Kid Gloves

This thing sheds gravel/sand sized choss, double check placement rock quality. May 2, 2017

Hey, I didn't say this route was The Naked Edge. And shouldn't one always double-check gear placements, regardless of the route or its relative rock quality?

Eric Forney and I have put considerable effort into transforming Desperate Dome into the quality free climbing destination that it is today. Without Eric and me there would be only four routes at Desperate. Now there are nine, including five high-quality and well-protected 5.10's. Maybe you should act appreciative of those efforts? If you got on The Warm Up while you were at the cliff, perhaps you'd be more thankful if you knew that, if not for my efforts, right at the crux you'd have been clipping a piece of shit bolt that was broken off in its hole, probably due to overtightening when it was first placed. Yeah, I was the one who ferreted out that ticking timebomb, almost completely invisible unless you knew exactly what to look for, and replaced it as well as the top anchors with brand new stainless steel.

You know, most climbers who visit Desperate come away totally impressed with the quantity and quality of the routes, particularly for the 5.10 climber. For some particularly odd reason, however, you have taken a completely opposite approach and chosen to come on MP to bitch about what you didn't like. Is your comment adding anything to the climbing community at large? Is it necessary? I can tell you that the only way you could possibly have pulled off that much loose rock is if you got worked into a lieback and were pawing desperately at the sides of the extremely flared crack. The solution to your dilemma isn't to come on MP and bitch about the rock quality. It's to figure out how to jam the crack (by far the most efficient way to get through the crux), so that you avoid any loose rock altogether.

It's disappointing to me that climbers who otherwise have nothing to offer the climbing community find themselves adequate to criticize the efforts of climbers who actually put in work for everyone else. How many climbing days have you spent lugging around two ropes, a rack and slings, hammer, bolt kit, crowbar, wire brushes, bolts, hardware, etc. in addition to your normal climbing stuff? How many days have you spent pulling old quarter-inch bolts, hand-drilling 3/8" bolts in hard granite, wire brushing copious amounts of lichen that you're still scraping out of your ears a week later, rapping down cliffs in search of new lines, or simply fighting through the refuge's fixed anchor policy that makes earning a permit just to replace existing anchors about as difficult as gaining clearance to the U.S. nuclear missile arsenal? Been to Lichen Wall this year? If you have, I bet you didn't thrash through a 30-foot long continuous stretch of green briars growing across the trail between Leaning Tower and Lichen Wall. You know why? It's because I spent an hour and a half cutting those briars off the trail back in April. I got my legs cut up to shit doing it, too, and apparently all so that bitchy climbers like you will have even more climbs to bitch about. Jun 1, 2017

I almost took a ground fall there due to chossy rock on the traverse. I was being really careful to avoid pulling things off, but gently using holds on that balancy bit caused a chunk the size of my palm to come off, and nearly threw me off balance.

I think Desperate Reality is a really cool place to climb now with all the new routes. But I also think it's fair to warn others of rock quality. Be careful on this one. It wasn't the warm up I expected. Apr 29, 2018