so!

Bump. Received my copy today, and it is fantastic, well thought out, and helps a good cause. Thanks Tal!

Got my copy, this is a really nice book and way exceeded what I expected from a passion project.  Thank you!

Hey folks! Have had two things I've been trying to solve. A) A great number of folks have reached out asking about ways to contribute financially to the continued development of Wonderland (awesome!) and B) We've put up a lot of new climbs since the guidebook published, and I want to get that information out there, and MP isn't always (or even generally) the best solution for that due to a variety of reasons. 

So, the solution is that I've created a free Patreon. I'll be doing monthly posts (you can sign up for email notifications if you just want an email instead) detailing the updated happenings around Wonderland. It's totally free, no need to pay. The benefit of this is that it will act as an archive for each of the updates, so no matter when you join, you'll be able to see a list of all of the new development since the publishing of the guidebook. If you do want to contribute financially, you can do so in the same place, and contribute whatever you'd like. Worth noting, I stole this idea directly from Jay Crew and the Fairview Mountain Alliance. I know this won't appeal to everyone, but it did appeal to me - so that's at least 1 person who will like it.

The update for March just went live - it details the 24 new routes we installed in March at various crags around Wonderland, mentions some guidebook-listed-projects that have since been sent, and even provides a bit of a preview of a new formation we're working on.

Here's the link for anyone interested - again, I want to reiterate, this is free and there's no expectation or anything to contribute financially. It's basically just a blog with a wallet attached. Don't feel pressured to donate.

https://www.patreon.com/c/ClimbWonderland

Cheers!

Hey folks, checking back in with an update. You may have seen my post in the general climbing section about low-grade sport routes. We’ve been working on a new crag at Wonderland that caters more towards those looking for lower-grade climbs. I’m hoping to “publish” it to the main MP listing for Wonderland next month, but wanted to share the in-progress listing here to hopefully inspire some folks to get out and check it out prior to then.

Im a bit hesitant to share it straight out to a population who is more likely to be newer climbers, as it doesn’t take much effort to utilize MPs route finder tool, with it being a new crag and all (meaning risk of broken holds and such is higher). Thus, sharing it here first. I’d love feedback (via star/grade ratings, comments, etc as applicable) and suggestions on if there’s any other lines at that crag you think would be worth putting in - there’s at least 1 more I will do, between Wild Rumpus and See It, Love It, Eat It, that will be both the longest and easiest climb at the cliff. Worth noting, these are absolutely not groundbreaking climbs. Don’t expect anything world class

Here’s the crag: Wild Thing Wall

Worth noting there is a trail below the crag to a wall we’re in the process of developing. There’s not much there yet - a 5.6, hard 5.12, 5.7 trad line, 5.11-ish TR line from the anchor for the trad line, and a few other cracks that have mostly all been climbed but not cleaned+equipped. Moreso just notifying so folks don’t accidentally hike down and realize they have no idea where they are

The new April Wonderland development update is live, with roughly 15 new routes going up across a few different formations in April, including the opening of an entirely new formation! Exciting stuff.

I mention in the update looking to potentially put together a trail day to Wild Thing Wall + the crag below. It would likely be a pretty quick affair, so ideally a trail day for half the day and then climbing for the other half. Holler at me if you'd be interested in helping out, especially if you have actual trail building experience, as I do not (which is pretty evident to those who have made the trek out to Wonderland already and had to follow my dogshit trails)

Tal M wrote:

The new April Wonderland development update is live, with roughly 15 new routes going up across a few different formations in April, including the opening of an entirely new formation! Exciting stuff.

I mention in the update looking to potentially put together a trail day to Wild Thing Wall + the crag below. It would likely be a pretty quick affair, so ideally a trail day for half the day and then climbing for the other half. Holler at me if you'd be interested in helping out, especially if you have actual trail building experience, as I do not (which is pretty evident to those who have made the trek out to Wonderland already and had to follow my dogshit trails)

I’ve done some climbing access work. Emailed you. 

Man, it has just been so damn cool running into you some of you out there in the last couple of months! So stoked each time I run into someone else enjoying (or not) the area.

The may update on Wonderland news is live on the patreon! Thanks again to anyone who helps contribute to the area, whether that's sweat equity, financial support, or even just giving open and honest feedback. It's all so appreciated!

I suspect June *may* be a bit of a slowdown on development, at least from my side. I'll be gone for half of the weekends, but rumor has it that if you bully Peter enough (or offer to help him, I always forget which it is that he prefers) that he's got some good-looking new lines that may come to life...

Special shoutout to Aaron, Alex, Martin, and Eric for helping improve access to the Wild Thing Wall and Dystopian Wall as well - y'all rock! And to Chris for nearly drowning twice on a recon mission to Almost Heaven with the recent high water flows to recover a gear-stash and put in a new line - and then for turning around and huffing it all of the way back up to the top of the ranch to put in 2 additional lines just before getting violently hailed on. Big fun all around!