Sports, Outdoors & Travel · Mobile
ProjectBeta: a climbing logbook app for projects and conditions
Attempts, high points, and the beta that worked, kept from one session to the next.
ProjectBeta is a climbing logbook app for boulderers and rope climbers who work the same line for weeks. It stores attempts, high points, the beta that finally worked, plus skin and conditions, so the next session starts where the last one stopped.
Waitlist Not built yet Updated 5 September 2026
What problem does ProjectBeta solve?
You drive two hours back to the boulder, warm up, pull on, and fall at the same move you fell at last time. Somewhere in between you lost the things that mattered: that the left heel wants to be higher, that the crimp only works with the thumb on, that the whole sequence goes early in the morning before the sun comes round. Gym sessions leak the same way. A circuit gets stripped and the problems you nearly had go with it, along with any sense of how close you were. Skin is the other thing nobody writes down. You know that three days on ruins your fingertips, but not which three days, so the next trip gets planned on a feeling. Conditions decide as much as fitness does, and the same problem in humid air is a different problem. A spreadsheet holds all of this for about a month, until the walk-in with one bar of signal and no patience for a phone keyboard.
Session log sheet
One line per climb for attempts, sends, and the beta and conditions you will want at the base next time.
| Date | Location | Route or problem | Grade | Attempts | Sent | Beta and conditions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Free to use. No account. Nothing you type here is stored.
What would ProjectBeta do?
ProjectBeta would treat the project as the unit, not the session. You create a route or a problem once, with its grade, the crag or the wall, and a photo you can draw a line on. Every session after that adds attempts, a high point marked on that line, and a short beta note in your own words. Photos of the crux holds sit on the same page. Beside them go the things that decide whether a go is worth taking: skin, temperature and humidity if you noted them, wind, time of day, and how tired you were. Open the project at the base and the last session's beta and high point are the first thing on screen. Sessions log offline, because the crag rarely has signal.
How would it work?
- 1Create a project once with its grade, its crag or wall, and a photo to draw the line on.
- 2Log attempts and your high point each session, with one short beta note in your own words.
- 3Note skin, temperature, and time of day, so the good conditions become obvious over a season.
- 4Open the project at the base and read the last session's beta before you pull on.
Who is it for?
- Boulderers who return to the same block for a season and forget last month's sequence.
- Sport climbers working a redpoint who need high points and rest days written down.
- Gym climbers tracking a circuit before the setters strip it and start again.
How do you keep an outdoor climbing journal that helps the next session?
Write it before you leave the boulder, not in the car and not at home. Five minutes at the pad with your shoes off beats an hour of trying to remember on Tuesday. Take one photo of the line from the same spot every visit, and one close photo of the crux holds. In your notes app, keep a single entry per project rather than one per day, and add a dated block to the top of it each session. The block wants five things: attempts, your high point, what changed, what to try next, and the conditions. Name the holds. Move four means nothing in three weeks. The left undercling under the roof, the sloper with the chalk arrow, the small crimp above the scoop: those names still work next season, and they work when you send the entry to someone who has been on it. Record the high point as the last hold you controlled, not the last one you touched. Under what changed, write the single adjustment that made a difference, in one sentence. Heel higher and further left. Thumb on. Breathe at the jug and go on the second breath. Under what to try next, write the idea you ran out of goes to test. That line is the whole reason the entry exists. For conditions, note the temperature if you saw it, whether it felt humid, whether the wall was in the sun, the wind, and the state of your skin going in and coming out. After a season you will know which mornings are worth the drive. Then screenshot the entry or photograph the page, so a lost phone does not take a season of beta with it.
What do people use today?
| Option | Good at | The gap |
|---|---|---|
| Route databases and guidebook apps with tick lists | Route names, grades, and a public record of ascents, with other climbers' comments. | Built around ticking a route once, so attempts, high points, and private beta have nowhere to live. |
| A notes app or a paper journal | Free, private, and quick if you keep the entry short and always the same shape. | No photo to draw a line on, and beta from six weeks ago sits buried under six other days. |
| Strength and workout trackers | Good for hangboard work, weights, and the structured training you do away from the wall. | Sets and load say nothing about a high point, your skin, or whether the crag was in condition. |
| A spreadsheet of sessions | Totals attempts and sorts by grade, with columns shaped around your own projects. | Nobody opens a spreadsheet at the base of a climb, and beta does not fit inside a cell. |
What would it cost?
Free
$0
- Thirty sessions
- Attempts, high points, and beta notes
- Printable session log sheet
Climber Pro
$4.99/mo
- Unlimited projects and sessions
- Beta photos with the line drawn on
- Skin, conditions, and rest-day history
- Offline logging at the crag
Wall
$39/mo
- Everything in Climber Pro
- Circuit and reset dates for a gym
- Shared problem list for members
Prices are proposed. Founding members lock in the lowest price if we build ProjectBeta.
Questions people ask
What is a climbing logbook app?
A climbing logbook app records climbing days: the route or problem, the grade, how many attempts you took, whether you sent, and what the conditions were. ProjectBeta would go further and hold the beta and the high point for each project.
Does it suit bouldering and roped climbing?
Both. A boulder problem and a redpoint project have the same shape: a named line, repeated sessions, attempts, and a high point. Rope climbers record hangs and rest points, boulderers record the last hold controlled.
Is my beta private?
Yours by default. Beta is usually shared inside a small group and is sometimes touchy at a crag, so sharing would be a link you send to named people. Nothing is published to a public tick list unless you publish it.
Does ProjectBeta give safety advice?
No. ProjectBeta is a notebook. It says nothing about ropes, anchors, pads, spotting, or whether a fall is a good idea. Those judgements stay with you, your partner, and whoever taught you.
Will it work at a crag with no signal?
Sessions log locally and sync afterwards. The walk-in usually costs you signal before it costs you anything else, so nothing in the logging flow waits for a connection or a map to load.
Can I log hangboard and training days too?
Training days can sit alongside climbing days so you can read the week as a whole. The detail of a hangboard protocol belongs in a dedicated training tool. ProjectBeta cares what the session did to your skin and your goes.
What if I disagree with a grade?
Grade has room for your own opinion beside the consensus one. Sandbagged and soft are useful notes about a crag, and they only mean anything if you record what you felt at the time.
When will ProjectBeta launch?
There is no date. ProjectBeta gets built only if enough climbers join this waitlist and say Climber Pro is worth paying for. Joining costs nothing and the session sheet is free.
Where does this stand?
ProjectBeta is a proposal, not a product. This page collects demand from search and answer engines. Askwright builds it only if enough people join the waitlist and say they would pay. Read how this works.