Alpine Routes? Winter Routes?

[bhylenski]

I'll be doing some training here in Korea over the next 8-10 months and was trying to use the site to find out about any Alpine routes here in Korea. Not just ice-climbing walls. I'm wondering about winter routes, coulouirs, technical hikes, ridge routes, long multipitch mixed routes....but basically a "winter routes" area on KOTR.

I know a bunch of these routes exist in Sokcho and a few in Chungcheon, but I never submitted them because there was no where to qualify them. But, now I'm interested in more routes of this kind around Korea and wonder if we add a category, would these routes appear.

I don't mind verifing the routes, etc. I'll be trying them all probably, so would adding a new category of climb...say "alpine" or "winter alpine", etc be possible? I'm open to ideas on the naming convention, but something like "alpine" or even "mountaineering" might work.

Any thoughts?

Bryan

[Eric]

Hi Bryan

I was just thinking about adding this category to the site.

Let me know what type of information would be valuable to collect when submitting such a climbing area.

Thanks,
Eric

[bhylenski]

Thanks for adding the category. As far as info, I'd say Name of route, location, directions, Gear to bring, route grade, route conditions, route type (mixed, ice, snow, etc.), best time of year for attempting the route, as well as a misc section for any notes. But most importantly, I'd have a section for Descent info. Alpine routes can be tricky coming down in the winter, so as much info as possible for how, when and where to go to get down, would be quite helpful.

The current setup is quite informative for most locations, so most of it is already there, but a descent section, I think is vital.

Other then that, I reckon we can modify it as we go, if we're missing important info.

thanks again, let me know if you add it, would be greatly appreciate it.

[shanja]

Bryan, Go-dok-ui-gil/ 고독의길 in Inssuboong is ofte used as an "alpine" or "mountaineering" training route in winter (you can see all the crampons scrathes there year round. It's a 5.6-5.7 trad scramble-climb mostly but in dble boots and when the hill is covered in snow (it'll stay in the shade most time I think) it should be heaps of fun at a relatively easy alpine grade....no ice pro....though the finger cracks might be iced up. I've seen people using ice tools to ascend it. Descent is the standard rapp off from the top of Insu...I'll be doing it FOR SURE this winter. Have you thought about going to Japan for a few alpine routes? Or China even? I have a book on alpine routes in China if you like.

[Eric]

Hi Bryan

Thanks! That's great info. I'm working on a redesign of KOTR and I'll include that category as well.

What would you give that category name? Ridge Climbing? Mountaineering? Other?

Eric

[bhylenski]

Hey Shanja,

I'll definitly be up for a weekend of fun up there. Thanks for the info! I'll catch up with you soon, if you go up there, give me a shout, I'd love the heads up before you go, so I can tag along for the climb and beta.

Eric, as for redesign, my own idea (since it's a redesign) would be to broaden the category "Rock" a bit more. I'm not sure what sorta database/framework your using...I'm assuming mysql and PHPBulletin/PHPforum. If so, then adding additional subcategories would be relatively easy. For instance - Mountaineering, per our original idea.

But, I would suggest since you already have the rock/ice/gym/etc categories already setup, maybe just add an additional database field...route type....Sport, Trad, Alpine, Ice, Snow, etc. Then when people search for routes, they can search by one more field and actually only get locations that provide climbs they want. Right now for example, many people talk about Seoraksan, but when they get there, there's not much for them because it's alot of hard sport and trad. So, having the additional field might solve my issue, as well as add an additional benefit to current users.

Just an idea.

As for your naming question...I'll think about it some more and check out some other sites, but "mountaineering" works for me. Heck it might even add a whole new demographic to KOTR...those who like winter hikes or winter routes. It's a great site and I'm confident you understand my idea...so I'll go with what you think is best.

Thanks Eric for all the hard work. I'm a PHP/msql programmer as well as C++, but I don't do much software anymore, I enjoy the web. I've built alot of sites by hand over the years, but my last gig at home was to build a site called "integrallife.com" I worked fulltime for them for a year, while I was "on sabatacle" from Korea...we built a great site. But it was my first introduction to Drupal...content management system. It's terrific..I've been doing side work for awhile now and it's cut my project time in thirds and allowed me to make a lot more money, much quicker and the quality of work is 10x better and more reliable. If you ever need a hand or want some help coding, troubleshooting or redesigning let me know....your site has saved me loads of time in many ways, anything I can do to volunteer would be my pleasure.

Cheers
Bryan

[Eric]

Hi Bryan

Wow, how ironic! I am using drupal for the redesign! I heard about drupal a long time ago but just recently discovered its power (especially CCK & views). It's mind blowing especially coming from a "roll my own" background of programming.

At this point I'm pretty comfortable with the basics of drupal and CCK, views, maps, etc... Still learning other things like how to efficiently use the templating system. Using Panels a little bit for that.

I'm also planning on porting the vB forums into core drupal. This is what I'm working on today but it's not going very smoothly. But once the forums are handled by drupal, I don't have to spend money on forum software and the forums become seamlessly integrated with the rest of the site and its users.

I definitely have some drupal questions that I would love to ask a seasoned user like yourself. Can you email me at ericbusch at gmail?

Thanks!

Eric

[bhylenski]

Sweet, you can't go wrong with Drupal. I'm in the midst of working with the Ubercart folks to get some of the kinks worked out for Drupal 6 and shopping cart. Amazing tool, hard to believe we use to code by hand!

I'm assuming if your using panels for templates then your using Drupal 6? I messaged you a few minutes ago, look forward to hearing from ya. Let me know what you need.

Cheers
Bryan

[Eric]

Hi Bryan,

Thanks! I just sent you a bit of a long email

Eric