Goulara: A Bolting Controversy

I am an Ojai local as well as a route developer here at Wheeler. Sean's my homie and Jon is a good friend of mine. Sam I just met but he seems like a nice dude. I'm not going to get drawn into any debate regarding the route, but there are a couple things I want to say.

Boys, you picked the worst damn rock in the whole friggin county to mess around with. A lot of work (by Matthew and also Jon) went into making sure people are careful and considerate, especially in that exact location. In light of that, showing up and bolting the thing without bouncing the issue off other locals was not respectful. That's the way I see it at least.

Secondly, those of you dissing Matthew are out of line. His contributions to local climbing are top shelf.
In regards to the new route name; it's funny. But the route could also be called 'Half-Cocked with a Bosch'. Has a good ring to it.

Anyway, there's no bad blood as far as I'm concerned. This whole mess will work itself out one way or another. Life will continue, the sun will rise, and the road to Pine will open.

See you on the steep,

AB

Sorry everyone: I couldn't figure out how to migrate all the images over. I need help from the higher-ups. Mike Morley? Someone else? I believe these images are material to the discussion.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying the repartee.

As mentioned earlier by Matthew, I recently dredged up an old online issue of MOTHER ROCK, a sweet mid-nineties web-zine. Check it out! I think those intending to develop in the Ojai area should duly peruse this arcane publication. Sweet stuff. Again, here's the link:

scribd.com/doc/42782484/mOt…

Like many other SB and Ventura County climbers, I've climbed Goulara and wondered at the cobbled face to the right. Sean and Sam went after what I—and many others—probably hoped would someday be a route. As it turns out, it WAS a route (again, see the link to MotherRock). Yes, the clipping is weird, but if the FA crew claimed it as a route and equipped it accordingly—even if it was done in a weird way—we have to respect that. I honestly didn't know it was a route, and I've learned a lot about the area through this discussion. If anyone want to contact the FA crew, I believe Mike Gould still lives in the area. Maybe he WANTS people to add bolts to his line—I've no idea. Why not ask him?

Alex, I agree with you: this is a sensitive crag. I had no idea how sensitive till this thread came roaring down the internet.

Andy, I believe the route they are talking about is the same as listed in the Steve Edwards guide. Namely, climbing Goulara but keeping straight over the bolts and not touching the arete. Sean's line takes a plumb line from under the anchors and is farther right than that. Am I mistaken?

Alex...so Sean's a homie and I'm just a "friend" huh? Also, how dare you tarnish Matthews good name by listing it so close to mine, in parentheses no less. You better watch your back buddy, next time I see you at Wheelers I'm going to drink..every...last...one..of your delicious ice teas. Watch yourself. (See you at Wheelers on Wednesday...unless it rains tomorrow) Friend.

Alright, I'll play, since I'm sure I have some info that none of y'all know. I should probably go look at my book, which I'll have to find, and drink another cup of coffee to remember but I'll get there. On Reese's MR article, well, there's a reason there is a boulder problem called "Reese Did It In His Sleep", named by Wills, because Reese would often report things that, um, were sort of like his visions for how things should have been. Awesome guy. We all loved him. But when you'd hear about "a great new area" or route he'd developed you'd often find nothing but a few scattered bolts and some cleaning. He wrote his MR Pine Mtn guide, with heaps of new problems, while he was injured. Wills and I were super thankful for his cleaning of new routes he couldn't climb but he also chalked all the holds he thought you'd use, which we found particularly funny when you didn't use any of them, hence the name.

I named and graded Goulara because those two guys disappeared while I was working on the guide, along with Mark Robinson's gas-powered Ryobi. The rest of the story in a bit...

Like Guy said, why is this in NorCal? I haven't stopped my car at Wheeler for anything other than to take a piss en-route to Pine Mtn. since probably 1997. But this is a no-brainer. The new bolts are wank. Sean, you're smart enough to know that and I'm guessing you realized it by the time you were putting in your 4th bolt.

The fact that this wasn’t bolted 20 years ago by Steve Edwards, the master of bad rock, squeeze-jobs, and bolted variations, should tell you something: there’s not enough room on that wall for another proper route.

And let me tell you something Fienup and Hartman, I can say what I please to Steve. And about him. You can’t. And if that sticks going down then there are plenty of climbers out there who wouldn’t mind being chief and could swallow it clean.

• ****A six-pack of "beer of your choice" goes to the person who can deliver the next line in the above italics quote. Edwards is immediately disqualified from contention, but can give the answer in a week if anyone else fails to do so.*****

Rad. Okay, I won't answer.

The history/route in question is pretty clear in my book, though I'd totally forgotten about Doniel climbing the variation of Monstrosity and Reese's line after it fell off. I wonder how that's holding up? That entire face was dicey. The original story was that Reese told me he developed that wall at it was done, which was pretty weird considering how much I climbed back then (like I wasn't going to check it out the next day!) When I got there he had, like, one bolt on the face. He said he'd TR'd it, and never went back to finish it, so I did.

Tony was super psyched on his project, now Goulara, but that was the last I heard from him. When I went to check it out there was that crazy ledge, a oddly high first bolt, and big arete holds that were easy to clip the bolts from, so that's how I climbed it. Then I did it staying on the face, giving it 11+. I don't like to change people's grades, and maybe it was/is 12b, but since they didn't really climb 5.12 I went with what I thought, since I never actually heard they finished it.

Of course I wanted to climb the face to its right, and I am the 1990s master of squeezing as many routes as possible out of a place with limited rock, but I didn't see it. I won't say that means the new bolts are wrong. This is a new time. The "rule" to me, at a place like Wheeler where steep rock is scare, was that if you could not climb the other line and clip its bolts it was worth an independent line. However, I may have given too much respect to the original line. I'd say if the natural line of climbing avoids Goulara's bolts so you can't clip them until the face narrows, it's okay. An option to fix this, if that is not the case, is to move Goulara's bolts closer to the arete, and lowering the 1st so it's safe, since the original line isn't really something that gets done. I think that would be the best use of rock for everyone.

Impressive, Nathanael. I'll buy you a pack, too. We'll probably have to meet at the cliff for it, since I live in Utah and will be arrested if I put such contraband in the post.

Up is down. Black is white.

If 5 seconds on google is all it takes to earn a couple six packs I'm never going to be thirsty again.

;)

Wow, Matthew! Aren't you glad Mr. Edwards spoke up? Now there is a compromise that neither one of us thought of. Sooo.. do you want to be in charge of moving Goularas bolts closer to the arete or should I?

So we climb Goulara and then use its top anchor to work out the moves, clean and then rap-bolt a new route. Then we move Goulara so as not to infringe on the new route. And fix the run out up to Goulara's first bolt while we're at it. This opens all kinds of possibilities...

Jon, when we're done with Goulara, I nominate Great Race as the next target. There's a great 5.11 up the middle of the face. These days everybody cheats out right of Great Race to grab the bomber holds on the arete anyway. We can call the 5.11 "Hartnup" or "Fiemann." We'd only have to move 3 of Great Race's bolts.

I'm already contemplating dozens of new zig zag variations all over Ojai..

Are there any of those shallow bolts left over?

Besides, Bob couldn't have been TOO mad. He didn't threaten to douse anyone with any random body fluids today.

I'll pick some up especially for you Matthew.

I just had a vivid flashback of the time that a morbidly obese man sat next to me on the airplane and then asked if he could lift the armrest and use a little of my seat. Seems relevant somehow.

Why? Are you gaining weight?....I mean, you ARE spending a lot of time on the computer Photoshoping pictures lately....

I have a degree in Photoshopping. Literally. With honors. I does't take me much time at all.