Prior art
We are not the first people to build this. Being explicit about what already exists is how we avoid rediscovering solved problems and repeating known mistakes.
:::note These are observations, not benchmarks Impressions of these apps as products, written to inform design decisions. Nothing here is a competitive analysis and nothing here should be treated as current — apps change. :::
Rockfax
The reference point. A guidebook publisher with a companion app, and the thing most UK climbers currently open at a crag.
What it gets right:
- Editorial quality. The topos are properly photographed and drawn, the descriptions are written by people who climbed the routes, and the grades are consistent. This is the actual product, and it is the thing hardest to replicate.
- The topo as the primary artefact. You look at a picture of the rock with lines on it. That is what a guidebook is.
- Trustworthy access information.
What we want to do better:
- Offline as the default rather than a download step. See ADR-0004.
- A native-feeling iOS app, current with the platform.
- Logging that reflects how climbing works — with partners, not alone.
What we cannot replicate quickly: the content. Two decades of guidebook editorial is not a sprint. That is the honest gap, and it is why licensing sits on the wishlist.
theCrag
A community-built, worldwide database. Enormous coverage.
What it gets right:
- Coverage. Crags that will never be in a printed guidebook.
- Logbooks as a first-class feature, with rich ascent styles.
- Open contribution.
What we take from it: the ascent style vocabulary in AscentStyle is close to theCrag's,
because it is well-thought-through and widely understood.
What we do differently: open contribution has a quality cost. A wrong grade on a bold trad route is a safety problem, and "the community will fix it" is not reassuring at an E5 belay. Our model is curated with moderated contributions, not open write access.
27 Crags and Vertical Life
Sport and bouldering focused, strong in Scandinavia and central Europe.
What they get right:
- Fast, modern apps that feel like apps rather than websites.
- Good bouldering support, which is often an afterthought elsewhere.
- Partnerships with gyms and local guidebook authors — a plausible content model.
What we take: the observation that bouldering deserves proper support rather than being
squeezed into a route-shaped model. RouteType.boulder and Font/V grading are first-class here.
Mountain Project
The US standard. Community database plus logbooks.
What it gets right:
- Comment threads on routes. Conditions, corrections, and beta from people who were there last week. Genuinely useful and something a printed guidebook cannot do.
- Very good offline downloads.
What we take: the idea that a route has a current state — greasy, wet, a hold broke — that is separate from its published description. Not modelled yet; worth considering.
What we do differently: comment threads need moderation to stay useful, and that is an ongoing commitment rather than a feature.
UKC Logbooks
The UK's de facto climbing logbook, attached to a magazine site.
What it gets right:
- Everyone in the UK already has one. The network effect is real.
- Rich data on UK routes and a good grade-consensus feature.
What we take: the consensus-grade idea, which is why Ascent.suggestedGrade exists from day
one.
What is worth thinking about: an import path. Asking someone to abandon fifteen years of logged ascents is a hard sell, and "import your UKC logbook" might matter more than any feature we build.
What nobody does well
The gaps, and the reason this project is interesting:
| Gap | Where it sits for us |
|---|---|
| Climbing recorded as a solo activity. Everyone logs "I climbed X"; nobody logs "we climbed X" | Phase 2 — partners are on the ascent record from day one |
| Route lines on a live camera. Matching a topo to the rock in front of you is the actual hard problem | Wishlist — Photo.shotFrom and shotBearing exist for it |
| 3D. Big crags do not photograph flat, and a single topo misrepresents them | Wishlist |
| Wishlists that plan a trip. Everyone has a hit list; nobody helps you act on it | Wishlist |
| Genuinely native feel. Most of these are cross-platform apps that feel like it | ADR-0003 and the whole iOS feel page |
The honest summary
The hard problem in this space is content, not software. Every app above has solved the software; the ones that matter solved the data.
Which means our architecture decisions should optimise for making content easy to add and easy to correct — drawing a route onto a photo in-app is worth more than any amount of UI polish, and the data model is shaped to allow it.