[kingholmesy]

I have just seen from logbooks on the other channel that a few days ago someone repeated my route on the Lizard, Feed Me To The Birds.

The logbook is hidden but I would be interested to know what they thought of it - was it anyone on here?

If not this thread can happily wither and die, although feel free if anyone else wants to use it to post about repeats of other esoteric punter level stuff not noteworthy enough to grace the significant repeats thread.

[Hoseyb]

Glad to see I'm not the only person to narcistalk UKC logbooks 

[Dingdong]

I get pretty excited whenever I see people repeat my choss tbh, this is a great thread idea 

[kingholmesy]

Glad to see I'm not the only person to narcistalk UKC logbooks 

In my defence on this occasion a friend mentioned that he had seen on the logbooks that someone had repeated my route.

I do sometimes though narcissistically look up my first ascents (I’ve not done many) to see whether anyone has repeated them. 

[andy moles]

I'm going to defend this behaviour (because I do it too) as not (wholly) narcissistic.

In the same way if you've read a book or watched a film you often want to talk about it afterwards, it's interesting to reach out a finger across the internet to someone who has shared an experience (and climbing something new is often a more memorable experience). It's not like you wouldn't chat about it face to face if you met someone who'd happened to repeat your FA, or whatever.

That said, and as much as I find possessive language in climbing ('my' routes and all that shite) repellent, I do get the good feelies when someone says something I did was good.

[andy popp]

Great thread title! And of course everyone wants to know if one their first ascents has been repeated. I seem to have specialized in putting up things destined for total neglect.

[Fiend]

https://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,26397.msg502013.html#msg502013 this was on a similar subject. I think there was another one I started too!!

Edit, found it easily enough:
https://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,28795.msg565484.html#msg565484
"UKBer's own routes ticklist / repeat requests / hype."

I'm with the mole on this btw. One of the most interesting things about doing new climbs is working out the logic, making sense out of the rock, and having a sensible and appealing path for others to follow - then if other people repeat it, and it all "works", that's great, and nice to engage with people about.

[shark]

Big up to Simon Cundy for re cleaning and climbing a forgotten route of mine last year that I did in 1987  - possibly the second ascent  Faces at Via Gellia near Cromford

[kingholmesy]

I’m always interested in sharing thoughts and experiences with those who have done the same routes as me - as said above it’s a common interest.

This is all the more so if I did the first ascent, given how hard it can be to judge the difficulty and quality of routes you put up.  I don’t think it’s egotistical to refer to a FA as “my route” - it’s just shorthand for “a route of which I did the first ascent”.

I’m still no closer though to finding out who did Feed Me To The Birds and what they thought of it …

[andy moles]

I don’t think it’s egotistical to refer to a FA as “my route” - it’s just shorthand for “a route of which I did the first ascent”.

No, you're right, I'll walk back on that. Calling it 'my route' is just practical. Though sometimes it does expand beyond that to ego and route becoming more entwined.

I get intrigued by people repeating fairly obscure fairly hard trad routes even if they're nothing to do with me. Seems like not many people are playing that game nowadays.

I've done about 40 new trad routes and one new sport route, and as far as I can tell, despite only having been bolted the year before last, the sport route has had more repeats than all the trad routes combined.

[kingholmesy]

Though sometimes it does expand beyond that to ego and route becoming more entwined.

That’s certainly true.  And perhaps it’s telling that I (now not so) secretly hope others think “my” routes are not only good but hard. 

I've done about 40 new trad routes and one new sport route, and as far as I can tell, despite only having been bolted the year before last, the sport route has had more repeats than all the trad routes combined.

That is as I would expect and fits with my experience too.

[Neil F]

Big up to Simon Cundy for re cleaning and climbing a forgotten route of mine last year that I did in 1987  - possibly the second ascent  Faces at Via Gellia near Cromford

I'd post a photo for you, if I knew how Simon.  And no, I don't have a flickr (or similar) account...

[jwi]

Big up to Simon Cundy for re cleaning and climbing a forgotten route of mine last year that I did in 1987  - possibly the second ascent  Faces at Via Gellia near Cromford

I'd post a photo for you, if I knew how Simon.  And no, I don't have a flickr (or similar) account...

https://imgur.com/  You do not even need to get an account.

[Neil F]

Er, thanks Jonas.  Not sure what I do, but I will have a look...

[Neil F]

Interesting thread, and a great title, KH!

A few years ago I created a ‘ticklist’ on the other channel containing ‘my’  new routes.  I did it for purely for myself, just to see what I had done.  For quite some time it was a work in progress, as I kept remembering other new routes I’d forgotten to put on the list, but I’m reasonably confident they are all on there now.

Of course there are some interesting stats come out of an exercise like this – not least being able to see the relative number of logged (as opposed to actual, as many folks don’t have a logbook) ascents of each route.  Strangely, for my routes, it is the hardest ones which tend to be the ones most logged.

Originally my ticklist was private, but later I decided to make it visible to my partners (only).  Like the logbooks themselves, you can elect for them to be private, partners only, or public.

Some of my partners were intrigued by my list, and I was able to cajole one good friend to create his own. In fact he has been so prolific that he created 4 lists (!):– The old days (mostly UK routes); Les années françaises (the clue is in the name!); Seconded and Equipped (the latter, I assume, being routes he equipped but never got up).  I’ve subscribed to the first 3 lists and was surprised to find I’d done 27%, 17% and 25% respectively.  Unfortunately these ticklists are private, which is a shame as they are truly impressive!

Recently another friend has created his own FA ticklist, which is a really eclectic mix.  I’ve only done 3 of the 64 routes on that list, but I’d definitely like to do more.  But he’s set that one up as partners only, I’m afraid…

There was an interesting debate on UKC a year or so ago, which resulted in some changes to the Logbooks coding.  I know Mr Moles of this parish was involved, and may even have influenced the changes.  I admit that I was a bit disappointed in how that panned out, not least because a lot of interesting people (or do I mean people with interesting logbooks?) made their logbooks private in the wake of this debate.  I know there was some comment from people who were finding the logbooks were affecting them in negative ways, but those were never situations I had experienced.

I often use the logbooks for inspiration, and to see if a route I am interested in doing has been climbed recently.  Obviously this is largely irrelevant for sport climbing, but for obscure trad, particularly on mountain crags which inevitably become dirty and overgrown over time, it can be invaluable.  It’s great to glean a bit of info too, so it’s always disappointing to see a big route logged but either no comments or the climber being hidden.

My logbook is currently set to partners only, which I think is sensible as I tend to use it as a personal diary with warts and all write ups of the day and what went on.  And I certainly wouldn’t want to inflict that on an unsuspecting public.

As for my FAs ticklist, a couple of years ago I suddenly thought – sod it, I’ll make it public.  Since when it has drifted into the obscurity it deserves…

[Will Hunt]

I now need to contrive to climb with Neil to gain privileged access to his list (and of course so he can peruse my own. 211 of the best/worst boulder problems and micro-routes imaginable).

[cheque]

No you don’t.

[Will Hunt]

Now I read the final paragraph 

[andy moles]

A few years ago I created a ‘ticklist’ on the other channel containing ‘my’  new routes.  I did it for purely for myself, just to see what I had done. 

I did this too, hence having the abovementioned trad/sport stat to hand. Mine is private, though not for exactly the same reasons that my logbook is private. More because I genuinely don't think it's of interest to anyone - nothing connects the climbs other than me, and as I'm not Joe Brown or Robin Smith (or Neil Foster!)...

It's also a pretty cluttered section of the site so I feel a bit cringe adding a list that no one wants to tick!

[kingholmesy]

Picking up on Neil’s comments above, I really wish more people left their logbooks open.

I get that they can feel quite personal, and by having them open there is a tendency to write comments with how they will be perceived by others in mind rather as a truer record of your experience.

However, I find public logbooks a great source of inspiration and information.

[RobK]

Picking up on Neil’s comments above, I really wish more people left their logbooks open.

I get that they can feel quite personal, and by having them open there is a tendency to write comments with how they will be perceived by others in mind rather as a truer record of your experience.

However, I find public logbooks a great source of inspiration and information.

Unpopular opinion time, but I don't think a private UKC logbook should be a thing. If you want to have a private log fine, use a notebook or a spreadsheet. Don't go cluttering up a public database with your 'hidden' entries that are of zero use to me.

[andy moles]

Picking up on Neil’s comments above, I really wish more people left their logbooks open.

I get that they can feel quite personal, and by having them open there is a tendency to write comments with how they will be perceived by others in mind rather as a truer record of your experience.

However, I find public logbooks a great source of inspiration and information.

Unpopular opinion time, but I don't think a private UKC logbook should be a thing. If you want to have a private log fine, use a notebook or a spreadsheet. Don't go cluttering up a public database with your 'hidden' entries that are of zero use to me.

Cluttered, seriously? A series of simple text rows that read something like Hidden - 30 July 2023 - Lead RP makes a page too cluttered for you? You must absolutely lose your shit on websites that are heavy on ads 

Is it even all that much more useful if the user is not hidden but they don't leave comments? If I have anything to say about a route that might be useful for other people, I leave a comment in Feedback. Seems like a much more helpful approach than wading through lots of personal comments.

I find the idea that you should only be able to make use of an extremely useful and well designed logbook database if you're willing to have all your climbing activities publicly visible bizarre.

[RobK]

You must absolutely lose your shit on websites that are heavy on ads 

I lose my shit on a lot of websites, such is the danger of working in UX design!

[kingholmesy]

Is it even all that much more useful if the user is not hidden but they don't leave comments? If I have anything to say about a route that might be useful for other people, I leave a comment in Feedback. Seems like a much more helpful approach than wading through lots of personal comments.

I don’t think it should be compulsory to have your logbook open.  I do find public logbooks really useful though.

Often it is the comments about people’s personal experiences such as whether they enjoyed the route or found it pumpy or scary etc that I find more interesting and useful, instead of the beta type comments that people add in the feedback section (which tend to be quite boring).

Even if no comment has been left it can be useful to see who it is that has done a route. For example if it is a route that is on my limit but I can see that it has been onsighted by someone climbing at a similar level to me that might encourage me to think it would be feasible for me to attempt.

[cheque]

Often it is the comments about people’s personal experiences such as whether they enjoyed the route or found it pumpy or scary etc that I find more interesting and useful, instead of the beta type comments that people add in the feedback section (which tend to be quite boring).

Even if no comment has been left it can be useful to see who it is that has done a route. For example if it is a route that is on my limit but I can see that it has been onsighted by someone climbing at a similar level to me that might encourage me to think it would be feasible for me to attempt.

 

It can be very useful to see when people climbed something as well. You can really use it to learn about the subtleties of annual condition changes on particular routes.

I salute anyone who has their logbook fully public on there. I get so much entertainment and use out of that logbook system.