Help

Borrowing guidebooks

ClimbArchive is a peer-to-peer lending library — it only works when members share their own books too. To start borrowing, you need at least one guidebook checked into the archive. Once you've listed a book, you can request loans from any other member.

To borrow, open any guidebook in the library, hit "Ask to Borrow", pick your dates, and send a message to the owner. They'll approve or decline your request, and once approved you'll arrange an in-person handoff through the loan page. When your trip is done, return the book and leave a review.

Don't have a guidebook to list? We want to keep ClimbArchive accessible regardless of personal finances, where you live, or what's available locally. If you genuinely don't have a guidebook to contribute right now, send us a message and we'll unlock borrowing for your account.

Editing or removing a guidebook

Open any of your books from the dashboard and use the pencil icon to update its title, region, condition, cover, or any other detail. The same page has a "Remove guidebook" button in the danger zone — removing it hides the book from the library, the map, and your public profile while preserving the historical loan record. You can't remove a guidebook that has an active loan; wait until it's returned.

Saved searches

If the library doesn't have what you're looking for yet, hit "Notify me" — either from the empty state on the library page or from any unavailable book. We'll save your filters and send you an in-app notification the moment another member adds a guidebook that matches. Manage your saved searches from Settings.

Member profiles

Every archivist has a public profile at /users/<id> showing their display name, location, books they've added, completed loan counts, and average review ratings as both lender and borrower. Email and contact info are never shown publicly — only the people you're in an active loan with can reach you. Click any owner name on a guidebook page to see their full archive.

Changing your email

You can change the email tied to your account from Settings. We send a confirmation link to the new address; until you click it, magic-link sign-ins still land in your current inbox. You cannot change your email while you have an active loan in either direction — finish or cancel the loan first so the other party doesn't lose touch mid-handoff.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account at any time from Settings. Doing so anonymizes your profile, hides your books from the archive, and signs you out. We do not delete loan history, reviews, or messages from threads other people are part of — removing those would erase other members' reputations and conversations. Your name on historical loans is replaced with "Deleted archivist". You cannot delete your account while you have an active loan as a borrower or while one of your books is currently out on loan; finish or cancel those first.

You have a 30-day grace period after requesting deletion. If you sign back in within that window you'll be sent to a restore page where one click brings everything back. After 30 days the deletion is permanent.

Blocking and reporting members

If you don't want to see another member or be contacted by them, open their profile and use the Block action in the "⋯" menu. Blocks are symmetric: their guidebooks disappear from your library, yours disappear from theirs, and neither of you can request a loan from the other. Blocks are silent — the other party isn't told. You can manage your blocked list from Settings.

If a member is harassing you, spamming, impersonating someone, or doing anything that makes a handoff unsafe, use Report from the same menu. Reports go straight to the admin queue. Existing in-flight loans are intentionally left alone when you block someone so reviews and returns can still complete normally.