Adding and Editing Routes

Despite the fact that theCrag holds the world’s largest collection of routes you will most likely encounter the need to add new or missing routes or at least complement existing route information at one point in time.

Adding and editing routes is very easy and mostly self-explanatory. This article describes the details and provides guidance for certain edge-cases and for the subtleties of multi-pitch routes.

The climbing community and the team of theCrag count on you to contribute whenever you can and to complement missing and correct wrong information for the sake of everyone. Thank you!

PermissionsBack to contents

This article assumes that you have sufficient permissions to perform the described tasks, please refer to the User permissions article if you lack them.

Adding Single Pitch Routes and BouldersBack to contents

Adding one or multiple routes or boulders is as simple as clicking the “Add Routes” button located just above the list of existing routes. Click on the button to add one route or on the arrow next to it to add multiple ones.

Adding routes

Please fill in as much information as you have. Refer to the table below for detailed information for each data field. Fields marked with a '*' are mandatory.

Once you are done just hit Save and verify the information you entered.

Field	Description
Name *	This is the principal name of the route. Record it as written and known in the climbing area. If you want to add alternative names ('aka') or names in different languages, please refer to the field 'AKA'. Names (incl. AKA’s) have to be unique within the same level of hierarchy.
AKA (Also known as)	This field allows for one or multiple alternative names of the route. On every edit an additional AKA name might be added. The options are: Alternate: A different name the route may also be known under. Historical: A historical name of the route Language: The route name in a different language. Offensive: If the route goes by a name which some user groups (incl. minors) might find offensive, please put it here. It is not displayed but can still be found under this name. Short: A short version of the name.
Insert before	Here you choose where you want to insert the route if you add additional routes. Leave empty if it is a new route or you want to reorder the routes later.
Gear style *	This is the gear style of the route. Please refer to Route Gear Styles for details.
Your stars	The quality rating of the route displayed as . Please refer to Stars and route quality for details.
Assigned grade	The route's grade. It is preferred that you enter the grade in the Grade Context of the area. However, you may also enter it in any other grading system. The system’s interpretation of your grade entry is displayed on entry. See Grades and Grade Conversions for details on grades and their interpretation. Please only modify this grade if you are absolutely certain. It might be wise to discuss changing a grade in the respective forum of the area. Refer to the field 'Your Grade' for a personal grade contribution for the route.
Your stars & your grade	Enter your grade (and stars) suggestion here if you disagree with the community registered grade. This information is stored as individual grade contribution for the route and is displayed on the route page.
Length	The length of the route. Often the same as the height of the route but may be significantly different for e.g. roof cimbs or traverses. Use numerals to input this data. The default is meters, use 'ft' to input in feet. (eg. '20' will register as 20m; '20ft' will register as 20ft).
Pitches	The number of pitches. Displayed for example as '3' for a 3-pitch route next to the route name.
Bolts	The number of bolts and other fixed protections (e.g. slings) without counting the anchors. Displayed for example as '4' next to the route name.
Top rope access	Indicates that the route has foot access for installing a top-rope.
Project	Indicates that the route is a project. Typically these routes have no assigned grade yet or only show an indicative grade or grade range. Remove this flag once a route was freed.
Description	A description of the route. This might include: Subjective information about the route quality (e.g. probably the best route of the grade in this sector), Information about the location (e.g. starts at the crack 2m left of Honeymoon), Route characteristics and description (e.g. bumpy climbing up to flake then straight up the middle of the face. Easier climbing on top.) Gear information (e.g. requires double set of cams from 1 to 4) Descent information (e.g. no chain anchors, rap route) A consistent approach to writing route descriptions makes for easier reading but applying your own particular style is absolutely fine. DO NOT copy descriptions from guide books! See Formatting Text for information about the formatting of text.
Structured tags	If you want to add specific structured tags for a route that override general tags set for the area you may do so here. Please refer to Structured tagging for details.
First ascent	Date of the first ascent and name of the climber(s) who did it. You may enter partial dates (e.g. just the year). If the climber has an account on theCrag, please enter the account name (e.g. Simon Dale), it will be automatically linked to the climber. Separate multiple climbers using commas. If you enter names as text, please enter first name followed by second name (e.g. Simon Dale, Brendan Heywood). You may create multiple entries for FA, FFA or RS from the route page by clicking on “Add Route History” in the history section. On each edit you may add an additional entry. This might be useful if for example routes are re-established after rock fall, re-bolted or underwent other major changes. An example is Moonlight Fantasia.
First free ascent	Date of the first ascent and name of the climber(s) who did the first free ascent. Please refer to FA for details on how to enter the information.
Route setter	Date of the route setting and name of the climber(s) who set the route. Please refer to FA for details on how to enter the information.
Route maintenance	Use this field to record route maintenance activities such as re-bolting, cleaning, changes to anchors or anything that might be of value for climbers and the history and security of a route.
Extra notes	Enter descriptive information about the Route Maintenance, Route Setting, First Ascent and First Free Ascent in these fields. Examples might be: Why it was named the way it was, for example Tontons Macoutes. If the route was done in a particular way e.g. the first ascent was a top rope or solo, or had points of aid or rests. How certain points of aid were freed at a later stage. Funny or crazy details of the first ascent, for example Oceanoid.
Lat/Lon (Latitude/Longitude)	Please enter the GPS location in decimal degrees (e.g. 12.785678 and -88.945672 for N12.785678, W88.945672) of the beginning of the route if you have a precise location. This might be especially useful for routes that are hard to find in e.g. an alpine setting. See the paragraph Locating Routes in Maps and geolocations for more details.

Structuring route listsBack to contents

theCrag allows you to use annotations to provide additional structure to a list of routes. This is especially useful if you do not want to create sub-sectors but still want to provide structure to a long list of routes. For details on adding annotations please refer to the paragraph on Annotations in the article Adding and Editing Areas.

Adding routes to a list of areasBack to contents

In some rare cases it might be desirable to enter routes to a list of areas. In order to do so click on the 3 dots next to Edit Area (top right) and select the menu item Add Routes.

Adding Multi-pitch RoutesBack to contents

Adding multi-pitch routes is as easy as adding single pitch routes. However, some additional considerations have to be taken into account.

First and foremost this is the question if a route is a true multi-pitch route or a combination of 2 or more single-pitch routes.

Multi-pitch route versus multiple single-pitch routesBack to contents

On theCrag you may record a multi-pitch route as one route with its number of pitches or as individual route for each pitch. Which model you apply is of course up to you but here are some suggestions and examples that might help you with your thought process:

1. Flight of the Phoenix: This is a classical multi-pitch route and is typically climbed as such. Meaning that if you enter it you attempt to finish it to the top. If you log your ascent, you will most likely do so using the Log Pitch fields option. It rarely happens that someone only climbs pitch 1 or uses lower pitches to access different routes from e.g. a ledge or so. Recording it as a multi-pitch route is what we suggest in that case.

2. Biographie and Biographie P1: This is a case of a single-pitch route with an intermediate anchor. Biographie is rated 9a/a+ and the route with the same name to the first anchor 8c+. You might enter this as one route with two pitches but not many climbers will attempt it that way. They will either climb the route to the first anchor (Biographie P1) or attempt to finish the whole route in one go (Biographie). Therefore in that case the suggestion is to record these two pitches as two individual routes with the corresponding description.

3. The Mezzanine: This is an area where some first pitches have multiple “extensions”. These extensions may even have different names. Despite the fact that some climbers might climb a specific combination of extensions as a single multi-pitch route, it is suggested to record them as individual routes with the respective descriptions.

4. The Bastille: This area has several multi-pitch routes that cross a ledge system and thus allow you to switch routes as you climb higher. In that case it might be useful to record individual pitches of each route as individual routes. E.g. the 4 pitches of Geronimo are recorded as Geronimo Pitch 1, Geronimo Pitch 2, etc. thus allowing easy recording of alternatives that may be climbed.

Special field entries for multi-pitch routesBack to contents

While adding multi-pitch routes is essentially the same as adding single-pitch routes the following fields offer additional functionality.

Editing RoutesBack to contents

There are multiple ways for editing existing or adding missing information for routes or boulders. Which one you choose depends largely on the number of routes you want to change. Other than that, provided you have the correct permissions, you may change and add all the information described above.

Editing a single routeBack to contents

Select the route for which you want to add or edit information and click on the arrow next to 'Log Ascent' on the right. From the menu select 'Edit Item' and simply add the information you have.

Editing multiple routesBack to contents

If you want to edit multiple or even all routes for one area you can either select the routes you want to edit and click on the arrow next to 'Log Ascent' and select 'Edit x Items'. The bulk edit screen opens and you may add and edit the information for all selected routes in one screen.

Edit selected routes

If you want to edit all routes for one area simply click on 'Bulk Edit' on top of the route list. This opens the bulk edit screen with all routes of the area for you to edit.

Be aware that you may also edit annotations using the same process.

Further readingBack to contents

• User permissions
• Adding and Editing Areas
• Route Gear Styles
• Stars and route quality
• Grades and Grade Conversions
• Formatting Text
• Structured tagging
• Maps and geolocations

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