Climbing guide
A climbing guide is a book or directory of climbing routes in a climbing area , which helps the climber to find individual routes or sub-areas and to orientate himself in them. Climbing guides usually contain maps of the location of the climbing peaks , the area or the rocks, as well as route sketches, which are called topos in technical jargon . Some guides only have verbal descriptions of the routes without topos, others only consist of topos. Climbing guides that only consist of topos are also known as topo guides .
Classification
Climbing guides can be divided into alpine climbing guides and sport climbing guides with a smooth transition. Another option is to subdivide into topo guides and normal guides with text and supplementary topos. Climbing guides without topos, which describe the routes exclusively with text, are no longer in use today.
Climbing guides that contain an incomplete selection of climbing areas or routes are also referred to as selection guides.
Content
The content described is primarily the level of difficulty , the security options , the quality of the rock and the options for standing . In the following, the approach to the entrance , the course of the route and the descent from the end of the route are often described on alpine climbing routes .
The information drawn in topos consists of the outlines of the rocks or mountains and the route entered as a line or dashed line as well as schematically shown prominent rock formations such as overhangs, intersections or caves for orientation. In addition, various symbols are used, which stand for bolts , standing position or key point, for example .
The great advantage of topo guides is their international comprehensibility. As a rule, the language skills of individual word translations are sufficient. Often these climbing guide-specific word translations, the dictionary for the topo, are already included in the topo guide.
Symbols
The draftsmen use a variety of symbols on the topos. There are symbols that are more or less internationally recognized, and those that the authors invent for their topo guides. The Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme (UIAA) provides a catalog of standardized symbols for authors.
history
As early as 1904, Oscar Schuster described the rocks in Saxon Switzerland and their routes in his series of articles Rock climbing in Saxon Switzerland in the magazine Berg und Thal . In addition to the text, he also wrote topos. Building on this, one of the first climbing guides for the climbing peaks in Saxon Switzerland was compiled and published by Rudolf Fehrmann as early as 1908 .
Since that time, thousands of climbing guides have been published. Until the 1980s, pure text guides that only describe the climbing routes were published (for example the well-known SAC club guides). With the advent of sport climbing, this trend was replaced by a significant upgrading of topos and topo guides.
The Plaisirführer published from 1992 by Jürg von Känel described for the first time exclusively well-secured alpine sport climbing in Switzerland with bolts. A series of guides and their catchphrase Plaisir triggered a change that continues to this day and has long since crossed the Swiss borders. These climbing guides are considered to be important contributions to the modern development of climbing as a popular sport.
Since new routes are constantly being laid out and first climbed, climbing guides become outdated relatively quickly. Nowadays, a five-year-old climbing guide is therefore already out of date. Recently, constantly updated topo guides have been published on the Internet, mostly free of charge.
See also
Web links
- UIAA Guidebooks Standards
- Climbing guides worldwide
- History of the climbing guides in Saxon Switzerland
- Insight into a climbing guide (PDF file; 3.59 MB)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Stadler, Markus: Kletterführer ( http://www.stadler-markus.de/files/buch/kletterfuehrer ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ) Accessed January 16, 2008
- ^ Edition Filidor: Dictionary on Topo ( http://www.filidor.ch/german/Tip/woerterbuch.html ) Accessed: January 16, 2008
- ^ UIAA Guidebook Standards. UIAA , accessed July 20, 2012 .
- ↑ gipfelbuch.de: The development of climbing guides ( archived copy ( memento of the original from March 5, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice . ) Accessed January 16, 2008
- ↑ Van Dierendonck, Berni: Ten years of Plaisir - a reason to celebrate ( http://www.filidor.ch/jubilaum/jubi.html ) Accessed: January 18, 2008
- ↑ Van Dierendonck, Berni: Jürg von Känel 1951-2005. Plaisir climbing has lost its father. In: Die Alpen 2 2005 p. 57 ( Jürg von Känel, 1951–2005 “Plaisirklettern” lost his father ( Memento from October 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive )) Accessed January 18, 2008
