Released free "Mountain Notebook" app

Hi everyone! After taking in all your advice, I've made a bunch of changes, and I'm excited to share that the app is now live on the iOS App Store:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mountain-notebook/id6755287985.

I’ve temporarily turned off the AI functionality since it was causing some confusion, but I’ll be bringing it back in a more polished form soon. For now, the app fully supports journaling both rock climbs and ski tours.

Here’s a quick look at how the rock climbing entries work:

You can log each climb with multiple pairs of photos and voice notes, and you can record your thoughts hands-free while you’re still on the wall. The app transcribes everything on-device, keeping it private, offline, and free. Plus, each note is shareable, so you can easily export or share your journal entries with friends.

I’d love to hear which features you enjoy or what you think could be improved. Thanks so much!

Man I can't wait for this bubble to burst

An AI-written trip report is not a trip report. Good trip reports take time to write because they demand human reflection and authenticity. They contain little moments and details that capture the character and mindset of those involved, and the thoughts that go unspoken. While climbing, I might say “this is awesome”, or “that’s sketchy”, but I’m not going to be able to do the sort of reflection that leads to a good trip report, because I’m too busy having the experience. That means the AI won’t have enough good input or direction to work with, and will produce empty, superficial trip reports that mimic style but lack substance. I don’t think writing trip reports is a thing that can or should be optimized or automated.

using this to generate a trip report for my proj so I don't have to bother sending

Will AITripReport add an AI generated soundtrack too? I heard that there are some great soul versions of 50 cent and Eminem songs that are lit. This is so cool and conceptual, it’s so great to reimagine how experience is shared. It’s so much brain pain trying to be authentic, AITripReport is just what I have been dreaming of, now I can use all of my time previously spent on writing trip reports for the important things like gaming and doom scrolling. 

Collin Hwrote:

An AI-written trip report is not a trip report. Good trip reports take time to write because they demand human reflection and authenticity. They contain little moments and details that capture the character and mindset of those involved, and the thoughts that go unspoken. While climbing, I might say “this is awesome”, or “that’s sketchy”, but I’m not going to be able to do the sort of reflection that leads to a good trip report, because I’m too busy having the experience. That means the AI won’t have enough good input or direction to work with, and will produce empty, superficial trip reports that mimic style but lack substance. I don’t think writing trip reports is a thing that can or should be optimized or automated.

Get your point. And this app does needs human input to generate report. The AI part will not makeup things if you don’t write it. And you can read the article ai generates and edit it. Actually, here’s the link for it: 

https://testflight.apple.com/join/SXSGeAyf

You will need to install TestFlight first to get the app.

THIS is why the good lord gave us electric power and fresh water. 

Janice can you explain the problem that this aims to address and in what sense this solves it in a valuable way?

There are so many incredibly useful applications of AI that solve actual problems. There are also many AI apps that are in search of a problem. This appears to fall into the latter category.

Sean Andersonwrote:

Janice can you explain the problem that this aims to address and in what sense this solves it in a valuable way?

Reflecting on your experiences takes too much time, this allows you to skip all that mental work and create a piece of fiction to bury in your phone and never think about again

Absolutely seems like a solution in search of a problem. What's the point in writing a trip report if you didn't really want to do it in the first place? And that's aside from the energy and water use concerns about generative model use as a whole...

Sean Andersonwrote:

Janice can you explain the problem that this aims to address and in what sense this solves it in a valuable way?

Hi Sean, I've made a bunch of modification to the app. It now provides an easy and structured way of making sharable trip report, for both rock climbs and ski tours. I’ve temporarily turned off the AI functionality since it was causing some confusion, but the original idea behind the AI functionality was to generate a more standardized text version of your trip report. Anyways, the app has been released here: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mountain-notebook/id6755287985

You plan on offering support for this for a long time? Or is this just a passion project that will only be useful until apple updates til its unfunctional?
I like the simplicity, and ability to export, but I def would want an export to CSV option if were to actually use this.

Mr Rogerswrote:

You plan on offering support for this for a long time? Or is this just a passion project that will only be useful until apple updates til its unfunctional?
I like the simplicity, and ability to export, but I def would want an export to CSV option if were to actually use this.

yes, definitely. could you explain in more details what kind of csv export you'd like? I can release a new version shortly.

Each column would be a category based upon the data thats available in each entry, and that data is output to the column that corresponds to them.

| ROUTE_NAME | GRADE | RATING | STARS | NOTES | ....etc etc.

I also did not notice if you could bulk export entries or just individually. If the former, awesome, if the latter, it would be another useful function.

Oh and IMO, you should change the name of the catagory descend, to descent

Mr Rogerswrote:

Each column would be a category based upon the data thats available in each entry, and that data is output to the column that corresponds to them.

| ROUTE_NAME | GRADE | RATING | STARS | NOTES | ....etc etc.

I also did not notice if you could bulk export entries or just individually. If the former, awesome, if the latter, it would be another useful function.

Oh and IMO, you should change the name of the catagory descend, to descent

Gotcha will let you know upon new version release

Mr Rogerswrote:

Each column would be a category based upon the data thats available in each entry, and that data is output to the column that corresponds to them.

| ROUTE_NAME | GRADE | RATING | STARS | NOTES | ....etc etc.

I also did not notice if you could bulk export entries or just individually. If the former, awesome, if the latter, it would be another useful function.

Oh and IMO, you should change the name of the catagory descend, to descent

V1.4.6 is now released with new csv export feature 

Legend Janice. I'll QA it in a min.

Rad. Works great! Thanks!

Okay, another would love to have is bulk entry.
Being able to just add multiple routes and details for the day selected would be über useful. Would make the workflow so much smoother if filling out after a day out.
A bulk import from CSV, or even bulk import from MP routes you have tick'd would be a nice to have if the app starts getting some traction. I'd imagine the csv import would be pretty easy?

I'm curious why you decie to make this and offer it to us plebes?

Mr Rogerswrote:

Rad. Works great! Thanks!

Okay, another would love to have is bulk entry.
Being able to just add multiple routes and details for the day selected would be über useful. Would make the workflow so much smoother if filling out after a day out.
A bulk import from CSV, or even bulk import from MP routes you have tick'd would be a nice to have if the app starts getting some traction. I'd imagine the csv import would be pretty easy?

I'm curious why you decie to make this and offer it to us plebes?

Started as something I built for myself—I’d take photos while belaying (especially multipitch), but by the time I got down I’d forget the details. This makes it easy to capture things in the moment and turn them into something structured later. Figured others might run into the same issue, so I released it. Still a passion project, but I use it myself, so I’ll keep improving it.

Btw, v1.4.7 is released with new feature: csv (from mp) import.