Route Maintenance Forum

One of the great things about Mountain Project is the fact that it’s a database and the information can be sorted in a wide variety of ways. Periodically folks post up info about a loose bolt, or an anchor on route so and so that is wearing out, but that information rapidly becomes buried in the data. It would seem useful if a separate tag could be established for hardware repairs and maybe even things like loose rock too.

Having a single place to search would make it a lot easier for those of us with the time and energy to put some good ASCA or ARI hardware to use. Then, if the completion of these tasks could be recorded too, subsequent climbers would know that some manky situation was now corrected.

Not sure how difficult this would be to do in the site, but it would be good to have a single sorted extract for the pending and completed projects as well as a link back to the original routes too. Admins??? Thoughts????

I'm too brain dead right now to be of any use, other than to say this is the best new idea for MP that I've heard in a long time.
Great idea TR.

Agreed. This is an excellent idea.

I think it's a cool idea too.

The ACE board has something like this in the works (for Eldo routes). The Mountain Project database could be a good home for it.

I like it!

thats the bestest idea to come out of here in a LONG while ...

you dont even need a separate system ... just add a table in the regular route description where people can add the status of the gear/route

Wasn't this the reason for being able to comment on route descriptions? Maybe what's really needed is the ability for users to rate comments and search for the most helpful ones, similar to Amazon reviews. I'm not sure that we really need a new data field, the issue is being able to sort through all of the comments that are already there.

Martin le Roux wrote:Wasn't this the reason for being able to comment on route descriptions?

When you post a comment on a route description, you are given the option to list your "route condition" which is similar to what Tzilla is suggesting. The main problem with that is that each "condition report" only stays up for three months. If it takes longer than that for manky gear to be replaced, the three-month limit defeats the purpose of informing people about said manky gear.

Martin wrote:Maybe what's really needed is the ability for users to rate comments and search for the most helpful ones, similar to Amazon reviews. I'm not sure that we really need a new data field, the issue is being able to sort through all of the comments that are already there.

I think this would be helpful considering some of the comments are more than ten years old. And there is often times a lot of extraneous info in the comments, especially on the trade routes.

Martin le Roux wrote:Wasn't this the reason for being able to comment on route descriptions? Maybe what's really needed is the ability for users to rate comments and search for the most helpful ones, similar to Amazon reviews. I'm not sure that we really need a new data field, the issue is being able to sort through all of the comments that are already there.

I think the reasoning behind Tzilla's suggestion is to have the information separated and centralized so it's more actionable. The rating idea you bring up wouldn't do anything for a person looking to get out and replace hardware. They'd still have to weed through all the individual routes etc...

I think a list within a given area would work best (a running list page for Tensleep for example, located w/in the Tensleep area overview page?).

As Nick mentioned, the main thrust of my point was to have the repair needs sorted and separated by area/region/state so that they are easy to access. If it's a Friday & I'm about to hit Clear Creek for a Saturday, I'd like to be able to quickly find out if anything needs some work without sifting through all of the route comments.

There may also be other good ideas, such as Martin's that would add value to the site in other ways. The anecdotal information could be scored or rated by users too, thus making MP just that much better.

I kind of picture a wish-list type data base, maybe with a bomb system to rate how dire the need is, so the most obvious rise to the top. This could also serve as a good introduction to rockcraft for newer generations to learn from the elders before we totally fall apart.

I think this is an awesome idea. I hate coming across anchors without rappel rings as much as the next guy, so I'd be more than willing to buy and hang some hardware to fix it if it's in an area that I'll be in anyways.

bump!

Great idea!

Like bear said.. maybe somenote that can be put in next to route description ?? "updated anchors"

Would that have to be done by an admin ??

Problem with that is: If you're one of the few that's maintaining routes, heading out for a weekend and bringing hardware, you want to find routes that are in need of work. Manually sifting thru potentially hundreds of routes in whatever area you're heading to is not realistic.

Something like a new forum might provide a more convenient, shorter list to look through. Maybe another option similar to what john suggests, is some sort of searchable maintenance type field(s) added to the route database, and also the question as to whether or not this could be updated by everyone, or only admins.

One other thought I had was for folks just to list the need and the route name on the main page for the overall area, i.e. Clear Creek Canyon. It would be nice to see an Admin weigh in here about the IT logistics associated with all of this.

We are slowly working on this. We now have a "fixed hardware database", and we've added over 1,000 things (mostly bolts) from ACE's database (Action Committe for Eldorado). For example, at the top of this page there is a short list of fixed hardware:
mountainproject.com/v/the-n…

And a link to this page:
mountainproject.com/scripts…

And you can see all the fixed hardware on this entire wall:
mountainproject.com/scripts…

As you can see, hardware can be assigned a "current condition", so we can identify what needs work.

Someday we'll make a tool where you can get a list of all the hardware in poor condition in a given area.

github would work really well for this kind of thing. Don't rebuild the wheel.