The Lameness, Part 2
Anytime you travel to new areas it’s likely that you’ll encounter a wide range of ethics. In Tuolumne, you’ll find plenty of spaced out bolts and never one next to a crack. At a sport crag, you might find something different and sometimes the standard is greatly different. Take Clark Canyon outside Mammoth Lakes for instance. An absolutely delightful place to hang out, clip some bolts and take it easy for a bit. But, almost every crack was bolted. Cracks that would be easily and safely protected with gear in hard, solid rock. Some of the cracks, such as that on Driller Instinct, had been led with gear originally and then bolted later. WTF?


I think I get a little more bent out of shape than others because I develop routes myself. I have nothing against bolting, as long as people do a good job. And, I don’t think bolting cracks is a good job. I put a lot of time and thought into individual bolt placements, anchor placements, and the character of a route so it irks me when other people do a “shoddy” job. Recently, on Mountain Project, there’s been this massive flame war over some sport anchors that were placed next to, and within arm’s reach of an old trad climb. I honestly, have no opinion over the bolts in question but it’s a sad example of how fired up and outrageous people can get over bolts. They end up acting like animals, not humans. It’s sad. Unfortunately, our popular little sport crag, the Puoux, has had most of the cracks bolted over the years. I’ve always looked at such actions with anger because those climbs had been trad led as long as 20 or 30 years ago by Layton Kor and others. At least, those climbs (here and here) haven’t created some massive war that divides the community. At the same time, no one seemed to care, which is also sad.

Luckily, the crack to the left has escaped the wrath of a drill.

Here’s an example of a shoddy job. As a general rule, bolts should be at least 6 inches apart, to prevent a “pancaking” effect where a chunk of rock could rip out, taking the entire anchor with it. This is particularly important in softer rock. The rock at Clark Canyon is pretty hard, but it’s not granite or quartzite either, a couple of “gold standards” for hard rock. So, when you have three bolts within an inch or two of each other, it makes you wonder. It’s just kind of a lame thing to do because there’s no reason not to bolt it correctly. Similarly, I’m a fan of runout and adventurous routes but when I go to the sport crag

Similarly, I’m a fan of runout and adventurous routes but when I go to the sport crag I don’t expect to be scared by the prospect of 40 foot falls. Hence, it was somewhat disconcerting to find a 20-foot runout to the anchors on 5.9 climbing on my first route of the day. What’s that all about? Did someone run out of bolts? To find that in Tuolumne would be common and expected, but not at some place like Clark Canyon. From what I could tell, almost no one climbed this route because of the way this route was bolted. The day before we climbed a great, long route to start the day. 50 meters and 17 draws. Problem is I didn’t know it was a walk off because we had an old guide. I figured I would clip the chains and do two lowers. Instead, there were 2 bolts 3 or 4 feet from the edge. I couldn’t even extend the anchor with slings enough to lower. So, I had to throw my rope, in 3 attempts because of ledges it was hanging up on, to the bottom and drag up a belay device and slings. Granted, if I knew it was a walk off it would have been different. But, there was a noticeable lack of chalk on this climb, leading you to think that it seldom got climbed, probably because of the walk-off. Which is too bad because it’s a great climb.
Anyway, I’ll get off the soap box. If you’re going to bolt, do it right.





