Bad Hybrid at Muir Valley: hold bolted on?!

Post by **Sco Bro** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:03 pm

Good idea Stew. Maybe we could get some kind of rock saw and cut sit down rest or even chunks off of cliffs so that the climbs are closer to vert with big bucket holds. We can make the whole Gorge one big happy place with 500 climbs rated 5.5-5.6!

Post by **Stewy911** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:11 pm

arr arr matey

Post by **squeezindlemmon** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:12 pm

Sco Bro and Stewy, you can stir this sh*t up as much as you want. But really, people do not care.

And one more thing, do not lump MV with the rest of the Gorge. It's a private property - meaning it doesn't matter what you really think (well, sometimes it does), but really, ULTIMATELY, it's the owners who get to decide. And like I've already said before, the owners have this hold scheduled to be removed ASAP.

End of story.

p.s. I generally try not to be mean but it's really a non-issue. Sorry.

Post by **mcrib** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:12 pm

I heard to the same thing being done in France but they used a gym hold. I think this is a horrible decision. Routes gettting altered because they can't be done is a case of bad ethics making a 5.10 a 5.6 is just plain stupid. I would think that with all the rules and restrictions for bolting in Muir this kind of thing would be avoided.

Post by **corduroy** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:19 pm

Sco Bro

how are you comparing Espresso to this climb?
im curious

Post by **Stewy911** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:24 pm

Squeezy, ease the tension baby, just ease the tension. We are glad to hear it is being removed. We are not trying to stir anything up. we just found it amuzing that we came across something like this. Did not mean to get your "excited" sorry karla

will the rating be changed accordingly or do you think that bolt hole that will be left will make the route still 5.6?

Post by **corduroy** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:45 pm

dont we choose the ratings
isnt that what the option is for

i know rating have changed over time

then again
why the fuss
dont like it - dont climb it

Post by **squeezindlemmon** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:57 pm

I expect the rating to follow consensus upon removal of the hold. Besides, only people with teeny tiny fingers like mine would dare stick 'em into a bolt hole - I doubt the hole would be very useful (it can also be plugged). I've actually had a finger stuck in a bolt hole once. It's no fun at all!

Post by **Stewy911** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 4:33 pm

ouch yea i figured u wont be able to use it. the move is height dependant so could feel really hard for a short climber.

Post by **weber** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 5:43 pm

Okay, folks, this was done as a joke to see what I would say when I saw it. It is coming off. (But the plastic gorilla up on the ledge to the right stays!) The bolt hole will be filled and camoflaged.

But NOW I'm going to open (or reopen) a can of worms. In cleaning routes, loose stuff is deliberately knocked off with hammers. This is a universally-accepted chore in the route development process -- here and everywhere. Thin fragile flakes and protrusions are often removed. either by developers or the first few climbers who do the route. Each spring the guides at Seneca bang on stuff that was loosened by the previous winter's freeze/thaw cycle. Regardless of how much anyone likes or dislikes the process, it is a recognized part of setting a safe route and keeping the sky from falling down on Chicken Little.

So, it has always amused me why many climbers abhor chipping holds. A person may have a really low-life moral conduct, and yet out-rant a TV evangelist on the act of deliberately altering the rock face to make it possible to climb through a section and how this violates the climbers' sacred code of ethics.

(For the record, NO! I don't advocate chipping!)

No axe to grind -- Just an observation.

Thank goodness for all of us climbers that ol' Mother Nature was one hell of a "chipper", or we would have no place to climb down here.

Weber