Gunks Grid Bolting

A portion of the gunks has been grid bolted.

This is for the climbers who have done the grid bolting. Please identify yourselves and also please explain why you think it's ok to grid bolt at the gunks.

Multiple people have seen it, and taken pics, including me. I'm not posting pics yet. Believe it if you want, or don't. I don't care.

This is an opportunity for the responsible parties to proactively post up and explain themselves.

Why don't you want to post pics? Mountainproject is one of the easiest sites to post pics on.

Believe me John I wish it was no more than a few bolted anchors and a few pitons replaced with bolts.

I don't know about ``grid,'' but a lot of bolts were placed on a relatively small section of the Bayards cliff. At the time I first heard about it, it was unclear whether that portion of the cliff was on Preserve or private land; this may have been resolved but I haven't heard.

If on Preserve land, the bolting was in violation of Preserve policy.

If on private land, then the bolters trespassed on and defaced private property. Given the rather touchy relationship right now between landowners and climbers, this can only aggravate the situation, putting climbers as a group in the worst possible light.

The climbing community, at least the overwhelming majority of it that hasn't abandoned all sense of responsibility, is going to have to make this right. Hopefully, the bolts, slings, and fixed ropes can be removed and the holes patched so that the cliff is returned as nearly as possible to its state before the tresspassers defaced it.

Hard to believe that they would be able to get away with it without being strung up. I know it's been about 11 years since I've climbed there, but last time I was there it was like being at the gym, so I can only imagine it's gotten worse. So someone... more like a buttload of people should have seen this happening and I am guessing would have said something? Stealth mission at night? Which area?

Ridiculous if true. Must be new age climbers who want to bolt up trad lines thereby making climbing "safe" for all. LOL

HBL, Bayards is removed from the outdoor gymnasium part of the Gunks, which is just the Trapps and part of the Near Trapps, so not being observed is entirely possible. And the sound of the drilling could easily have been interpreted as some sort of construction sound coming from one of the properties below the cliff.

The willingness of the bolters to enter private land and drill cliffs on private property is astonishing in its sense of entitlement and callousness about the state of climber-landowner relations, this quite apart from the issues about the Gunks being a trad area.

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rgold wrote: The willingness of the bolters to enter private land and drill cliffs on private property is astonishing in its sense of entitlement and callousness about the state of climber-landowner relations, ...

It would be quite funny if the land owners themselves or their kids did the bolting. Or, could the bolters have gotten permission? It seems too early to make judgements without knowing all the facts.

M Sprague wrote: It would be quite funny if the land owners themselves or their kids did the bolting. Or, could the bolters have gotten permission? It seems too early to make judgements without knowing all the facts.

These are, of course, the first things people thought of. My understanding is that it none of these possibilities is true, but I think full clarification about whose property the cliffs are has yet to be achieved. Given that there may be some uncertainty about this, MS is right to caution restraint.

Part of my propensity to blame those who feel entitled to trespass and deface is that there have been several such incidents in the Gunks in recent years.

The climbers who placed these many bolts are very well known. They have invited some of their also well known climber friends to climb there. And they know they are busted.

So Bayard's Bolters, do you own the land where you drilled these many bolts? If not, did you ask the property owner's permission to climb and drill before you did so?

Post up.

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Nope. Got the skinny on this one too. But to keep this thread(it's not mine after all) from getting locked I will keep mummmm......

pretty sure it was just one climber. i think the reasoning was, if its private, the preserve will eventually buy the land, and its easier to forgive bolts in place than ask permission. its a 25 - 30 ft 45 wall at the top of the crag, accessible by rappel. its bullet amazing gunks caprock with a handful of short hard routes that are impossible to lead on trad gear. apparently he left a mess. do you really think the responsible party reads mountain project, and if so, is going to respond to this? this does nothing but toot your horn that you know about it and are MAD! you might as well email or call him if you're not going to officially call him out.

just like the recent spate of egregious chipping of existing bouldering projects at the gunks, the accused will deny culpability and avoid public ridicule. unless he's a moron.

So anyone have directions to these new sport routes?

lol

Hmmm. If the damage to the cliff exceeds $1,500 it looks as though the bolter(s) could be charged with criminal mischief in the second degree, which is a Class D Felony, and punishable by up to seven years in prison.

youtube.com/watch?v=yVBB2up…

slab wrote:the accused will deny culpability and avoid public ridicule. unless he's a moron.

It's already pretty clear he's a moron.

So where do u rap into this area?

mitchy wrote:Edited out

mitchy,
What's up with that? Why you throwing X and X's name out there like that.. I know for a fact they had nothing to do with that. Unless it's fact you should keep those kind of comments to yourself...

Dude, relax. I was only kidding, i don't ACTUALLY think those 2 would do ANYTHING like that. You dig.

Example of how you correctly show the online public that sport climbers are being retarded at a specific place. Location: Trophy Wall, Red Rock, NV. Near base of Keep Your Powder Dry.