Trapps App
The Trapps App is now available on Android as well as iPhone thanks to the hard work of Christian Fracchia, Tom Chervenak, the app’s designers and authors, and Byron Igoe, who wrote the Android version .
There are many local guide books for the Gunks, especially the Trapps the largest and most climbed cliff on the Shawangunk Ridge, from Dick Williams’ “The Climbers Guide to the Shawangunks, the Trapps”, to Todd Swain’s, “The Gunks Guide”, and Mountain Project has its own rating system and tick list, but the Trapps App is the first guide book app created specifically as an app.
“Most of the other things that are out there are print guide books that were converted into an app and they don’t flow very well” Fracchia said.
Both versions of the app look much like a guide book. There is an index of routs with directions and minimal beta on the climbs; that’s not a bad thing.
The descriptions at times are more like a commentary, almost like having Fracchia or Chervenak at the cliff with you.
Executioner 5.11 d
“Watch the crowd go wild as you attempt to campus around the hanging corner. If you get it, be sure to play it off like you thought you were on Horseman”.
Or Bonnie’s Roof 5.9-
“The most beautiful line in the Trapps”.
One of the things that sets the app apart from guide books is the detail in the high def photos.
In the process of creating the app and mapping the routes the detailed images added a new challenge.
“As well as we knew the climbs, when we took the aerial photographs and tried to draw the lines, even with that much experience of being on the cliffs all the time, we had to go back get on the climb draw the line while on it. Part of the problem is that the pictures are so good that you need to get the lines exactly. The higher resolution means that we needed our accuracy to be that much greater,” Fracchia said.
The high rez photos also made clear some unclimbed routs.
Looking at the helicopter photos Fracchia and Chervenak found an entire blank section on one wall.
“We saw this line and we top roped it but then the other day Dustin (Portzline) said “I want to lead it”. We knew it was going to be kinda serious, I mean the gear on it wasn’t very good. There are other climbs there but this was hard and dangerous. People definitely picked the best lines already,” Fracchia said. “People have stopped looking around. There is an assumption that everything is done. There are still routs to be done there are still first ascents to do”.
Some of the grades in the app are different than the guide books based on the authors’ experience. Ape Call is rated a 5.8 in the “Gray Dick”, the Trapps App gives it a 5.9- R.
The rating systems runs from zero to four stars. Left Crack the first climb along the carriage road gets no stars. Nosedive is the first to rate four.
There are many local guide books for the Gunks, especially the Trapps the largest and most climbed cliff on the Shawangunk Ridge, from Dick Williams’ “The Climbers Guide to the Shawangunks, the Trapps”, to Todd Swain’s, “The Gunks Guide”, and Mountain Project has its own rating system and tick list, but the Trapps App is the first guide book app created specifically as an app.
“Most of the other things that are out there are print guide books that were converted into an app and they don’t flow very well” Fracchia said.
Both versions of the app look much like a guide book. There is an index of routs with directions and minimal beta on the climbs; that’s not a bad thing.
The descriptions at times are more like a commentary, almost like having Fracchia or Chervenak at the cliff with you.
Executioner 5.11 d
“Watch the crowd go wild as you attempt to campus around the hanging corner. If you get it, be sure to play it off like you thought you were on Horseman”.
Or Bonnie’s Roof 5.9-
“The most beautiful line in the Trapps”.
One of the things that sets the app apart from guide books is the detail in the high def photos.
In the process of creating the app and mapping the routes the detailed images added a new challenge.
“As well as we knew the climbs, when we took the aerial photographs and tried to draw the lines, even with that much experience of being on the cliffs all the time, we had to go back get on the climb draw the line while on it. Part of the problem is that the pictures are so good that you need to get the lines exactly. The higher resolution means that we needed our accuracy to be that much greater,” Fracchia said.
The high rez photos also made clear some unclimbed routs.
Looking at the helicopter photos Fracchia and Chervenak found an entire blank section on one wall.
“We saw this line and we top roped it but then the other day Dustin (Portzline) said “I want to lead it”. We knew it was going to be kinda serious, I mean the gear on it wasn’t very good. There are other climbs there but this was hard and dangerous. People definitely picked the best lines already,” Fracchia said. “People have stopped looking around. There is an assumption that everything is done. There are still routs to be done there are still first ascents to do”.
Some of the grades in the app are different than the guide books based on the authors’ experience. Ape Call is rated a 5.8 in the “Gray Dick”, the Trapps App gives it a 5.9- R.
The rating systems runs from zero to four stars. Left Crack the first climb along the carriage road gets no stars. Nosedive is the first to rate four.
There are currently 297 routes and 58 variations on the app. Fracchia and Chervenak are working adding things they left out.
“We went did the best of the best. Not a select guide book but about 70-75 percent of the routes. There are some second pitches and lesser known routes not in the app,” Fracchia said. “Short Job has a second pitch to it that I didn’t even know about”.
Thus far the iPhone version has sold over 300 and the Droid version is in its first week on the market.
Some of the comments about the app that they’ve gotten are the users would like a tick list similar to Mountain Project’s, so they are working on that, according to Fracchia.
Others have been griping about some of the changes, saying that they should be a letter grade higher.
People really enjoy the ease of use, Facchia said adding that, and second most common comment- they are just blown away by the resolution of the crisp high resolution photos.
“Dick Williams has been so supportive and helpful,” Facchia said. “He bought the app and suggested some corrections”.
The duo of Facchia and Chervenak will be working other projects together. Next summer they will be developing the Near Trapps App and after that possibly one for Peter’s Kill.
“This is just the beginning. There are a lot of routes that were done a certain way but they’re not done that way today; now a tree grew there so nobody goes that way anymore,” Facchia said, explaining that even though there are guidebooks for those areas, there is updating to be done.
“We went did the best of the best. Not a select guide book but about 70-75 percent of the routes. There are some second pitches and lesser known routes not in the app,” Fracchia said. “Short Job has a second pitch to it that I didn’t even know about”.
Thus far the iPhone version has sold over 300 and the Droid version is in its first week on the market.
Some of the comments about the app that they’ve gotten are the users would like a tick list similar to Mountain Project’s, so they are working on that, according to Fracchia.
Others have been griping about some of the changes, saying that they should be a letter grade higher.
People really enjoy the ease of use, Facchia said adding that, and second most common comment- they are just blown away by the resolution of the crisp high resolution photos.
“Dick Williams has been so supportive and helpful,” Facchia said. “He bought the app and suggested some corrections”.
The duo of Facchia and Chervenak will be working other projects together. Next summer they will be developing the Near Trapps App and after that possibly one for Peter’s Kill.
“This is just the beginning. There are a lot of routes that were done a certain way but they’re not done that way today; now a tree grew there so nobody goes that way anymore,” Facchia said, explaining that even though there are guidebooks for those areas, there is updating to be done.
