Some years ago routes were renamed when they were freed. I was not party to that process as it trivialized (and still does) the vision and endeavours of the first Ascensionists. I gather the Americans started it when they renamed a route Astroman and a route The Cruise. These are two of the most famous free rock routes in the world and I have been privileged to climb both. For history see:
Legendary Colorado climbers Layton Kor and Larry Dalke began establishing big routes in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in 1960. By 1964, they had gravitated toward one of the biggest and most intimidating walls of all: the East Face of the Chasm View Wall. Looming above one of the easiest access gullies to the Canyon on the north side, the monolithic nature of this wall must have attracted their gaze and ambitions upon their first visits to the area. They could not have guessed, as they aided and free climbed the route using the only tools available at the time, the hammer and piton, that they were creating what would eventually become one of the finest free routes in the state. A few years after the Kor/Dalke ascent, and fresh from other successes in eliminating aid from routes in the Black, Jimmy Dunn and Earl Wiggins took a sandwich, a quart of water, and a rain jacket apiece, and boldly launched a successful, 6-hour ascent. When friends asked them about their climb later, Jimmy exclaimed "We cruised it!" It has been known as The Cruise ever since. Lessor among Colorado climbs perhaps only to a few routes on Long's Peak in quality and challenge, The Cruise, and its later four-pitch variation termed Scenic Cruise, provide varied and difficult climbing with many memorable passages. The crux finger crack, the famous Pegmatite Traverse, and a heel-hook move onto a detached flake are only some of the treats served up by this route, the overwhelming consensus as the best in the Canyon.
Quote:
and
http://www.supertopo.com/rock-climbing/ ... n-AstromanQuote:
History
I was not too happy with the route name Astroman when I first heard it. Sure, the word itself had a fabulous ring to it, but the newly named route already had a name. This was what disturbed me. Never mind that the old name was pedestrian: the East Face of the Washington Column. This was back in 1975, and the arrogant notion of re-naming a route once it had been freed was fairly new. (I’m still not thrilled by this dying trend—and pleased that Lynn Hill didn’t re-name The Nose!) And yet the climb christened Astroman, so radically different from the East Face route of 1959, perhaps demanded a new name.
When John Bachar, Ron Kauk, and John Long topped out on that afternoon a quarter-century ago, they knew they had done something remarkable—the most continuously difficult free climb in the world. Of the 12 pitches, two were easy, five were 5.10, and five were 5.11!
The original ascent, made by Warren Harding and Chuck Pratt, had been a fixed rope effort from bottom to top—a year-long adventure. In addition, the trio had used aid on virtually every pitch—probably 225 aid placements altogether. The route overhung for much of its 1100-foot height and it leaned annoyingly to the right on many pitches, making even the aid strenuous. Pratt and I, along with Eric Beck, made the fifth ascent in 1967 and used about 150 aid placements. The idea that the route would ever go free was ludicrous. Even that great crack specialist Pratt never harbored such a thought, though he did some scary and innovative 5.10 climbing on this route.
There are a lot of renamed routes in Guateng including Coffin (Now Last Rites).
I believe the original names should remain but that is history. I am not aware routes being renamed for the last decade or so. Perhaps this is a debate for another thread.
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
