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Half Dome has fallen.

Russ B · · Yosemite · Joined Jun 2011 · Points: 46

I have received word that up to the first bolt on P2, has been removed. 

The snake should have it's fangs again, by this weekend. 

Bill Lawry · · Albuquerque, NM · Joined Apr 2006 · Points: 1,908
Tony Danza wrote:

Agree 100%. If ten people a year climbed snake dike, I’d be a lot more ok with all this. But it has more ticks here than Royal arches, so people saying the runouts are gatekeeping is hilarious. 

Ah, now, there is a form of gatekeeping going on here. :)

Many say they would not get on Snake Dike pre-Sloanification - I believe them.  And many who have been on it pre-Sloanification - and who have seen the crowds - believe that more bolts will bring more people to climb it - which I also believe.

Perhaps "we" should lean into that gatekeeping.  There are some good videos on YouTube about Snake Dike with labels like "Extremely Dangerous" and "This is Dumb".  Maybe link those on the route description itself on MP?  Or, less alarmist, just link the one by Grahm the Overstoker titled "Climbing Snake Dike 5.7 on Half Dome"?

Russ B · · Yosemite · Joined Jun 2011 · Points: 46

Sloan stopped by the mountain shop to ask "been selling a lot of snake dike topos" 

I informed him that up to P2 has been chopped, and I will be going up with some others to finish it off this weekend. I also explained that what he is doing is not OK. 

He made a snide comment along the lines of "I'll be in better shape than you after I run back up there to put them back" as he cowardly scurried out of the shop so I couldn't respond. 

Lolol. 

As I brought up before, we should not chop any more of his bolts, but cut them with bolt cutters to minimize the damage he is going to do to the route. 

apogee · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Nov 2009 · Points: 0

Aren’t they buttonheads? If so, won’t a tuning fork (and careful patching) do the job?

John Tuttle · · Just a dude, playing a dude. · Joined Mar 2020 · Points: 245
Russ B wrote:

Sloan stopped by the mountain shop to ask "been selling a lot of snake dike topos" 

I informed him that up to P2 has been chopped, and I will be going up with some others to finish it off this weekend. I also explained that what he is doing is not OK. 

He made a snide comment along the lines of "I'll be in better shape than you after I run back up there to put them back" 

Lolol. 

As I brought up before, we should not chop any more of his bolts, but cut them with bolt cutters to minimize the damage he is going to do to the route. 

Yep, it was a money making opp for Sloan from the get go.   

Which mountain shop are you at, Russ?

Russ B · · Yosemite · Joined Jun 2011 · Points: 46

I work in The Mountain Shop, the little gear shop here in Curry Village. 

Tony Danza · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Feb 2024 · Points: 5
Russ B wrote:

Sloan stopped by the mountain shop to ask "been selling a lot of snake dike topos" 

I informed him that up to P2 has been chopped, and I will be going up with some others to finish it off this weekend. I also explained that what he is doing is not OK. 

He made a snide comment along the lines of "I'll be in better shape than you after I run back up there to put them back" 

Lolol. 

As I brought up before, we should not chop any more of his bolts, but cut them with bolt cutters to minimize the damage he is going to do to the route. 

Get him on video saying shit like that. The more we can publicly condemn him, the better the chance that he’ll stop this shit. At the very least it might make someone think twice about buying anything from him.

John Tuttle · · Just a dude, playing a dude. · Joined Mar 2020 · Points: 245
Russ B wrote:

I work in The Mountain Shop, the little gear shop here in Curry Village. 

I would talk to the buyers (merchandizers) at the Mountain Shop and suggest they stop buying guides from someone who is illegally bolting in the Valley and illegally bolting to promote his guides.

I sure saw a pile of them for sale there the last time I was in.

Jared AE · · The, road · Joined Nov 2022 · Points: 733
Russ B wrote:

Sloan stopped by the mountain shop to ask "been selling a lot of snake dike topos" 

I informed him that up to P2 has been chopped, and I will be going up with some others to finish it off this weekend. I also explained that what  he is doing is not OK. 

He made a snide comment along the lines of "I'll be in better shape than you after I run back up there to put them back" 

Lolol. 

As I brought up before, we should not chop any more of his bolts, but cut them with bolt cutters to minimize the damage he is going to do to the route. 

Sigh, here we go.

Terry E · · San Francisco, CA · Joined Aug 2011 · Points: 43
Russ B wrote:

Sloan stopped by the mountain shop to ask "been selling a lot of snake dike topos" 

I informed him that up to P2 has been chopped, and I will be going up with some others to finish it off this weekend. I also explained that what he is doing is not OK. 

He made a snide comment along the lines of "I'll be in better shape than you after I run back up there to put them back" 

Lolol. 

As I brought up before, we should not chop any more of his bolts, but cut them with bolt cutters to minimize the damage he is going to do to the route. 

I think climbers need to make a concerted effort to take some videos of Sloan power drilling in Yosemite. 

Glowering · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2011 · Points: 16
Russ B wrote:

As I brought up before, we should not chop any more of his bolts, but cut them with bolt cutters to minimize the damage he is going to do to the route. 

Thanks for helping on this Russ.

I was thinking a similar thing. 

The first time they are removed do it right, pull them, patch the holes. And if he again Sloanifies the route use bolts cutters on the hangers and leave the mess there at least until it's clear he got the message and doesn't try it again. No sense it putting a lot of work into doing it right, if he's just going to do it again. Let climbers see the results of his actions. I read that not only did he use button heads, but he glued them in. Making it as difficult as possible to cleanly remove them. If true, he's a fucking asshole.

Sloan is the one starting a bolt war. If there's a mess on the route it's HIS fault. 

I'm an environmentalist (I care about the environment) with experience in resource management, environmental impacts, and environmental quality acts. A lot of people put a lot of emphasis on damage to the rock (which should be minimized) but often it's not that big a deal. A few holes, or surface damage, to the side of the route, or even chopped hangers temporarily next to a route, isn't a significant impact. The only people seeing that is climbers, and it's a visual impact. It usually doesn't cause a biological impact. Chipping holds however can be a huge impact because it's impacts a resource than many other climbers get a lot of value from. Or even Sloanifying a route can cause a significant impact because you are changing nature of the route for other climbers, to their detriment, without their input.

Bill Lawry · · Albuquerque, NM · Joined Apr 2006 · Points: 1,908

Thank you for clarifying, Glowering.  I agree.  Do it right at first.  When any more new bolts are added, use bolt cutters and leave the mess until safe to finally clean.

Put me on the list of folks interested in helping with this.  My getting there would take some planning.  Still, I think this is that important.

Allen Sanderson · · On the road to perdition · Joined Jul 2007 · Points: 1,100

If more bolts are added, regardless if higher up or re-bolting what was removed It should be documented. Then I would suggest the community start petition (charge.org?) asking all shops to no longer purchase any of Sloans books. Sell what they have as those have been purchased but no longer purchase any future copies.

Note: I have already been into one of my local shops and have made that request. I plan to visit another with the same request. As such, some in the community are already acting. 

I think at this point, enough is enough we as a community need to take a stance. Sloan is no longer part of the community.  

Gumby boy king · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2019 · Points: 547

Ken Ariza · · Sonoma, CA · Joined Jul 2015 · Points: 0

GBK, says it all without saying a word. 

T Taylor · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Dec 2022 · Points: 334
Ken Ariza wrote:

GBK, says it all without saying a word. 

He did, he clearly typed a good amount into ChatGPT lol, I bet he even asked for 5 hands on 2 people!

I would just make the hanger unusable. Just thread a bunch of old rope around the hanger and cord, this way you don’t have to keep chopping, it’s visible, it’s easy. Has a young sport climber that didn’t know any better even gone up it?

West Vanderstappen · · Wisconsin · Joined Sep 2023 · Points: 85
Gumby boy king wrote:

Can we stop with the slop

Gumby boy king · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2019 · Points: 547
West Vanderstappen wrote:

Can we stop with the slop

need agua · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Apr 2026 · Points: 0

pitch one cleaned

https://gofund.me/500292a61

owww owwwwwwww !!

Mauricio Herrera Cuadra · · North Vancouver, BC · Joined Nov 2012 · Points: 5,233
need agua wrote:

pitch one cleaned

https://gofund.me/500292a61

owww owwwwwwww !!

Did you only remove the hangers? No photos of any patch work on the holes or bolts cut? Sorry, but your account was just created back in April and you have no contribution history on MP whatsoever. I’m suspicious of you using this as an opportunity to create a Gofundme and grab people’s money. Nothing personal, just an observation in case you want to be the hero in this story, then you should be able to present better evidence of your work.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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