Advanced multipitch climbing

New Topic
Please Register as a New User in order to reply to this topic.
 David Coley 16 Apr 2015
premier post photo
Hi, I have just dropped the price of the book to £6.64, cheaper than a screwgate.

So, if you fancy learning about climbing faster, safely, up bigger things have a read.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/High-Advanced-Multi-Pitch-Climbing-ebook/dp/B00UJG9...

And if you don't have six quid, the website is free:

http://www.multipitchclimbing.com/

Thanks.
 tehmarks 17 Apr 2015
In reply to David Coley:

I bought the book after spending many, many hours reading through and digesting the website. Well worth the money, there are some things in there that are bound to speed your multipitch adventures up that you probably won't have considered before.
 Jamiet297 17 Apr 2015
In reply to David Coley:

Bargain book - so many good tips and tricks.
Could make a big difference to your multi-pitch days out if you've never sat down and thought about these things before.
 PPP 17 Apr 2015
In reply to David Coley:

One of the best climbing textbooks I've read. It doesn't just teach you textbook practices, but talks a lot about self-rescue and issues you have to deal with while climbing.
OP David Coley 19 Apr 2015
In reply to David Coley:

Thanks for the comments everyone.
 RyanOsborne 20 Apr 2015
In reply to David Coley:

Do you have to have a kindle to read it, or is there a PDF version?
OP David Coley 20 Apr 2015
In reply to RyanOsborne:

I believe you can get a free kindle reader download for you PC. Andy has an itunes version on his website - although the cost is slightly higher.
 petecallaghan 20 Apr 2015
In reply to David Coley:

If you're interested in being a safer, faster trad climber, this book is invaluable - lots of tips you can apply directly.
 petecallaghan 20 Apr 2015
In reply to David Coley:

> I believe you can get a free kindle reader download for you PC. Andy has an itunes version on his website - although the cost is slightly higher.

You can get a kindle reader if you have an android, windows or iphone device.
 Mark Haward 21 Apr 2015
In reply to David Coley:

A great set of techniques and skills clearly explained. Comprehensive, well researched and great to see so many sources being used - a real international flavour.

Mark
Removed User 23 Apr 2015
In reply to David Coley:
Edit: nevermind, answered my own question
Post edited at 11:57
needvert 25 Apr 2015
In reply to David Coley:

I really liked the book+site.

I'm a bit neutral about the two being separate things, but that's a minor issue. A positive outcome is the site is accessible to all which makes it a great resource for all. (Nitpick) The typography could be a lot better, but I accept the audience is small so shortcuts should be taken.

Everyone (bar one) I've climbed with would have something to learn from the book. Most of them would have a lot to learn!

Recommended!


Re kindle reader, you can access your kindle books through a web browser too.
OP David Coley 25 Apr 2015
In reply to needvert:

Thanks. Any help on how to make the site look better is more than welcome. Any web-literate people out there with a few hours to spare?
 Howard J 27 Apr 2015
In reply to David Coley:

Firstly let me emphasise that the information this book contains is first class. No one can doubt the wealth of experience the authors are drawing on and you can be confident that everything has been tested in real situations. It has certainly made me re-think how I've been doing things. Everyone who climbs multi-pitch at any grade should read it.

What I find disappointing is the production quality. It is riddled with typos and spelling mistakes. Many of the photos in the ebook itself are too small to see clearly, especially on a device. There are more on the website, but links to a website are no use if you don't have an internet connection while you are reading. What this reminds me of is my 1960s paperback copy of Blackshaw's 'Mountaineering', but that had been properly proof-read and the photos were clearer.

Don't get me wrong, this book is very good because of what it contains. However with a little more effort this could have been so much better. I agree with the poster who says this is one of the best climbing text books. I believe this has the potential to become one of the classic "how-to" books of our sport, another Blackshaw, but not in its current form. Standards have moved on since the 1960s and we expect more these days. There are plenty of self-publishing websites for both printed and ebooks, and they need not be expensive.
 mgce25c 27 Apr 2015
In reply to Howard J:

I agree that this is a fantastic text with some really good bits of info. As you say, there are some typos and the pics could be better but not bad for FREE (or the grand sum of £6 if you want to download it)
I think you'd have a stronger point if this was a published text book by a major publishing company but I get the sense that Andy and David have written this because they have a desire to share their wealth of knowledge and see better climbers of all of us. Good on them.
OP David Coley 27 Apr 2015
In reply to Howard J:

All good points and no offence taken.

In our defence I can only offering the following:

1. Andy and I are both dyslexic. So we can't effectively proof read our writing.
2. A professional proof reader would have solved this, but for a book that is likely to make a few hundred quid a year rather than a few thousand this wasn't even an option.
3. We could have gone with a publisher and they would have knocked it into shape, and I got a offer. They estimated the cost in the shops would be £40 (full colour with lots more photos). This price is the opposite of what I wanted to do. So we split the photos from the book and offered it as cheap (ebook, minimum number of critical images - Amazon charge us per kb), and free (website, mass of images, little text).
4. People have liked the book and have sent corrections, so I hope to upload a new version with fewer typos sometime.

With over 1000 images, I think the website is now the most extensive educational climbing site on the web.

All the best, and all comments welcomed.
 Chris Ebbutt 28 Apr 2015
In reply to David Coley:

Have only just started to realise just much I could improve my technique and speed, if I just try to implement a small amount of the information in this book.
Really clear text to understand the more complex aspects of rope work and improving your odds with more self rescue ideas and methods.

One to keep coming back to

Chris
 SenzuBean 28 Apr 2015
In reply to David Coley:
Looks like a great resource, however the split of the book and photos the support only being for kindle/kobo (or a special software reader) is not ideal.
I would happily buy the book for a higher price if it was a single .pdf that contained the images inline.

Edit: After looking further it seems some of the .pdfs on the site do contain the text inline with the pictures. Topic 1 is quite misleading as it just looks like the photos from a text section elsewhere. I'll have a further read of the chapters - looks like my comment is resolved, but I'll leave it to stand - as I would've paid for a big .pdf download.
Post edited at 12:43
OP David Coley 28 Apr 2015
In reply to SenzuBean:

> Looks like a great resource, however the split of the book and photos the support only being for kindle/kobo (or a special software reader) is not ideal.

It is available via itunes, so I assume that will just open on any mac device? (Although I'm no IT person.)

One reason to split the bulk of the photos from the text that I haven't mentioned is that the photos on the website should be seen as a more dynamic object. i.e. I keep adding images and text. This is easy to do without having to republish.

Another reason is that the website is free to access and I really wanted people to cut stuff from it and paste it on forums if they felt it answered a question, or just to point to the URL of the section, and this would not have been possible if it was just in paid for form.

Yet another reason is that some of the stuff on the web site is geeky, and I thought some people might head for the hills at the first 1/2mv2
 Howard J 29 Apr 2015
In reply to David Coley:

I certainly don't want to appear to disparage or be unappreciative of the work you guys have done on both the ebook and the website, they are both fantastic resources and I will be studying then both closely. My point is that the ebook is somewhat incomplete in some important areas. I realise this was a deliberate choice, and understand the reasons. However this does diminish it, and I think in trying to cut back what goes into the ebook itself you have missed out some important information.

For example, there are quite a lot of references to MMO (munter mule overhand) and PMMO (prusik munter mule overhand) knots. Neither of these are familiar to me (which is why I need the book!), but knowing them is crucial to understanding the techniques being described.

When they are first mentioned we are referred to the knots appendix, but this doesn't have pictures. There is a hyperlink, but I do most of my reading on the train to and from work where I don't have an internet connection. As a consequence I couldn't understand what was being described in the ebook while I was reading it. Even with internet, the link only takes me to Andy's website, where I couldn't find a link to the multipitch climbing webpage, let alone to the specific knots section. The easiest way to find a direct link was to come back to this thread.

I suspect I am not alone and that a lot of climbers will not have come across these knots, and as they are referred to frequently I think it would have been helpful to include them in the book itself.
OP David Coley 29 Apr 2015
In reply to Howard J:

Good point. Sounds like we need a list of essential images and then to include them.

Out of interest, how much more would people be willing to pay for a version with all the images in either ebook or paper form? Amazon charge for each Mb so the cost would be a lot higher. How about as is for the current price, then see how many images we could have for, say, 30 quid? I don't mind putting this together, but it would take a while, so it would be good to sell more than a couple.

Also, is anyone reading it on a black and white kindle? The photos will not really work for such readers. But I assume almost everyone uses a colour device now?

100kb per image times 1000 images at 10p per mb would add 10 quid to the cost. Which doesn't sound too bad. So 16quid for the book. Amazon point out very strongly that charging much more than 6 kills sales
 PPP 29 Apr 2015
In reply to David Coley:

I've read your and AK's books exclusively on Kindle. You can save a lot of space by using black and white drawings instead of real pictures (that has a lot of difference in size!).

For example, this picture is 15.6kB: http://wiki.imga.org.il/images/thumb/a/a3/Figure8.jpg/400px-Figure8.jpg

Of course, you might need to pay someone to get these drawings done...
 Howard J 29 Apr 2015
In reply to David Coley:

Have you thought about distributing it from your own website rather than through Amazon?

http://ebookarchitects.com/learn-about-ebooks/selling-on-your-website/

You are marketing it to a very niche audience so publicising it through forums such as this could be just as effective.

Unfortunately, there is currently a VAT issue when selling digital stuff to other EU countries, due to badly drafted laws aimed at nobbling Amazon among others, but which have hit microbusinesses.

http://euvataction.org/

The EU has now recognised this unintended consequence and is trying to sort it out. However sales within the UK are still OK, and it doesn't affect sales to the US.

 mmmhumous 30 Apr 2015
In reply to David Coley:

Bought the Kindle version about a year ago and am still referring back to it. Great resource.
 NottsRich 30 Apr 2015
In reply to David Coley:
On the topic of moving together with a Micro Traxion or two... I don't have any but have a Ropeman Mk. 2 instead. With a suitably sized rope is this suitable (or at least as suitable as can be in this situation) as a replacement for the Traxion?
Post edited at 11:14
 climbwhenready 30 Apr 2015
In reply to David Coley:

> Also, is anyone reading it on a black and white kindle? The photos will not really work for such readers. But I assume almost everyone uses a colour device now?

No - I use a black and white kindle! And I have your book on it. It's not very old, either - the PaperWhite?

I don't know what the colour devices are like, but I thought the black and white ones were meant to be less glarey. That might have changed with recent technology.
OP David Coley 30 Apr 2015
In reply to NottsRich:

Some people use it as such, not the makers don't recommend it. It also makes for more drag. I'm guessing using two might be impossible.
 SenzuBean 30 Apr 2015
In reply to David Coley:

> Good point. Sounds like we need a list of essential images and then to include them.

> Out of interest, how much more would people be willing to pay for a version with all the images in either ebook or paper form? Amazon charge for each Mb so the cost would be a lot higher. How about as is for the current price, then see how many images we could have for, say, 30 quid? I don't mind putting this together, but it would take a while, so it would be good to sell more than a couple.

£30 for a big pdf is close to the £40 for a printed book price you mentioned (I'd preferably pay £40 and get a printed book). For the big pdf, I'd pay about £15~ or so. As you mention it might not be economical if you sell through Amazon, it should be possible to get a bespoke shop/host solution and have it cheaper.


New Topic
Please Register as a New User in order to reply to this topic.
Loading Notifications...