Blood Feud 

I though Hidetaka freed Wide Gauge like 10 years ago, but he didn't bother to change the name and he probably graded it as an .11.

The photo shows Paul making the "pendi" traverse move into Blood Feud from No Bozos -one of the easier cruxes on the pitch. The rest is a beauty finger crack that w/ great jams plus plenty of nuts and cams for protections. The route finishes on steep layback flakes on a bit dirtier rock for an exciting ending.

I'll chime in since I was present for the FA. It looks to me like the free version (photo below) is traversing in above the thin nailing crux of Wide Gauge. As I recall, stubby Lost Arrows and Knifeblades were used on the aid ascent. I believe Bernard pendi'ed in to the bottom of the seam. Perhaps he could confirm this as he led the pitch and I don't think he would mistake A1 for A3. I certainly might make that mistake but not him. Anyway kudos on the free ascent, looks plenty zesty and steep. Spanky, thanks for defending our honor. Perhaps we were smoking crack, it was a long time ago on a cold winter day with howling wind. We were just looking for a place to use a hammer, and I'm surprised anyone even bothered to return.

What is going on with the editing around here?!

The complete removal of Spanky's comment makes this whole discussion kinda hard to follow for anyone who happens upon this in the future. He may have been a bit sarcastic, but it wasn't a personal attack and his comment was germane to the route description. If you must edit, why not just edit the part of the comment you don't like? This bizarre editing seems to be happening on half the route pages on this site now and many formerly interesting discussions now are just meaningless.

[Eds. much of the ugly side of this thread/ranting was deleted to try to de-escalate the situation. Please do not escalate this situation any further. Thanks.]

Charles, Spanky's comment was a personal attack and the majority of it was not relevant. He had two un-supported and slanderous comments towards the same person. They were both blatant attempts to revive a petty war that has been dead for sometime. As for the editing.......CB.com has lost its soul. It is a PC automaton.

Hate to say it ....but Blood Gauge looks good...

Editing? More like complete evisceration....

The benevolent dictator has spoken.

Climbingboulder. Once the best climbing site on the net. Now a sterile online database. RIP cb.com....

Re Crusty's comment: I'd have to go back and look at it to be certain where I began nailing the thin crack, but I think I started at its base (in the seam below the climber shown in the picture, it appears). I've got no problem with Eli rating it as A1 anyway, whether he did our original route or not -- it's not the end of the world if someone disagrees with my ratings.

Looks like a neat free climb - nice job, Eli.

Bernard Gillett===========

Site administrators -- don't let the vocal minority dissuade you. There are plenty of other web sites for wankers to spew. Any comment containing personal attacks should be deleted in its entirety. It shouldn't be your job to worry about. This site was good in the beginning, got pretty bad for a while, but you guys are doing a good job of turning it around. Thanks!

ac-

I'd like to take issue with your comments that my previous two messages were "unsupported".

1. Since I happen to know the location of the aid climbing on Wide Guage, when I responded to Eli's question regarding how the route could ever possibly have been A3, how could my answer be considered "unsupported"?....

[Eds. 10/14/5 we apologize for the moderating; however, threats of litigation regarding libel against this site & its administrators have threatened the very existence of climbingboulder.com. Some things are best kept off this website. Peace.]

Spanky, And the forty minutes that you spent writing that letter weren't ego driven?

[Let's] see......Chris Hill (First Ascent of Wide Gauge)- _Kudos for the free ascent_Bernard [Gillett] (FA of WG)-_I've got no problem with Eli rating it A1......Looks like a neat free climb, nice job_

Stop Chris...Stop...[Can't] you see the horse is dead.

Now...back to my armchair.

This is getting...stupid Chris, give it a rest. Over the two days it took you to write that shit, did it ever occur to you that nobody really gives...about this stuff. Get ...like man. I know selling [carabiners] and shit has to get boring, ... with this...already....

Hey Spanky, the purpose for this forum, or so I believe, is to talk about climbing and routes. None of your comments have anything to do with this climb, or climbing at all. Of course Eli rates his climbs 3 stars, what proud parent of a new route after spending countless hours cleaning and bolting would call their own route crap? If you want to call his routes crap on this forum that is fine, but leave it at that. Obviously you are not man enough to confront Eli in person with these accusations, so you have to slander him here where you feel safe. The funny thing is that you obviously are quite insecure with your own climbing, and thus feel you have to attack the accomplishments of others. When I look under your name on the site it seems the only FA's you are doing are on roadcuts and such. Maybe if you spent your energy in a more constructive manner you might be able to achieve greater things.....then again maybe not. In [either] case, why don't you keep your opinions to yourself or at least have the courage to say them in person and keep them off this site.

In light of the last few weeks, this route seems to have been named perfectly....

This pitch as a freeclimb is a kick-ass score for Eli and a proud send. It is a spectacular and difficult route with awesome crack climbing throughout. The opening handcrack is fairly brutal with very painful jams. It's hard to climb it quickly which seems kinda crucial as you'll need ALL your strength for the face moves exiting it and the long fingercrack above. The fingercrack is super fun in a really hard and sustained kind of way. I fell and/or hung nearly a dozen times on my shameful onsight attempt. I agree that the three cruxes probably all weigh in at 12- but the steepness of the wall and the distinct lack of decent rests bump the grade toward 12+. A redpoint of this pitch would be a true test of fitness. An onsight would be super proud. I'll definitely go back for another try, although I think it's gonna take a lot of tries. For what it's worth, I think the name should remain Wide Gauge since the only difference is how far you climb up the handcrack before traversing into the thin crack. No matter what you call it though, this is one of the better hard new free climbs on the Ridge.