In the past I’ve occasionally made pleas to climbing bloggers for various pet-peeves, so long time readers should find my new one none too surprising.
As more climbing blogs proliferate, one thing driving me nuts is how so many posts are written on trip reports, climbing areas, and photos with no mention of the actual climbing location!
Please, fellow climbing bloggers consider to mention the area’s location in your post. No need to give directions or beta, just provide me with a frame of reference for what I’m reading.
I understand that many times post are written for an intended audience of those the climber knows personally; but trust me, with search engines and feeds, your readership is usually larger than you think.
- Tags: blogging, Blogs, Climbing, climbing blog
9 Comments
Ha! Nice one!
So, does linking to the area on MP.com count? Or adding a little tack in a map on another page?
I’ve seen this a lot with photos, in general. For a long time, RC.com didn’t link pics to locations particularly well, so you’d see a stunning shot from… somewhere in Montana. Flickr too, sometimes the shots are geotagged, sometimes not.
That would be great, but I was simply hoping for just a basic text description. For example, many bloggers will write about a specific problem or route, but without providing any context for where it’s located. Many climbers outside that local area may not have any idea where this is, but are interested in what they’re writing nonetheless.
So instead of saying “here are pics of us working problem X”, just add in “here are pics of us working problem X in wherever, somestate, etc.”
Just a bit more info so we can all get jazzed up on the climbing more.
But yes, links to Mountain Project would be sweet! But not necessarily needed for what I’m venting about!
If I have been unwittingly guilty of this I apologize. The more information the better is my motto!
Brian, no I definitely wasn’t calling out anyone in particular!
I think the best analogy is when you’re looking at a picture of a sweet climb in a mag and you immediately look to the byline to see where it’s located. Same thing for bloggers I guess.
That’s a good way of putting it. As you pointed out I think the main problem is that most bloggers don’t realize how wide an audience is reading their blog.
Funny that you post this as I was just thinking about this the other day. I noticed that I am always scrambling to find WHERE exactly an area is located. But then I somehow forget to include it on my trip reports as well. Going to edit my trip betas today…
Rachel
directions to all those secret crags would be appreciated too. this is the age of google earth, it ain’t gonna stay secret for very long!
Yes, directions to secret crags would be awesome, but I’m not going to go that far (yet!) in calling for it.