The internet, a seemingly endless wealth of knowledge. practically anything you think of can be typed into that infamous google seach box and yield usable results, even for us adventurers who head out into the wild to escape such technology can benefit from the wealth of knowledge that is the internet. i have come across several websites that have helped me greatly and im sure some of you have used one or all of the following tools, but for those of you who haven’t, read on.
Rockclimbing.com
easily the most recognizable in the list, also probably the biggest user base as well. Rockclimbing.com offers climbing news, a very diverse discussion forum, and most importantly(for me at least) a database of crags and routes encompassing the entire world. most of the beta provided for the crags I have visited has been pretty spot on. rockclimbing.com is quite possibly the most complete climbing site out there as far as beta goes.
Link
www.rockclimbing.com
Supertopo
Supertopo is another forum/route database that seems to focus on the western united states/big wall climbing, they also produce guidebooks to many climbing areas that are available to purchase on the site. supertopo also provides gear reviews and photos.
Link
Supertopo.com
Climbfind
the primary function of climbfind is to request and answer partner calls for crags around the world. have been using Climbfind for a few months now, and it has led to some pretty ideal climbing partner situations. the interface has a very modern and social network feel to it(they even tweet out random partner calls to there twitter feed), and the community seems pretty friendly, though it does need to grow. fortunately i have seen plenty evidence of this since i started using it.(i had to establish my local crags since i was the only one in my area using Climbfind at the time.) in this climbers opinion, Climbfind is probably the best social network for climbers, and hopefully more people will get onto it help this community grow.
Link
Climbfind
8a.nu
Just recently i stumbled on this one, 8a.nu(thats the website address) and it looks to be up and coming in the climbing world, urban climber magazine seems to think so as well. from the little time i have spent with this one, i have gathered that is is a climb logging system, and ranking system. i think the interface is a bit dated looking, but again i have just found this and it may be in its infancy which i think is the case.
Link
8a.nu
better beta
better beta is a different breed then the sites i mentioned above, better beta is an app for phones running googles android os(droid, hero, g1, etc) this stripped down looking application offers up info for crags around the world and offers up the ability to record crag locations and discoveries using your phones GPS radio. once this database gets more attention from users i think that it will prove helpful for climbers with an android phone. better beta can be found in the android marketplace of any android smartphone.
if there are any other great climbing tools out there on the net, please feel free to email Patrick@campthesummit.com and i will ad them to this post.
Help keep climbing areas open for the public to enjoy, Join the Access fund today.
30% – 70% off Patagonia, Arcteryx, Marmot and more now at Moosejaw.com
