Thanks hilton bruce for clarifying.
my 10c worth follows.
hate to keep quoting from it but sure does seem apposite. From the Yosemite bolting policy:
http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/bolting.htmNew Routes:
The damage caused establishing a new route is far greater than that caused by each subsequent party. If you are considering establishing a new route ask yourself, "Is this route worth the damage it will cause?" "Is it a classic line that others will enjoy climbing, or I am simply interested in putting up my own route?" "What will climbers fifty years from now think of this route or this bolt?"
There seem to be 3 pieces of fixed gear that are really necessary to do this route. 1 pin and 2 bolts. Is it a classic line? is it worth the damage caused? sorry but it sounds a whole lot more like 'I am simply interested in putting up my own route'.
It would appear to have wanton over-bolting. I'm aware that trad routes in europe almost always have bolts at belays. Why? often to assist guides. And more cynically to assist the first ascentionists get down the face with a drill.
This is not europe, nor (consensus?) do we want our wilderness trad routes to become like european trad routes. I don't think it's appropriate here. I believe if you are using trad gear then you should be stepping as lightly as possible and leaving the rock in as original a state as possible. that's why the hand-job idea is a good one. you only then place what is ABSOLUTELY necessary.
This route sounds like a half baked direct version of second coming, that is not that great, that has come at the price (and precedent?) of a ton of unnecessary fixed gear. It remains to be seen how good the Mother route is, and how many of the bolts casually blammed into the face were absolutely necessary. I see all the belays have bolts and i'd be prepared to wager none (of the belay bolts) are necessary, even if it meant moving the belay up or down a little. Surely on a trad route in our mountains it's more important to belay where there's natural gear and a natural belay than belay HERE regardless of the gear.
It seems that Second Coming has not been retro-bolted which is a shame because i would then feel completely fine in immediately without consultation removing the bolts.
this has always amazed me. placing a bolt is the damaging act. removing it and (to the best that is possible) repairing the hole with coloured cement is the clean-up and restoration act. Yet whenever removal of bolts is suggested there's a sharp intake of breath in the room and everyone gets fidgety, like you're destroying something, someone's creation. Actually the reality is the other way round. This is why we need to be very careful about precedent. Because once these things are done they are very very hard to undo.
I really think the e cape crowd have found a great balance in this. In pinnacle and other gorges there are sport and trad routes. The Trad feels like trad. the sport feels like sport. In exceptional circumstances the odd single bolt or 2 has been added to pitches where a fall would otherwise certainly result in a trip to someone like SNORT (he is an orthopod if you don't know) or the duminy in a box (maybe preferable). Where trad routes top out on formations from which there is no easy descent a drilled abseil anchor has been placed. These are invariably out of sight from below and do not impact on the trad experience. They are better than slings which are unsightly and unsafe as you don't know how old they are. multipitch trad routes that have an occasional bolt do not then automatically sprout bolts at every belay.
not sure how they have achieved it. likely some combination of Keith James's sagacity and even handedness, and the threat of marshall's pistola if you step out of line.
Basically they have achieved some kind of balance. This issue is never going to be solved in a black and white all or nothing fashion. It will always be a balance and it will always be subjective. This balance will be informed by the legacy of routes that we leave behind creating precedent for future generations of climbers.
Jury's out on the mother route but the gravity route strikes me as a disappointing chapter in the history of climbing at yellowwood.