...

[young'n climber]

Or maybe Lennie from "Of Mice and Men"?

GAH! *flashback* freshman english blows!

[weber]

I'll be an apologist for Terry as he is my friend. ... He attempted to have a discussion with Rick, but what he forgot was that Rick thinks he is over bearing and a rabble rouser, and too critical. Rick took his criticism as a personal attack (which is understandable). Terry overstepped the bounds of civility, and now is hearing about it...

Not quite true, Hugh. Yes, I do believe that Terry is overbearing and a rabble-rouser. However that is not why I declined to spend time meeting with him. I have no desire to further feed the ego of a man who would irresponsibly post on a public forum allegations of a "very clear and present danger" and “that someone is going to get hurt in the Valley!”

If some of you still don’t understand the profound ramifications of loose cannon statements like this by so-called experts, talk to your attorney.

This resulted in the necessity of temporarily closing a popular climbing area to inspect each and every bolt and anchor system of all 300+ routes, document all findings, and make any necessary corrections.

Thanks to an outstanding group of skilled volunteers, approximately 320 man-hours was dedicated to this effort during this last week, completing inspection of ALL hardware on about 90 of the more popular routes and allowing us to partially reopen Muir to climbing Monday morning. I believe the results so far of that thorough inspection demonstrate that risk to climbers at Muir is as low as or lower than any other climbing area in the Red.

I don’t recall TK ever issuing similar Sky-is-Falling alerts when encountering some of his, or his buds’, loose bolts elsewhere in the Gorge.

I have the greatest respect for Terry's efforts in rebolting worn routes in the Gorge, but certainly not for his character. It is nice that he has so many high-caliber friends eager to jump to his defense and make excuses for his behavior. Although Liz and I hold many of those people in high esteem, I have no desire to be counted among Terry's friends, nor to waste any time talking with him in person to provide a further platform for his venom.

Sometimes the best way to solve a problem is to eliminate it, and that is why TK is no longer welcome in Muir Valley.

Rick Weber

Notice:
[One more time for those new to this sport: Rock Climbing is a very dangerous sport that can result in your injury or death. No guarantees whatsoever for your personal safety are made by the Muir Valley owners and route developers if you choose to climb on any hardware affixed to any of the rock in Muir Valley. If you choose not to accept this level of risk, either in MV or any other place on the planet, then don't climb.]

[ynot]

I always wished I could get a word in edgeways when talking to him. Dang, he talks more than Mrs Ynot.

[the lurkist]

Absolutely, Rick. I understand that you need to insulate/ be able to protect yourself. You have invested so much and are so close to the efforts of route developement and quality control in route developement (you invented the concept), that you understandable feel exposed.
I think everyone is impressed with the few problems found on the latest inspection, and MV is the stronger and safer for it.
Thanks to all who helped.

I don’t recall TK ever issuing similar Sky-is-Falling alerts when encountering some of his, or his buds’, loose bolts elsewhere in the Gorge

Again to TK's defense, and b/c this is truely the case, TK has been dutiful and quite vociferous (imagine that) concerning the state of progressive entropy of gear at several cliffs, including Funk Rock, The Lode, and Long Wall. Those are the conversations I have been privy to. My point is that if anyone is a champion of route development, safety of bolts, their correct placement, and longevity of routes, it has been TK. Mostly, when he encounters problems, he fixes them. No one to my knowledge has fixed more old routes than TK.

So, Lurkist, are you saying that Terry is kind of like Rainman?

Terry is a special child.

We have good people in the Red looking after routes and there status. Bentley is on the cusp of busting out the glue in skill set on the Lode. Rick, you have MV clean and correct, TK does his thing, various other punters like myself dabble with route maintenance or encourage others to do it.
We are in good hands and, of course, we support these guys (and girls).

[weber]

Absolutely, Rick. I understand that you need to insulate/ be able to protect yourself...

Thank you for your support, Hugh.

However, in response to your opening statement, just to put things in perspective, I am not trying to protect myself so much as I am trying to ensure that Muir Valley stays forever open to all of you climbers.

Rick

[weber]

... if anyone is a champion of route development, safety of bolts, their correct placement, and longevity of routes, it has been TK. Mostly, when he encounters problems, he fixes them. No one to my knowledge has fixed more old routes than TK.

Agreed, and that is why we were happy to donate a pot full of bolts to his efforts.

Rick

[the lurkist]

Rick, you and Liz have been generous to an absurd degree. Mostly you, Liz and benefactors like you show us younger set, who are still struggling to collect our resources/ monopoly money (so all the more free time to climb) what is important and what generosity can do. Hopefully we take heed. I think we will.
The building of community around an ideal is powerful stuff.

[charlie]

..........just to put things in perspective, I am not trying to protect myself so much as I am trying to ensure that Muir Valley stays forever open to all of you climbers.

Rick

w3rd

Thank you so much.

[anticlmber]

the more i hang around you folks the saner i look. keep it up.

[Artsay]

I edited my original post.
I want to publically apologize to Terry for asking him, on a public forum, about a rumor that, in doing so, could taint people's perception of him. So I deleted the rumor about him being banned from Miguel's and I hope that those of you that have heard this too will now know for sure that this rumor is not true. I don't know where it started but, from Miguel himself, Terry has never been banned from Miguel's.

Sorry, Terry.

~Michelle