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Frequently
Asked Questions
What is a SuperTopo?
The SuperTopo is an attempt to create the ultimate in rock climbing
and mountaineering route information. Each SuperTopo combines a
new level of detailed route information to help assure your enjoyment
of the climb, along with first-ascent histories so that you can
experience the soul of the climb. SuperTopos are available in both
printed guidebook
format and in web-downloadable eBook format.
How is a SuperTopo different than a traditional topo?
Traditional climbing topos usually cover many, many routes in a
climbing area, but offer very limited depth of information on any
individual route. In contrast, a SuperTopo, whether in downloadable-format
off this website (eBook) or in our printed SuperTopo guidebooks,
offers a depth of detailed information on a select list of the very
best climbs in an area. It takes us more time to create a SuperTopo,
and we offer fewer routes than a traditional guidebook, but we are
committed to assuring that the SuperTopo will be the very best,
most detailed, and most accurate topo available for each route we
cover. The chart below highlights some of the major differences
between a SuperTopo and a traditional guidebook topo. We encourage
you to take a SuperTopo for a free test
drive by downloading one off our site for freel
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Topo
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Pitch
Lengths
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Photos
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Retreat
beta
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Pitch
gear sizes
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History
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Color
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Guidebook |
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SuperTopo
Guidebook |
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SuperTopo
eBook |
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 = Available
on all SuperTopos
How do I get a SuperTopo?
SuperTopos are available in downloadable PDF format (eBook)
as well as in printed
guidebook format. A limited number of SuperTopos are available
for free while a more extensive list of topos is available
for purchase in the Topo Store.
SuperTopo printed guidebooks can also be found at better climbing
retail stores around the world including REI and the Yosemite Mountain
Shop.
How do you decide which routes to create a SuperTopo for?
We select the most classic routes in climbing destination for detailed
SuperTopo guidebooks. Our criteria is that routes must have
great climbing, an interesting history and ideally offer multi-pitch
rock climbing. We will also include a selection of top-rope climbs
and selected sport-climbing routes for each destination. While
our guidebooks and the site are currently limited to
climbing areas in the Western United
States,
our certified SuperTopo authors are currently working to increase
our selection of SuperTopos to include classic climbing areas throughout
the North America and the world. We'd love to hear from you
about what routes you think are the very best climbs in your area: email
us.
Where did the SuperTopo idea come from?
In 1997, Dougald MacDonald, editor of Rock and Ice Magazine, approached
Chris McNamara to draw six detailed topos for an issue of Rock and
Ice magazine. The article, titled “Yosemite SuperTopos”
generated a flood of email to Chris that said, “You need to
create this kind of super-detailed topo for more and more routes!”
The SuperTopo idea was born and Chris worked with designer Mike
Ousley for the next year and half to refine the SuperTopo format
into the first SuperTopo book “Yosemite
Big Walls: SuperTopos.”
Then Chris met RJ Spurrier on a climbing trip in the Wind Rivers
in 1999. What was originally planned to be just one-time self-publishing
experiment took a sharp turn in the direction of the internet.
RJ, a software developer and former VP of Marketing for Adobe,
had spent a few years kicking around the idea of internet climbing
guides on his own. When they met, RJ and Chris realized that
the SuperTopo format, which received such a great response in print,
would have an even better response on the web. In printed guidebooks,
authors are limited in the amount of detail they can include on
any individual route by the size, weight and cost of books. On the
web these limitations vanish and a new world of possibilities for
innovative and detailed color climbing topos is opened.
In July 2000, SuperTopo released both its first print guidebook,
Yosemite Big Walls: SuperTopos
as well as its web site supertopo.com.
Since then, we've released SuperTopo guidebooks in eBook and printed
formats for an increasingly wide range
of climbing destinations.
We hope you have a chance to take a look
at one of our free downloadable SuperTopos to get a sense of
our new climbing route information format. If you do, please tell
us what you think—we'd love to hear your thoughts!
What other websites are you involved with?
The founder of SuperTopo, Chris McNamara, has been an active supporter of the climbing world
and outdoor activities for more than 15 years. Chris is the
founder of the American Safe Climbing Association (ASCA), a non-profit which has replaced
more than 5,000 dangerous climbing anchors and bolts. He's also the founder of
OutdoorGearLab, which was originally the climbing gear review section
of SuperTopo, and the consumer electronics review website, TechGearLab.
Got baby? You might also enjoy visiting BabyGearLab, the sister site of OutdoorGearlab,
which was uses a similar side-by-side comparison process and technology (by RJ, the same
web developer who keeps SuperTopo running 24x7 and wrote the software behind OutdoorGearLab).
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