Touchstone Massacred

I am fully prepared to be in the wrong here--

I went up the first couple pitches of Touchstone yesterday to help a friend learn how to aid climb--someone has monkeyed up the second pitch. It's no longer C2--and it was already barely C2. 

Changes I noticed: 

1. There is now a glue-in in the middle of the C1 cracks on P1 (which previously required a reachy move between C1 placements or a single marginal placement).

2. The cracked pin is gone--in its place is a glued angle with a 6 inch smear of glue in the scar--see picture.

3. The first placement above the pin has been enhanced--what used to be a marginal orange totem or a tricam is now a textbook orange totem. A C4 might have also worked in the new pod, but I didn't have one on me. This one may have naturally weathered open a little, but it's certainly suspect. See picture.

4. Another placement has been chiseled out above this one--this used to be a marginal offset cam, nut, or tricam OR a high step reach to the red cam placement that marked the end of the 8 whole feet of C2 on this entire climb. This is now a chiseled slot that perfectly holds a nut and probably could hold a small cam. See picture.

5. The drilled pin anchors have been replaced with glue in bolts up to P6 (we descended after P2, but a friend had gone up the day before). This one might be considered more justifiable, but I found the pin anchors to be part of the appeal of the route.

Changes I can't swear to--

6. There's a bolt low on the "sport pitch." I don't remember there being a bolt there, only pitons, but I could be misremembering. If a bolt has been added, I don't know if it was in addition to or in place of one of the pins.

7. There seemed to be one too many bolts on the P2 traverse before the bolt--I didn't pay enough attention to that until I saw the modifications to the crux, but there was a glue-in ~12 inches below a pin halfway through the traverse, which struck me as odd whilst leading.

8. This may be my paranoia setting in, but looking up from the P2 anchors, I thought there was what looked like some hammer marks in and around the crack heading up--again, I fully admit that this point may be off-base.

Now, I'm totally willing to be told I'm wrong about this. I am not the most experienced wall climber--though I have rope soloed touchstone twice, most recently last fall--along with most of the other trade routes in Zion and a handful of walls in Yosemite), nor am I local to Zion (though I'd reckon Vegas is "more local" to Zion than MOST who climb there): the modifications to P1 and P2 seem egregious and needless.

The new bolt on P1 is laughable. The aid there is not particularly hard and the fall would be clean and low consequence, relatively speaking. Same for the changes on P2--while that section did require some finesse, it was still just BARELY C2 by definition. It was entirely possible to make one marginal placement above the cracked pin and then high step to the good cam. Any additional marginal placements were only needed if you refused to step high in your ladders--I rope soloed that pitch as my 4th aid pitch EVER and found it to be fun and a great introduction. 

I don't really see a safety argument either, as there are plenty of accounts of people falling on the cracked pin in recent years (plus a fall there is pretty avoidable, the marginal placement was very secure as these things go), and there already was a glue-in right below that--again, as these things go, a pretty clean fall. If the pin did pull on it's own, it seems much more in the spirit of wall climbing to at least let someone attempt a true A grade placement rather than smearing glue all over the pin scar.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe somebody whipped, and their gear carved out perfect placements on the way down, before the cracked pin sheared and they shattered their legs. I don't know. 

Jack Kelly wrote:

5. The drilled pin anchors have been replaced with glue in bolts up to P6 (we descended after P2, but a friend had gone up the day before). This one might be considered more justifiable, but I found the pin anchors to be part of the appeal of the route.

This is a plus in my opinion.  Drilled angles will eventually work loose on a trade route.  Glue ins should be standard on a route like this to prevent further damage of the rock.  All the other stuff you mentioned doesn't surprise me, it gets dozens of ascents a week and is usually the first aid route many will do.  Sandstone is soft and it can't handle that kind of traffic, look at Moonlight and Spaceshot, they are nowhere near what they were 10-20 years ago.  Even "free" ascents on Moonlight cause tons of damage. Stand below Moonlight while someone works the moves on the dihedral and you will be showered in sand as they take whip after whip on cams, but hey, its a "free' ascent and not doing any damage lol.  Zion sandstone is very fragile and its sad to see it destroyed but its not unexpected.

Kevin Mokracek wrote:

This is a plus in my opinion.  Drilled angles will eventually work loose on a trade route.  Glue ins should be standard on a route like this to prevent further damage of the rock. 

Yeah, I have no real problem with that, it's just part of the entire picture.

The two things that I really have beef with the the obvious unnecessary "fixing" on the P2 roof and the added bolt on P1.

I am really curious to hear more from the experienced aid climbers on this.  I have been on the first couple pitches of touchstone many times over the last 5 years.  The crux used to be fairly easy.  Then it got harder over the years, probably from cam placements.  Now it sounds like it will be easy again due the modification of the crack.  That old pin was super sketchy.  It was bending and had a big crack in it, but it held me even when I whipped on it a few years ago.  I haven't been up there for almost a year but I plan to go check it out soon.

Isnt this what happened to standardized tests after Covid?  Made em easier cause our kids were getting dumber

Elliot Spaulding wrote:

That old pin was super sketchy.  It was bending and had a big crack in it, but it held me even when I whipped on it a few years ago. 

The thing about the pin, imo, is that it wasn't really that sketchy, if you tied it off behind the eye--which is a valuable trick to have on walls in general. Plus the wall below is clean and there's a bolt right below the roof. tIf If the pin has eventually pulled in a fall, it would be exciting but but not really dangerous.

To me, that's the real tragedy here, that section used to be a relatively low consequence learning moment--oh cool, fixed gear that's suboptimal can be climbed! Oh cool, body weight clean aid isn't actually that scary! 

Plus, if the pin were allowed to fail and pull, it would be fun to see if that placement could go clean. Now we'll never know. 

Note: also not the the most experienced aid climber.

A bit like complaining about the modernization of a roller coaster at Disneyland, no?

Thanks for that insight Jack.  I am really curious what others think.  And I had that experience too, seeing that it's ok to be on a really sketchy pin that is a few feet above a bolt.  I tied it off with a sling but I still thought it was sketchy.

This seems like three different issues; the replacement of the sketchy pin, the adding of the bolt on pitch one to avoid the super reachy move or the difficult placement, and the intentional modification of the crack on the crux placements.  (assuming the crack was intentionally modified)  I am curious what others think about these.  I am trying not to weigh in on my thoughts since I want to hear from others.  I am curious what changes people agree with, disagree with and the justification behind them.  

"massacred" seems likes a strong word for slightly changing the character on 2-3 moves of a 800 ft route. 

Bug Boy wrote:

"massacred" seems likes a strong word for slightly changing the character on 2-3 moves of a 800 ft route. 

...admittedly, yes. But it's provocative (and they were basically the only moves of the route, at least as far as aid goes).

These modifications constitute another step taken in a horrid direction.  

What "necessary" permanent modifications will come next?  It takes discipline to maintain the integrity of the medium and the sport.  "Its just a blown-out trade route," you say? Acceptance of this on one route leads to the same on the next, and the next; that one fallible human uses fear and 'public service' to justify their actions. I doubt such behavior on the Streaked Wall would garner the same laissez-faire reaction.

Don't ever bring the rock down to you. Is that not a hard and fast rule? 

Kudos to the OP for sharing this slight upon the land. It feels wrong because it IS wrong.