Type: Trad, 120 ft (36 m)
FA: Dave Anderson
Page Views: 7,284 total · 30/month
Shared By: Louis Arevalo on May 29, 2004 · Updates
Admins: Andrew Gram, Nathan Fisher, Perin Blanchard, GRK, D C

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Description Suggest change

Route Description:

This is a right facing dihedral with an obvious roof about 25 feet up, left of Old Bushmills and right of Lite Not Solid. Scramble up the large boulder close to the start of Bushmills and belay from the block at the base of the climb (single belay bolt). 

Climb ~25ft of good hands to a roof. Traverse to the lip, pull past, and enjoy tight hands and off fingers for ~60ft. Above, the dihedral throws a tightening bulge for about ten feet (crux). Once past the bulge, keep it together for the varied climbing to the anchors. 

One of the best and cleanest routes in Pine Canyon. 

Doable with a single 70 meter rope ONLY if belaying from high up on pillar/boulder.

Protection Suggest change

Numerous pieces in the tight hands rattly fingers range. Handful of hands and a few down to a blue tcu and a few up to a 3.5 camalot. Two bolt anchor.

Route Name Change Suggest change

The name of this route changed since its establishment in the early 90s. Originally named “Rabid Muslim,” the route was flagged as discriminatory in the Mountain Project database during the summer of 2020.

In the following months, members of the San Rafael Swell climbing community worked to change the route name in an ethical manner, resulting in the current name: “Taco Terror.” 

Given that Dave Anderson passed away in 1998, the goal was to create a process that would: 1) honor Dave’s legacy; 2) uphold the ethics/traditions of route naming in climbing; and 3) strengthen the San Rafael Swell as a place where climbers can climb in a safe, inclusive and positive environment. 

After considering many courses of action, the conclusion was that the decision of whether to rename the route and, if so, what the new name should be ought to belong to Dave’s two adult children, Leif & Keha. 

Throughout the fall of 2020, several conversations took place with Leif & Keha about the subject. After deliberation, they both supported a name change and "Taco Terror” was chosen.

 Why Taco Terror? 

Throughout his time in the Swell, Dave named five routes (and one crag) after the Food Fighter cartoon series. These route names were largely a result of Leif & Keha, both of whom loved the cartoons and collaborated on the naming process. In some cases, the route names even corresponded to the characteristics of the pitches themselves.

In choosing a new name for Rabid Muslim, it became clear that the Food Fighter series provided an elegant solution: it was a theme Dave would certainly have used - and doing so in this case honors his legacy as a trailblazer of rock climbing in the Swell.

An important final note: through conversations and interviews with his closet climbing partners and family members, it is evident that Dave Anderson didn’t have a malicious bone in his body. As one of the true gravitational forces responsible for coalescing the burgeoning scene of climbers in the Salt Lake Valley in the late 1980s & early 1990s, all anecdotes of Dave are that of positivity, inclusion, and affability.

Based on the numerous and heartfelt examples of Dave’s superlative moral character, it stands to reason that he would never have intentionally named a route that was hateful or discriminatory and would wholeheartedly support the decision to change the name of this route.

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