Like everyone else, climbers are increasingly turning to the Internet: to get news, buy gear, and interact with other climbers. You may even have noticed your local plastic paradise now has a Facebook page and a Twitter account. And recently, code/stone monkeys have started designing dedicated mobile apps for climbers. What’s next? Here, a peek into the geeky intersection of stone and silicone.

Social Networking. The social networking sites Twitter and Facebook are on the rise (300 million-plus on Facebook, and Twitter predicts at least 18 million by 2010). Newton Dominey, owner of the Crag at Cool Springs gym in Franklin, Tennessee, started using Twitter and Facebook for his gym in 2008. “I was using it on a personal level, and had been reading about how businesses were beginning to use it,” says Dominey. Since ’08, many other gyms have followed suit, posting events reminders, routesetting updates, and news. Northern California’s Touchstone climbing gyms, for example, use Twitter almost exclusively to post route-setting updates.

Feedback on his gym’s social networking has been positive, says Dominey, adding, “I’d like to think that it makes us more accessible — it lets members interact with us in the way they choose.” And while hundreds of gyms (640, according to a site search) are using Facebook, Dominey offers a word of caution: “Gyms that use [social networking] as a method to get closer to their fans/ followers will see more success than gyms that simply use it to blast out promos.”

Online Route Updates. Another burgeoning Internet/climbing trend is online route updates. Helpful for people who just can’t stand to head to the gym and climb the same old routes again, these systems let users see what’s new. Redpoint Manager (redpointmanager.com) is one such webbased application. Several gyms, including Thresh Hold, in California, and Movement, in Colorado, use Redpoint to track routes. Crux Software Ltd./Redpoint Manager owners and climbers Bill Hopkins and Dale Partridge developed the idea after tallying scores by hand at an ABS comp. “We thought, why is there not a software that does this?” says Partridge. “Redpoint Manager will give us an accurate idea of where we really stand with our strength progression and plateaus. I thought this would be a great tool for climbing training toward the future.” The software’s graphing system lets gym owners and members track the number of routes and boulder problems, the gym’s strongest climber, or the most popular lines. The software also lets gyms customize topo maps of their walls and sort routes by color, grade, and setter.

Mobile Apps. While Redpoint Manager plans to release a version of their software as an iPhone app, theirs won’t be the first mobile app for climbers. One called SprayCaster (spraycaster.com) lets climbers log their workouts and sends. Users can record grades, number of climbs, and details about each climb, then they can then “spray” that info to their Twitter accounts. Another app, Climber (cacaosoft.es), syncs users’ vertical achievements directly with their 8a.nu accounts. It also lets users stay updated on climbing news, keep a training database, and find routes with the integrated GPS. “I’m a computer engineer, and there was no useful app in the iTunes store,” says Jorge Ferrando of Cacaosoft. “In the first release, I just focused on keeping my ascents synchronized with the 8a.nu database.” Other iPhone climbing apps include Bouldr (iphone.bouldr.net — find climbs and view topos and Beta) and Climbing Guide (fostwaremedia.com — digital guidebook to several popular areas, plus a training log and knot-tying info).

We’re on the bandwagon with this one . . . and we brought moonshine! Join us on FB (facebook.com/ucmag) and Twitter (@UCMAG).

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