Route Development is a Pathological Sickness

Those who know, know. If you have to ask, you'll never know. Get one FA, and one is never enough. Drill one hole, need to drill another. Tap out one crag, need to find another. Pulling a tendon means you can still hike and drill and trundle and scrub. Your friends who just want to climb polished routes with consensus grades and immutable holds are not committed enough. You're a hero to some (you're no hero, you're just filling a bottomless pit of need) and they thank you for the routes (and you silently thank them for their lack of vision and initiative and utter failure to put up the route themselves). At night you lie there visualizing the face, wondering if the gear options in that seam are legit for people trying to onsight even though you know you'll never really fall there - but if you drill a bolt, will they label you soft and say you bolted a crack? Also, is that arete too sharp for you to put bolt 3 right there in relation to bolt 2, since a lead fall might lead to a taut rope slicing on that arete? (Again, you'll never fall there, but how much do you owe future climbers anyway, don't they assume the risk, how can you eliminate every possible risk and even then, should you?) Shit, maybe the whole route was a mistake, but how can you quit now with the route cleaned and half bolted?  And how come all I do these days is climb my own routes, whatever happened to trying other people's routes, maybe (gasp) even something I've never climbed? Isn't that all I used to ever do, a thousand years ago? These are the thoughts of a sick mind, the mind of a developer with insomnia counting the days until they're back punching the clock. Save yourself before it's too late.

I think it all stems from your motivation for route development. For me, I don't have that much stuff left to climb that isnt a further drive/journey than its worth on some days. I always chose to climb over develop so I get way less done. 

You seem to enjoy the process so your brain wants you to do the process all the time. 

Lol. We’d all still be living in caves if it were not for that “pathological sickness” in some of us.  

Rprops wrote:

It's about economics. Hilti bolts are cheaper than quality therapy. (Or redheads are cheaper than betterhelp.com, depending on your tax bracket).

Also, fuck you and your hard truths. 

Ha, I've often commented that too many people "take their issues out on the rock."

Paging Tradgitard!!!

Damn right, it’s a sickness that there is no cure for. The only way out is death and you’re gonna have to pry the drill from my cold dead hands! Except I plan on being buried with mine cause I’m gonna put up routes in heaven! Ha! Who am I kidding?! I mean hell!

Can confirm.

There is nothing like feeling holds that have never been touched before, and then linking the sequences needed to move upwards. The process of determining where the optimal spot of a bolt, in relation to the previous one and the one after. The external influence of area history and ethics. The collaborative process with friends. The engineering and ropecraft. The complaints of insensitivity and exclusion with the bolt placements. The name. Then the name redaction.

Think about it less. Did Bachar think about his duty to future climbers in putting up the BY (cue that one theorem). Personal responsibility still exists, and climbers make their own risk determinations. If a route is dangerous, rate it R or X. If it isn’t, don’t. 

 I've got a fever and the only prescription is…more FA's.

Yesterday's dose: "Freedom is a Prison" (5.10+, 3 pitches)

https://www.mountainproject.com/route/121978278/freedom-is-a-prison

Oh my goodness, you sound like my hubby. He can not relate, empathize, or sympathize with anyone who doesn't want to bolt. A day out at a developed area is torture to him. He spent years begging me to try. I dabbled here and there. But, it wasn't until I bolted the sweetest line at a new crag(my opinion, cause his are the best of course) when I realized what a badass it makes you feel to put up a line. AND THEN, the feeling that runs through your body when you tie in for the FA knowing that if you don't onsight it, there is someone else standing by to snatch it from you(cause that's who I married). It is a sickness and the only thing that can cure it is more bolting. Guess there are worse addictions, but most are probably cheaper...lol. Now get off the interweb and get to bolting!

Rocrateswrote:

Think about it less. Did Bachar think about his duty to future climbers in putting up the BY (cue that one theorem). Personal responsibility still exists, and climbers make their own risk determinations. If a route is dangerous, rate it R or X. If it isn’t, don’t. 

Of course he thought about it. “You Asked For It” is the result of those ruminations. 

" I'm in this post and I don't like it "

Questions that haunt my mind

What would a punter do here? 

How will Crag Snobs complain and degrade? 

bryanswrote:

Those who know, know. If you have to ask, you'll never know. Get one FA, and one is never enough. Drill one hole, need to drill another. Tap out one crag, need to find another. Pulling a tendon means you can still hike and drill and trundle and scrub. Your friends who just want to climb polished routes with consensus grades and immutable holds are not committed enough. You're a hero to some (you're no hero, you're just filling a bottomless pit of need) and they thank you for the routes (and you silently thank them for their lack of vision and initiative and utter failure to put up the route themselves). At night you lie there visualizing the face, wondering if the gear options in that seam are legit for people trying to onsight even though you know you'll never really fall there - but if you drill a bolt, will they label you soft and say you bolted a crack? Also, is that arete too sharp for you to put bolt 3 right there in relation to bolt 2, since a lead fall might lead to a taut rope slicing on that arete? (Again, you'll never fall there, but how much do you owe future climbers anyway, don't they assume the risk, how can you eliminate every possible risk and even then, should you?) Shit, maybe the whole route was a mistake, but how can you quit now with the route cleaned and half bolted?  And how come all I do these days is climb my own routes, whatever happened to trying other people's routes, maybe (gasp) even something I've never climbed? Isn't that all I used to ever do, a thousand years ago? These are the thoughts of a sick mind, the mind of a developer with insomnia counting the days until they're back punching the clock. Save yourself before it's too late.

That's cute.

There are some who silently thank you for lacking the vision, initiative, and utter failure to look beyond the little crags. ;)

Experiencing new and untouched terrain has been like a religious experience for me. IMO, being a good steward can and perhaps should at times include NOT telling anyone of the experience. But instead allowing them to 'discover' the adventure for themselves. "It's something of charm, To have nothing to say"

As for the number of bolts? May we make art and not friends. Or in other words, let us try making, creating, and experiencing our art without an audience in mind. This approach has helped me decide when to hammer and when not to hammer.  

jcs

edited: for attempted clarity

Beta Slavewrote:

Can confirm.

There is nothing like feeling holds that have never been touched before, and then linking the sequences needed to move upwards. The process of determining where the optimal spot of a bolt, in relation to the previous one and the one after. The external influence of area history and ethics. The collaborative process with friends. The engineering and ropecraft. The complaints of insensitivity and exclusion with the bolt placements. The name. Then the name redaction.

You nailed the same feeling, but with different words. I started climbing in 1999 and had no clue how bolts got there for a few years after, it seemed like the bolt fairy or maybe the park ranger put them there. Then in 2004 a friend got a drill....

I need a reason to go thrashing around in the hills, collecting ticks, getting scratches on my face all for the fame and adventure. 

How many routes have you bolted?

If it wasn’t for FA’s there wouldn’t be any climbing. 

Some people are creative, some aren’t. Some have imagination, some don’t. Some follow the path of others, some find the path. Some are drawn to the rating, some are drawn to the line.

Some climbers only do popular routes, some climb for adventure and solitude. The best place to find solitude and adventure is on an unclimbed crag.

Chris Hatzaiwrote:

How many routes have you bolted?

40 or 50? Plus assisted my partners with easily another 50 to 100.  I mainly seek out trad or mixed lines, because I enjoy the process of sussing out the gear and using as few bolts as possible and making it reasonably go on gear. Also because sport routes are $$$ and I'll let somebody else put those up. I know your history at Smith, and I appreciate your stoke, but why do you ask how many? Another question could be "how many years have you been developing, and at how many different crags, and what has it cost you in non-financial terms?" :)  

It's been years since I sunk a bolt in virgin stone. Maybe 15 years or more? But I've sunk several hundred on 50+ routes. A sickness? For me, no. Right now I am content to climb existing routes. But I still would like to find some virgin stone. Whether contributing a route to an existing area or finding an all new area. I guess my eye is always on the lookout. I don't judge anyone on whether they care to bolt or not. It's probably best that not everyone is out there doing it.

I will say this though: It always amazed me that it could be so difficult to get some of my regular partners to go try some of my new routes. It's like "Dude, you know I know what's up, why won't you come out? I'm telling you it's the bomb!" But a lot of my routes were several hours and a weekend trip from home. For them it was a value judgment of whether it was worth their weekend trip when they can definitely get the workout value they wanted from sticking with what they knew.

I suppose that's what disappointed me more than whether they had "vision" or "the sickness". It was that their climbing experience had been reduced to a value judgment of whether they would get enough of a workout, as opposed to having an adventure.

LL2wrote:

 It was that their climbing experience had been reduced to a value judgment of whether they would get enough of a workout, as opposed to having an adventure.

I've been in the same boat trying to evangelize new areas. I'd rather have an adventure on a 2A and then hit the hangboard if I still need to get my forearm rocks off.

For many, the deciding factor is that new routes have no "flex appeal" on social media. That's why there are lines on the "mega classic" handcracks at the Creek while similar routes that are even better quality languish in obscurity. Gotta get that #tradisrad Scarface photo.