After some trepidation that the book would be delayed for a month, I received my updated Climber’s Guide To Devil’s Lake, 3rd Edition in the mail the other day. Given the fact that very little development has happened at the Lake since the 2nd edition, the real question for most people is why they would want to “upgrade” to the newest edition. I hope to help answer that question for you.
At first glance the obvious difference between the books is the color added to the outside cover. The 3rd edition is quite a bit thicker as well, which is due to the combination of additional content and slightly narrower pages.
Once inside the book however, things will look pretty familiar to those that have the 2nd edition. Most (if not all) of the route descriptions appear unchanged, and many of the climbing pictures are the same bad old too much spandex butt shots classic ones used in previous editions. Despite the color on the outside cover, everything inside the book remains black and white.
Not everything is the same though. One of the main changes is the addition of an exhaustive set of GPS coordinates for every wall in the book. This will obviously only benefit those with GPS devices, but it could be a major help in finding some of the more out of the way areas. The other main change is the addition of several route maps like the one pictured below. It looks like they tried to include at least one route map for every area in the book. This should help you at least find one wall in an area you are trying to find. Of course it would have been nice to see route maps for every route in the book, but it is understandable why this might not have been feasible.
There is also the addition of a few areas that were not included in previous editions of the book. These include routes at the South Bluff and in Steinke Basin to name a few. Unfortunately, the lack of any star rating system throughout this book (and all previous editions) makes it hard to tell if any of these routes will be worth the effort it will undoubtedly take to find them.
Overall, the book is a nice update to an area that saw its main period of development come and go many years ago. The decision to upgrade to this new edition will mainly hinge on how beneficial GPS coordinates will be to you, how badly you want to visit the new areas described and how much help you need finding routes using the included route maps. At $13.57 on Amazon it isn’t the most expensive guidebook ever published so perhaps that will make the decision easier for some of you.
There is also the prospect of a new Devil’s Lake guide being published next spring by Wolverine Publishing (think awesome Red River Gorge, Rifle and Bishop guides). It apparently won’t be as exhaustive as the book reviewed here, but anyone who has seen their other guides is aware of the fact that they know how to put together a nice guidebook. Something to think about.
Climber’s Guide To Devil’s Lake, 3rd Edition
Pros:
- GPS coordinates
- 5 previously unpublished areas
- Relatively inexpensive
- Helpful route maps for many areas
- Updated natural history section that is really fascinating
Cons
- Not a whole lot has changed from the 2nd edition
- Still no way of telling good routes from bad
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