I don't advocate paying for any site and I don't pay for Bivouac but here's just one twist on the old argument about not wanting to pay for information. What's your time worth? What's your weekend worth? Everybody who has been out there for any length of time has had a really bad trip where you started up something only to be stopped by a washout or a locked gate or something that jeopardizes the trip. If only you'd known beforehand you could have found a better trip.


Either you get information randomly from the Internet, a knowledgeable friend or a comprehensive database. That's how you maximize your success ratio. I know Bivouac tries to be the latter and if you avoid just one really bad trip as a result of that information, you will have earned back your subscription.


That said, I think Bivouac has failed at the comprehensive level. It does not meet the test. That is in large part because it is a paid site and people are turned off by that. There are other reasons. Many people dislike the ancient interface and the effort required to put in information and to get information back out. The proprietor has clashed with rather than accommodated many superior authors and that is a fatal mistake. The proprietary approach to the site means that it is rigid and unmaintainable. An open source model is more appropriate. Many people have offered over the years to contribute to the site but help that would modernize it is refused.


There are better ways to run Bivouac which would not result in it being such a lightning rod.

Major chunk of information on bivouac.com is free for general public. No questions, the input interface is ugly, however it acts as a good way of filtering common these days internet garbage out: on average trip reports are high quality provided they ever make it through rather convoluted entry protocol. Nothing is perfect in this world, bivouac.com no exception, it can improve big way, but no matter what, the passion of its owner is contagious.

Below is a result of quick search of some big names on bivouac.com (present or in the past). Apparently $25 a year ( or $2.08 / month ) was worth of subscription for them.

Alan Kane
Matt Gunn
Rick Collier
Kevin McLane
Dick Culbert
John Baldwin
Bruce Fairley
Drew Brayshaw
Don Serl
John Clarke

The same bloke who said earlier in this thread that he hasn't used the site in 10 years and doesn't miss it?

Just go buy a copy of Alpine Select. The layout is nicer, it's just as up-to-date, and the cost isn't recurring.

There is a lot of history related to your first sentence. Before the site became user pay (and probably afterwards) many regular contributors had a falling out with the owner of that site. Some of it was to do with naming of peaks (which still continues to this day).


CT had many quality contributors too in years past and a lot of them have ceased to post or enrich this site as well. But this site remains free.

Things come and go. That's life.

Alpine Select is classic! 159 peaks (vs 30,000 on bivouac), many popular routes missing though: Aussie Couloir, Harvey North Ramp, Crown Couloir, Mamquam, etc.etc.. And where do you get reliable GSP coordinates of the summits from?

Just on a side note for those who have Mamquam on their lists, a new Darling Lake Trail is now being constructed and its proposed GPS coords you can find you know where. Same place has very entertaining trip reports.

Bivouac is the only online service I pay for besides Flickr pro and i think it is worth it.

What you need to ask yourself though is how far off the eaten track are you likely to go. CT and other good online resources along the same lines can get you to a ton of destinations but if you are on a mission (like in my case to peak bag certain books and notable physical features),.. you are going to need Biviouac level of data.

User uploaded data? Sure,.. but not like a vague "take a left at the tree" kind,.. most of it is rigorously verified and from a proper GPS or survey map. THAT is the strength of Bivouac and why it is worth it. I use it rarely but it is THE most complete resource for roads and trails I know of and I rank the data integrity and usefulness as second to none. and what is better than knowing the DATE of the guy's post that tree is lying across a road? It is just plain geared for real trip planning.

Anyone that I know that is serious about back-country considers it #1 for complex/challenging trips.