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jamincan
Feb 7, 2009, 2:36 AM
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There's a possibility I might make my way out to the Gunks later this spring and I was considering buying a guidebook to take a look at the offerings and have something to dream about this winter. What do you guys recommend?
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skovar
Feb 7, 2009, 2:43 AM
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Dick Williams guide is the sh#t. Yo can order it from Rock and Snow
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granite_grrl
Feb 7, 2009, 2:46 AM
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Agreed on the Williams' guide book. One of the best guide books I've seen written for any area.
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qtm
Feb 7, 2009, 2:48 AM
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The Grey Williams guide is the authoritative guide to the Gunks. It only covers the Trapps, but that's still a lot of high quality routes.
The Swain is much older, but includes the Nears and Millbrook. The route descriptions aren't as detailed as the Williams guide, but some people like it that way.
There's the "new" guide, which covers a very limited number of routes. There's been a lot of criticism about the book. Here's a thread at gunks.com about it.
http://www.gunks.com/...39839/page/0/fpart/1
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granite_grrl
Feb 7, 2009, 2:59 AM
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qtm wrote: The Grey Williams guide is the authoritative guide to the Gunks. It only covers the Trapps, but that's still a lot of high quality routes. The Swain is much older, but includes the Nears and Millbrook. The route descriptions aren't as detailed as the Williams guide, but some people like it that way. There's the "new" guide, which covers a very limited number of routes. There's been a lot of criticism about the book. Here's a thread at gunks.com about it. http://www.gunks.com/...39839/page/0/fpart/1
I would recomend staying away from Swain's guide and FAR FAR away from the newest guide book out (unless you're looking for an interesting coffee table book). Both have their fair shair of mistakes in them.
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mojomonkey
Feb 7, 2009, 3:12 AM
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granite_grrl wrote: Williams is coming out with a new book for the Nears at some point (soon I think).
It is available, showed up at rock and snow last October.
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skovar
Feb 7, 2009, 3:13 AM
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the new versions of the trapps (grey) and near trapps and millbrook (purple) are already out
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qtm
Feb 7, 2009, 3:18 AM
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The Nears guide came out last fall. Again, another excellent guide with a bunch of new routes. I'd recommend buying it, but only if you've already got the Trapps guide. If you're only buying one guide, then go with the Trapps guide, there's a lot more to climb there.
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hansundfritz
Feb 7, 2009, 5:03 PM
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My partner owns a copy of Swain. I have all the various versions of the Williams guide. We use the Swain to determine which routes to climb, and then carry Williams along for route-finding. If I was to get only one, it would be the Williams.
Swain did a good job, IMO, of giving you a sense of the overall character of the route and whether it is worth doing in the first place. Williams is far better at keeping you on route -- ie. not wandering off your 6 onto a 9 and having an epic.
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chossmonkey
Feb 7, 2009, 6:00 PM
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Another vote for the Grey Dick.
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hansundfritz
Feb 7, 2009, 6:22 PM
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What can I say? It's been said on here a million times before: I love my Grey Dick. Although my first Dick was the original Red Dick -- now falling apart after being left too long on a sunny dashboard. Ouch. I also have the obsolete Sky Top Dick, which is kind of green and almost pristine.
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divnamite
Feb 7, 2009, 8:53 PM
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Registered: Feb 20, 2007
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hansundfritz wrote: What can I say? It's been said on here a million times before: I love my Grey Dick. Although my first Dick was the original Red Dick -- now falling apart after being left too long on a sunny dashboard. Ouch. I also have the obsolete Sky Top Dick, which is kind of green and almost pristine. |
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happiegrrrl
Feb 8, 2009, 3:05 AM
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Here's a Dick Story: A few years ago I was in the Nears climbing with a visitor from another part of the country. We happened along DrKodds and one of his friends and were chatting.
Dick was on his way out for the day and stopped by to say hello to me(I do trailwork with him). I didn't introduce him to the visitor(terrible, I know...). Kodos actually had worked at R&S at some point when Williams owned it, so ot was just the visitor who was left out.
So, Dick gets headed on his way and Kodos says to the visitor: "That's Dick Williams you know."
The guys jaw drops, and he says, in awe: "The BIG dick?"
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tradrenn
Feb 8, 2009, 5:55 AM
Post #14 of 17
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Registered: Jan 16, 2005
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granite_grrl wrote: qtm wrote: The Grey Williams guide is the authoritative guide to the Gunks. It only covers the Trapps, but that's still a lot of high quality routes. The Swain is much older, but includes the Nears and Millbrook. The route descriptions aren't as detailed as the Williams guide, but some people like it that way. There's the "new" guide, which covers a very limited number of routes. There's been a lot of criticism about the book. Here's a thread at gunks.com about it. http://www.gunks.com/...39839/page/0/fpart/1Williams is coming out with a new book for the Nears at some point (soon I think). Til then you can still buy his old book for the Nears at Rock and Snow (or you could a couple of years ago), which is also good and worth buying in addition to the grey dick. I would recommend staying away from Swain's guide and FAR FAR away from the newest guide book out (unless you're looking for an interesting coffee table book). Both have their fair share of mistakes in them.
Do you have a new Nears guide book ?
Is it really that fucked up ?
What's wrong in it ?
It's hard for me to believe that Williams would fuck it up.
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adatesman
Feb 8, 2009, 5:59 AM
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tradrenn
Feb 8, 2009, 6:04 AM
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adatesman wrote: No no no... Not the new Dick Nears, the glossy photoshopped montage cover thing.
I remember reading about it on here. Thanks for clarifying it for me.
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jamincan
Feb 8, 2009, 6:59 AM
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Thanks for the feedback guys. I went to order the Trapps and New Trapps/Millbrook guides, but it seems Rock and Snow won't let people from outside of the US register an account at the moment. Hopefully I can sort it out.
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