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
It seems like the largest omission from the last guide was bouldering info. What about the “ultra secret” Reserve area, is that included?
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Routes only of course with the exception of a few boulders on the East Bluff like the Flatiron (with B ratings).
Stay tuned on the bouldering guidebook front. The wheels are in motion…
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weeeeerrrdddd. p.s. since I’m not on facebook anymore you should narc me on an email regarding said wheels of motion…
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Are the grades of like the 3 boulder problems in the book really still on the B scale?
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Of course. It IS the perfect system isn’t it???
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How in motion are these wheels? Not to be a pessimist, but haven’t those wheels been in motion for some years? I would be psyched to be the first in line to purchase said guide…
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Oh yeah, and thanks for the review. I will undoubtedly buy the new guide, and the Wolverine guide when it comes out…
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That is why I don’t want to say too much right now. I am working with a few people though and we hope to put something together this winter. We shall see…
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Sweet. I don’t know what I would contribute but let me know if you want some uninformed, completely useless help.
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I personally know the guy who’s been putting the Wolverine guide together. I was on the project in the beginning, but due to work, I couldn’t put in the time he needed for me to help.
Anywho, as to my comments on this guidebook, I like the fact that there are no star ratings. No one telling me what’s good and what’s bad. Nobody’s OPINION fucking with my perception (or assumption) of the route. I’ve been on 4-star routes that have sucked ass and one of the best trad routes I’ve ever climbed was a 3-star route. Even if someone says, “just ignore the stars and climb”, you’re still affected somehow.
To make a reductio ad absurdum, it’s like a sport climber who just bolted a perfectly protectable (is that a word? I’m God; I should know) and saying, “well, you don’t have to clip the bolts if you want to trad it.” It’s a bad argument because now, there’s a voice inside the back of your head telling you that there’s always the option to clipping a bolt if a big/bad fall might happen. It kinda changes the mind game. Uh-oh. Did I just start a sport v. trad war? Hehe.
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to play devil’s advocate:
let’s say someone is going to be in town one day and is going to make it up to one cliff.
without some sort of star rating this climber may find it difficult to decide where to go. maybe just a ‘one day only, best the lake offers’ notation would be useful.
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I think a star system would be both good and bad for an area like the Lake. I agree with “God” in that not having stars allows us to decide for ourselves what routes we like. However, the problem I have is that gauging the quality of some harder routes at the Lake is pretty difficult and setting up a toprope to find out that the route sucks is time consuming.
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