Half Dome has fallen.

Ethan Crouchwrote:

As of June 5th, the first three pitches have added bolts. On the 5.7 traverse over to the dike, there were 3 added bolts in just that small traverse. This seems unnecessary! #getchafreehangers

What a travesty. I hope the chopping that will be done - over and over every time the bolts get added - doesn't damage the rock too much. But to add bolts to a route that has been done safely by thousands of climbers, over decades, is incomprehensible to me.

Kevin Corriganwrote:

I'm fine with all kinds of routes existing. For this specific route, it doesn't make sense. First of all, as I said in a previous comment, the runouts are contrived. They were not determined by nature. They were determined by some guys with bolts. But more importantly, the desirable characteristic of Snake Dike isn't that it's runout. People want to climb it because it's a 5.7 that goes up Half Dome. The vast majority of climbers are climbing it despite the runouts, not for the runouts. So the character of the route doesn't fit the desires of it's users. We're not talking about the Bachar-Yerian here.

Nkane sums this up perfectly. 

Nkane 1 · 12 hours ago · East Bay, CA · Joined Jun 2013 · Points: 475

When I was a beginner on the East Coast, more than 25 years ago, flipping through old Climbing mags, I read about this world-famous route up this insane feature called Half Dome in a mythical place called Yosemite, on the far side of the country. It was only 5.7, but what made it special was the endless "easy", barely protected climbing up this lone feature that formed a highway up toward the sky. 

Leading any route felt like a distant dream to teenage me, and I didn't ever think I'd be able to climb in Yosemite, let alone do a major, scary route like Snake Dike. 

But time passed, and I slowly gained more experience and confidence. I got stronger, learned to lead, learned to place gear, continued to learn the craft of overland travel and how to be an outdoorsperson who can safely and respectfully recreate on our public lands, and eventually I moved out West and began to explore the Valley myself. But still, I waited to try Snake Dike until I was ready. 

And when I felt ready, I got up 3 am, hit the trail in the dark, and was first on the route. The 5.7 parts weren't bad, and soon I was at the base of that spectacular golden ribbon pointing up at the sun. The climbing was less juggy than I expected, but each move flowed to the next and my shoes felt sticky on each rounded foothold. With the bolts out of sight below me, I moved confidently and steadily up, propelled by the knowledge that I had climbed thousands of feet of similar terrain. The dike rolled away under my feet until I reached the alcove at the end of the difficulties. After grinding up the slab, my stomach dropped peering over the edge of the NW face, a view that's hidden until the last moment.

 The day I did Snake Dike was one of my most memorable days of climbing, up there with my first lead, my first 5.11, and my first el cap summit. 

It will not be the same if it gets tamed into some "modern" approximation of a route. The run-outs make the experience. 

I grieve for future generations who will not have the experience I had. I hope the rebolters rethink their mistake--their theft of this magical experience from the future --and if it comes to it I hope the new bolts are removed. 

PS.  for my thoughts on why adding bolts will make this route worse but not safer, see my post on the 2022 thread. 

Great Post NKane, and I’ll add for Kevin Corrigan, if people want to climb a tightly bolted line up Half Dome, they are free to put in the work to find a line, put in the bolts, and climb it.

Tony Danzawrote:

The cohesive argument is literally right above your comment. Having to grow as a climber so you can face the runouts and stay calm, that’s a rewarding experience that is now taken away from every future climber even though we can all only come up with ONE accident in 50+ years of people climbing this route. 

Do you really think that people are against adding bolts because of their immense compassion for future climbers and somehow they are sad that future climbers might not have to have the same experience they had? It isn't consistent with the realities of climbing - people can (and do) bring less protection than maximal for a route. You can bring 3 draws to the base and have the experience of going all in; if someone is so compulsive that they can't do that and has to clip the new bolts, maybe they haven't honed their lead head through the fire and flames as much as they think they have. We can give the gift of many different climbing experiences to the next generation on this feature. Just because we all had to hem and haw and have a coming of age moment on the sharp end up there doesn't mean everyone has to in perpetuity. Climbing makes us feel special, but someone else climbing a route in a different style than we climbed doesn't take away our special moment we had on it.

perhaps sloan can put some of the funds he keeps soliciting and misappropriating towards starting a golden bolt™ award that can be prestigiously awarded to the bravest retrobolters defacing the world's classics each year. I would tentatively suggest that, in the spirit of retro-activity, we give cesare maestri the inaugural golden bolt™ for his heroic and visionary grid-bolting of the cerro torre headwall. Other, more contemporary winners could get a laminated little card that declares their right to power drill in yosemite, sanctioned by the king of the valley (sloan himself), along with one's organ donor status and an emergency retrobolting bolt fund phone number.

Milan Damjanacwrote:

perhaps sloan can put some of the funds he keeps soliciting and misappropriating towards starting a golden bolt™ award that can be prestigiously awarded to the bravest retrobolters defacing the world's classics each year. I would tentatively suggest that, in the spirit of retro-activity, we give cesare maestri the inaugural golden bolt™ for his heroic and visionary grid-bolting of the cerro torre headwall. Other, more contemporary winners could get a laminated little card that declares their right to power drill in yosemite, sanctioned by the king of the valley (sloan himself), along with one's organ donor status and an emergency retrobolting bolt fund phone number.

More like shit knuckle brown bolt award. 

You know how certain idiots believe that, like, the 2nd amendment is, like, God's spoken law...well, I think a lot of climbers also suffer from a similar derangement surrounding the supposed "authority" of a FA's:  "god says that the first swinging dick to bolt the rock has dominion for eternity!"    It's all just a construct, and frankly, I think a more logical construct is one where the community owns the rocks and the community can do whatever the eff they want to the rocks with absolutely zero concern for whoever the eff happened to climb the route first.  Suffice to say, this conversation around adding bolts to snake dike does not need to consult with the FAs, they have zero authority; the current climbing community is the authority.  

The current climbing community has spoken. Right here. Today. Apparently the new bolts will be removed. 

Eric Craigwrote:

The current climbing community has spoken. Right here. Today. Apparently the new bolts will be removed. 

hahaha, fair enough.  

Dan Booklesswrote:

You know how certain idiots believe that, like, the 2nd amendment is, like, God's spoken law...well, I think a lot of climbers also suffer from a similar derangement surrounding the supposed "authority" of a FA's:  "god says that the first swinging dick to bolt the rock has dominion for eternity!"    It's all just a construct, and frankly, I think a more logical construct is one where the community owns the rocks and the community can do whatever the eff they want to the rocks with absolutely zero concern for whoever the eff happened to climb the route first.  Suffice to say, this conversation around adding bolts to snake dike does not need to consult with the FAs, they have zero authority; the current climbing community is the authority.  

Sounds like democracy! People hate that these days!

Anyone with a harbor freight hammer drill can denigrate a revered route into riskless oblivion.

Leave the bold leads to the bold. 

Dan Booklesswrote:

... I think a more logical construct is one where the community owns the rocks and the community can do whatever the eff they want to the rocks ...  

T Taylor wrote: Sounds like democracy! People hate that these days!

The trouble with this approach is that the "climbing community" has 5x more sport climbers than trad climbers. As such, maybe the "community" some day will decide to bolt Supercrack in Indian Creek.

Patrikwrote:

The trouble with this approach is that the "climbing community" has 5x more sport climbers than trad climbers. As such, maybe the "community" some day will decide to bolt Supercrack in Indian Creek.

I don’t think it’s sport climbers that want this. It’s lcd climbers that want this. 

L Kapwrote:

I personally think it's dumb to refuse to use available life-saving equipment just for the personal satisfaction of conquering death fall potential. And I equally think it's dumb to insist other people can't install basic life-saving equipment because that would be stealing the thrill of bravery from other climbers with a greater risk tolerance. But those folks can think I'm the dumb one. That's fine. To each their own.
 

So…it’s just dumb to pursue mentally challenging ascents? That seems to be the logical endpoint to what you’re saying. I’d rather take more of a big tent approach. Regardless of what happens with Snake Dike I see no reason why we can’t have both types of routes. 

Dan Booklesswrote:

You know how certain idiots believe that, like, the 2nd amendment is, like, God's spoken law...well, I think a lot of climbers also suffer from a similar derangement surrounding the supposed "authority" of a FA's:  "god says that the first swinging dick to bolt the rock has dominion for eternity!"    It's all just a construct, and frankly, I think a more logical construct is one where the community owns the rocks and the community can do whatever the eff they want to the rocks with absolutely zero concern for whoever the eff happened to climb the route first.  Suffice to say, this conversation around adding bolts to snake dike does not need to consult with the FAs, they have zero authority; the current climbing community is the authority.  

Anyone who thinks that any such “community” can reach agreement on an issue like this is delusional  

One of the smart reasons for the first ascentionist ethic is exactly because the community will never agree (who wants bolts every three feet - do they get their way or does the person who wants them every 20 feet?).

L Kapwrote:

Anybody can free solo or run out any climb they wish. Alex Honnold's experience of facing death exposure and staying calm is not stolen by other people using bolts and gear. Coincidentally (or not), Alex rehearses his routes extensively with gear before he solos them. Is that poor form? Is he cheating himself?

I'm glad that those of us who don't want to solo don't have to. Use the bolts or not, it's your choice. I'd rather be talking about style than talking about people falling and dying. Yeah, Snake Dike isn't known for lot of accidents, but like all popular climbs, it is getting slicker every year as we climbers erode the rock we love.

Choosing to run it out vs. mandatory run outs are two very different things. Climbing is like anything else in life; the more you put in, the more you get out. That goes for mental as well as physical. Adding SIX bolts to ONE pitch of this route takes nearly all of the mental challenge out of it. 

Brad Youngwrote:

Anyone who thinks that any such “community” can reach agreement on an issue like this is delusional  

One of the smart reasons for the first ascentionist ethic is exactly because the community will never agree (who wants bolts every three feet - do they get their way or does the person who wants them every 20 feet?).

Okay, The First Ascentionist can have supreme authority, ONLY, if they continue to take responsibility for the hardware and personally replace corroded bolts.    

How many yards of gravel would half dome make?

Patrikwrote:

The trouble with this approach is that the "climbing community" has 5x more sport climbers than trad climbers. As such, maybe the "community" some day will decide to bolt Supercrack in Indian Creek.

The fix to the tyranny of the majority is…..The electoral college!

Dan Booklesswrote:

a more logical construct is one where the community owns the rocks and the community can do whatever the eff they want to the rocks with absolutely zero concern for whoever the eff happened to climb the route first... the current climbing community is the authority.  

This is a glimpse of a horrific dystopian future - the likes of which, when carried through to it's natural conclusion, has been written about by countless SciFi authors like Huxley, Rand, Orwell, even Suzanne Collins for the Classically Illiterate Gen Z's out there. I read this and threw up in my mouth a little: Collectivism... blech!

While there are many things I love about the "current climbing community", ceding all authority in these matters to it would be tragic. Long live the creatives, the colorful, the misfits, and the rebels; fuck you whomever is retrobolting Snake Dike; and may the bolts be swiftly chopped and name never redacted.

Josh Janeswrote:

This is a glimpse of a horrific dystopian future - the likes of which, when carried through to it's natural conclusion, has been written about by countless SciFi authors like Huxley, Rand, Orwell, even Suzanne Collins for the Classically Illiterate Gen Z's out there. I read this and threw up in my mouth a little: Collectivism... blech!

While there are many things I love about the "current climbing community", ceding all authority in these matters to it would be tragic. Long live the creatives, the colorful, the misfits, and the rebels; fuck you whomever is retrobolting Snake Dike; and may the bolts be swiftly chopped and name never redacted.

But wait, isn't the argument that community ownership is what's preventing the bolting? Aren't people that want the bolts chopped arguing that the FA's authority fades with time and the community owns the climb, thus in the face of the last FA asking for more bolts the community refuses? How can people not see the that they are two sides of the one coin?

I can't keep clear whose logic is calling for what any longer at this point. The silliness is starting to show through. I think it's time to step back and breathe, touch grass, breathe, admire trees, breathe, breathe more slowly, sit still until wildlife walks by you, breathe some more. It's going to be okay.

One thing is for sure, the childish temper tantrums will cause the adults to step in and regulate the children because they cannot self-regulate. The angrier we get the more likely it is that we lose privileges we didn't even know we had.