This app totally outclasses mountain project and any other online guidebook I’ve seen.You can definitely tell it’s still in beta, but the what they have already done is incredible. Can’t really recommend it to actually use as of right now unless you plan on climbing in Utah or Arizona, but very excited to see where this thing goes.

I really want this to be one star, but it’s a killer idea, and the devs are definitely headed in the right direction. Honestly, this is probably the next evolution of the guidebook, and it’s sick.That said, I don’t think it was ready for publication. Both 2D and 3D nav are more complicated than they need to be, and 3D isn’t using established methodology for navigating a 3D space with a touch device. It’s much more intuitive to control the camera as opposed to controlling the 3D object. That said, again, those are just wrinkles and the idea is awesome. I loved being able to zoom in on a route and start trying to think my way through it. And being able to find routes quickly is almost game changing if visiting a new area. I wish there was some sort of scale on the route so i understood what I was looking better, maybe bolt placements would fix that. It really is a cool idea, Just maybe released a bit early.

Why is this app so heavy and cumbersome? I should not run into performance issues on an iPhone 12 when simply scrolling the menu. It has tried to be too flashy and fancy, which hinders ease of use. Mountain Project is minimal, maybe even ugly, but it's a smooth and quick experience. IMO this app's menus need to get rid of the high-res photos, move to a list view rather than a card view, make the menus quicker to navigate (MP-style filtering), and get rid of the obnoxious animations (e.g. when loading). I'm a sucker for aesthetics, so I really appreciate the sleek design, I just think it isn't necessary, and really takes away from any usability that would make this app worth long-term usage. The 3D topos are cool, but it took me lots of clicking to find one. Plus, the database is obviously too small to be used by most people, but assuming it remains small, I think it really needs to interface with MP in some way to make it any more than a novelty.

So much potential for this app, even in its current state I can see it being really useful for navigating crags compared to mountain project. A few things I’d love to see personally:Inclusivity: The climbing and outdoor recreation space is already lacking diversity and inclusion. Women and people of color still aren’t given the same respect in these spaces and it would be great to see more companies acknowledge and market themselves as being conscientious of that. So far the app and website show a very familiar demographic, even the rendered climber on the 3D boulder map is a male figure. I get that development is ongoing and much of this can change, I hope it does, because it would be great to see an app that felt welcoming to all demographics to get into this space. Not putting any effort into it in 2022 just seems like the developers don’t care much about it, which is really unfortunate and an old familiar story in the outdoor rec space.3D maps:Great concept, really in need of some adjustments. As another comment mentioned the camera controls are not intuitive at all for anyone unfamiliar with 3D software. The perspective being locked to the object rather and controls operating from this perspective rather than the camera which is much more intuitive for most people is a pretty big oversight and could turn people off all the awesome features this view offers. Also the render shouldn’t let users pan underneath the map. It’s confusing and immersion breaking. Overall I still figured out how to navigate the 3D maps but that’s with having some familiarity with 3D software, the average user could get really frustrated by this (my partner was) and not return to the app. Streamlining these few areas alone would make a huge difference.Hopefully some of these updates are already being discussed and in development as I’d love to update this review and rate much higher down the line. Would love to see this app take off and be a new standard for the climbing industry that is welcoming and representative of anyone seeking to enjoy it.