HOW CAN I IMPROVE 14ERS.COM?

[BillMiddlebrook]

I think adding a more formal section with 13ers, sorted by range, for trip reports/routes and info.

Taking a somewhat different spin on this suggestion . . .

Since their are now 4000+ trip reports, some form of geographic organization would be really useful. Mountain ranges is one possibility or dividing the state into drainages or other? Perhaps some other ideas?

It would be a lot of work so I don't see a quick solution.

Do you think we need more than the current search/subset criteria at the top of the trip reports (main) page? Usually, people are looking for a report on a specific mountain or group. They can subset to a peak and add additional text criteria and get a good subset of trip reports. And then they can change the subset display by date range by clicking on the date climbed or date posted.

[BillMiddlebrook]

Great site

We were reading all trip reports for climbing Grey's and Torrey's Peaks and decided to try Kelso Ridge as the Ascent. While searching the trip reports for Kelso it comes up with 5 pages of reports. When I try to click on a different page it takes me to the main trip report 2nd page. Other than that I could not see anything to improve. It was very easy to find a great/challenging trail to start with.

Yup, I see it too. The paging is screwed up when doing only a text search. I'll fix it soon.

Thanks!

[MtnHermit]

Do you think we need more than the current search/subset criteria at the top of the trip reports (main) page? Usually, people are looking for a report on a specific mountain or group.

Theirs no question that if you know a relevant keyword then the search will find all suitable TR's. However, imagine you want to go to a geographic region and do not know any relevant words, then what?

I envision a map with push pins showing TR frequency, then as you zoom in you get more detail and you start selecting pins of interest. I assume Google Maps would be the base for the map.

IMO, 14ers.com has un/fortunately grown to much more than a 14ers website and is rapidly becoming a go to Colorado mountain website. I'm sure you see it in TR counts, page counts, visitor counts, bandwidth consumed . . . yada, yada!!!

Now how do you monetize all this "success"???

[BillMiddlebrook]

I don't want to monetize it, although if people want to give money away, the CFI could use more donations to fund trail projects!

[jstouder]

Hey Bill! I think having a build-a-trip page would be extremely beneficial. The concept is as you gather beta on this site (forum posts, TR's, etc.), you could link that data to a unique page. Its like a TR on steroids. Not just here is my TR, but here is everything on this site that I took into account to have a successful trip. I believe you could save a lot of searching and thrashing through the forums/TR's.

For my upcoming Sept. trip to the Sawatch I've been doing exactly what is described above, outside of 14ers.com. If I find a TR/post that pertains I grab the link and add it to running draft in my gmail account. A lot of times I've had to search and search to find TR's that I viewed from a few months ago.

Rough Example:
Sawatch Adventure
- Missouri, Belford, Oxford, Harvard, Columbia, Yale
- 8/30- 9/2
- Private
- Two friends and I have planned this trip for over a year. Its aggressive and then some but we are up for it. Six summits in four days...
Trip Reports
- Missouri from the west (mid Oct) http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=5427
- Harvard from the North http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=4753
- Yale from the east (late June) http://14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=3254
Forum Posts
The Flatlander Circuit http://www.14ers.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=15910
Dropping Packs... cross your fingers? http://www.14ers.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=17895&p=217031#p217031
Status of Trip
We have the route firmly planned out with evac/alternate routes highlighted and ...

If interested I could work up some of the code for you. Thoughts?

[BillMiddlebrook]

I totally understand what you mean. I often go through a similar planning process, but isn't easy to just use the "Favorites" in a browser? I usually just create a new favorites group and then add links to TRs, summitpost stuff, etc. The one drawback with that is that it isn't easy to just email someone the contents.

I definitely will put some though to advanced searchs and bookmarking, but I don't want to reinvent the wheel.

Thanks for the comments and please keep them coming! I really appreciate it.

[kaiman]

+1 on the formal 13ers section. Other then Summitpost, it is difficult to find any organized info on these mountains on the Internet. I guess that's a double edged sword though, as adding more info about 13er's will mean more crowds!

kaiman

[BillMiddlebrook]

+1 on the formal 13ers section. Other then Summitpost, it is difficult to find any organized info on these mountains on the Internet. I guess that's a double edged sword though, as adding more info about 13er's will mean more crowds!

kaiman

I'll think about ways to make it easier to separate 13ers and 14ers in the TR section. I want to be careful not to turn the site into "13erWorld" if you know what I mean.

[YEONDERIN]

Bill, As a new member but long time viewer I owe you much thanks for your constant efforts to improve this site, you’ve done a supper job. As I get used to it there is one thing that is confusing which I would like to see changed: The links ‘view new posts’ and ‘view active topics’ at the top of the forum. These two usually have mostly the same threads in the first page or two which makes browsing inefficient for me. What makes an old topic active and how is this different from a new post to an old topic? I would like to see something like the following:

‘View unanswered posts’ (This is good just as it is)
‘View new topics’ (This would be only topics newly started during that 24 hour calendar day. After 24 hours these topics would fall off this area to ‘recent topics’)
‘View recent topics’ (This would be relatively new topics of a time period of your choosing, say between 24 hours and 7 days old. They would reside here for this time period regardless of posting status)
‘’New posts 2006 topics’ (This would only be new posts to old topics of this calendar year)
‘’New posts 2007 topics’ (This would only be new posts to old topics of this calendar year)
‘’New posts 2008 topics’ (This would only be new posts to old topics of this calendar year)
‘’New posts 2009 topics’ (This would only be new posts to topics that fall off the ‘recent topic’ list)

I have found myself responding to a 2 year old topic thinking it is current info because it is in the ‘new posts’ area. For me the main use of 14ers.com is to share current accurate information so that I can make wise decisions in the high country and help others do the same. I know these ideas are not all inclusive and could be thought our more but something along these ideas would help. Anyhow great job on what you have done, I love it and use it almost daily.

[speedyturtle]

Bill, I totally understand what you're saying about not making it 13erworld, but this site has grown beyond a resource for 14ers and has become a resource for let's go climb big (by lower 48 standards) mountains in colorado, perhaps a sister site or on the mainpage a 13ers Icon to click on that takes you to TRs, route info, and pics of 13ers, that way it keeps it seperate

[covfrrider]

Bill, I totally understand what you're saying about not making it 13erworld, but this site has grown beyond a resource for 14ers and has become a resource for let's go climb big (by lower 48 standards) mountains in colorado, perhaps a sister site or on the mainpage a 13ers Icon to click on that takes you to TRs, route info, and pics of 13ers, that way it keeps it seperate

http://13ers.com/

[speedyturtle]

Bill, I totally understand what you're saying about not making it 13erworld, but this site has grown beyond a resource for 14ers and has become a resource for let's go climb big (by lower 48 standards) mountains in colorado, perhaps a sister site or on the mainpage a 13ers Icon to click on that takes you to TRs, route info, and pics of 13ers, that way it keeps it seperate

http://13ers.com/

It has the scenic pics, but I think it would be nice to get the beta to go climb like on breckenridgeclimbing.com, for 13ers around the rest of the state

[BillMiddlebrook]

Now we're talking!
With all of the constant work on 14ers.com, I've delayed programming on 13ers.com for people to add routes. Not just trip reports, but routes.

Now that I have the code on 14ers.com to allow users to create alternate routes, I can port that code to 13ers.com. I plan on doing it this fall, and this type of feedback is just what I need to get it back on my mind.

When I get the code in place, I'll also integrate the current 13er trip reports (on 14ers.com) into the new site.

It will happen!

[speedyturtle]

Thanks Bill, that's awesome!

[kaiman]

Thanks Bill that's great news!

BTW, don't forget that you have many standard routes on the Tenmile/Mosquito Range 13er's already listed on breckenridgeclimbing.com so that seems like it would serve as a good basis for adding in the 13ers in other ranges.

Keep up the great work!

kaiman