The forthcoming North Wales Slate guide is in a fairly advanced state of production. However, a final decision on the all important front cover image has yet to be made. There are various contenders, all of which satisfy to varying degrees the basic criteria for a definitive climbing guide, i.e. that the image is visually striking, of outstanding quality, and manages to capture the essential essence and atmosphere of the crag, but also represents the state of the art developments; a historical snapshot of a specific period of time if you like.

It also needs to fit the Ground Up cover design, with its return flap and title/logo layout. Getting all that in one image is a very tall order, and many definitive guide producers opt instead for a more commercial approach, dropping the historical aspect of the image and choosing a more stereotypical image.

Our feeling at Ground Up is that definitive guides are as much historical documents as they are guidebooks and that their cover shots should represent a particular era, and that in years to come someone picking up that guide should get an immediate sense of what was happening in that period of crag development.

Obviously most cragging areas cannot be summarised in one image, so we use the internal front cover and back cover two and a half page spreads to offer alternative visual representations of an area.

Thus far we have considered a number of different options for the North Wales Slate cover; as shown in the images on the side of this news item. A lively debate about this issue occurred on UKClimbing.com recently, with a surprising number of people voting for Jack Geldard’s gothic image of Tambourine Man in California.

Since the UKClimbing.com thread was posted, Ground Up designer, Al Williams has produced two further options: a sans – blur version of Gareth Aston’s New Slatesman shot and an entirely new one of The Quarryman groove from Ian Purnell.

If any keen photographers think they might have a suitable image, then please send in a low res version.

(NB. Trainspotters may have noticed that all of the covers feature Pete Robins – this was entirely accidental. As a key figure in the recent slate boom he just happens to have had his picture taken more than other folk.)

Relevant links:
      Larger versions of cover graphics in Slate gallery
      
      

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