New anchors added to Book of Revelations?

ps. I'll say in advance that constant bickering over a few added bolts is silly. The day I added this anchor I ran into a friend and told him what I had just done. 'Nice! I just added a bolted anchor on top of Golden Needles at Pat and Jack' he said.

^^^ they probably are all stamped with ASCA too.

Just to make sure everyone knows the exact current relationship between the ASCA and Erik: Erik receives NO SUPPORT at all from the ASCA.

Erik has done a tremendous amount of rebolting work and was one of the founders of the ASCA.

However, his vision of bolt replacement on Yosemite wall routes differs so substantially from that of the community that the ASCA has completely withdrawn support for his work. Last fall, he gave Chris everything he had left and then I picked that up from Chris. No ASCA money goes to any supplies for Erik.

I hope that Erik finally listens and stops replacing every rivet with a big fat bolt, but on the other hand maybe he has already adjusted his methods - has anyone been up Ten Days After before and after his work who can let us know details? Has anyone sat down and discussed the particular replacement job he did on that route? In my opinion, it's premature to pronounce Ten Days After a "victim" without having that information.

In any case, I just wanted everyone to know that their donations are not going to support Erik's idea of bolt replacement on walls. I hope that Erik changes his methods so that the community can once again fully support his extensive rebooting efforts.

A primer on bolt removal would be helpful.

Take this off the internet

just use internet for selfies...

If we don't talk about aid ladders being Nanooked today, we will be talking about popular free climbs being Nanooked tomorrow.

I added that belay. It's for practice aid climbing. If you remove the bolts, I will add them back.

Drive up the paved road. Buy some food at the store. Load up on water. Get a coffee, drive some more, dodge the tourists. gear up with high tech climbing equipment, Listen to a car alarm, complain that a bolt has ruined your 'wilderness' experience....

I have no idea who Sloan is, but I imagine him with his lips wrapped around a giant co-ck !!!!!!!!!!!!

Why does this seem like a giant and hugely successful troll?

Along the lines of 'do you believe everything you hear, with no evidence?'

And to those YMS so called guides who condone this bullsh!t, you are insane .....

and you're definitely ready to climb Half Dome or Washington Column

If you're interested in climbing El Cap, check out these practice aid pitches!

Erik, ... anchors are replaced at the END of the pitch not in the middle of a pitch.

The only difference I can see is that doing Serenity as an all-out aid climb is a more daunting proposition

Also to be clear: this book came about because people are disappointed with the progress that Don Reid, Clint Cummins, Ed Hartouni, and Eric Gabel have made on their book to date. I run into people everyday who say 'oh yeah, they've been working on that for what, 10 years'. I making this Select book because climbers here, after seeing my bigwall book, asked me to put out a decent select book. Eric, Clint, and Ed(Don at least is a cogent fella)'s suggestion that this book is going to compete with theirs is ridiculous. There has always been a Select book, they've made it clear that they are not making a Select book. The current Select book was outdated when it was printed in 2003. So it's time for the good Yosemite Climbing beta!

I'm happy that my actions have lit the fire under Eric, Ed, Clint, and Don's butts. It's About Time! I'm excited to see their book as well. And as I"ve said to them all from the beginning, my goal is to work with them to get the best info possible out there.

Progress? Today, ten years from the start of it all, there are a lot of people who
don't care where they put bolts, whether on new routes or on classic ones. People
are drilling more and more and climbing less and less.

"Impossible": it doesn't exist anymore. The dragon is dead, poisoned, and the hero
Siegfried is unemployed. Now anyone can work on a rock face, using tools to bend
it to his own idea of possibility.

Some people foresaw this a while ago, but they went on drilling, both on
direttissimas and on other climbs, until they lost the taste for climbing: why
dare, why gamble, when you can proceed in perfect safety? And so they become the
prophets of the direttissima: "Don't waste your time on classic routes - learn to
drill, learn to use your equipment. Be cunning: If you want to be successful, use
every means you can get round the mountain. The era of direttissima has barely
begun: every peak awaits its plumbline route. There's no rush, for a mountain
can't run away - nor can it defend itself."

—Some bitter old coot who probably doesn't even climb any more,
and whose views are surely irrelevant to contemporary Yosemite climbing

Drive up the paved road. Buy some food at the store. Load up on water. Get a coffee, drive some more, dodge the tourists. gear up with high tech climbing equipment, Listen to a car alarm, complain that a bolt has ruined your 'wilderness' experience....

I making this Select book because climbers here, after seeing my bigwall book, asked me to put out a decent select book.

Maybe this some sorta Zionist plot ...

Personally, I will NEVER, EVER buy a guidebook or product associated with Erik Sloan.

It's not just the old guard that is into it, though, the newer climbers like ...the YOSAR crew

You don't know the half, Big Mike! I heard he pink pointed the aid climb and claimed it as an onsight!

That would be a start to get him kicked out of the park.

As usual, we have a very divided set here in the online climbing forum community. Surprise, surprise.

You don't know the half, Big Mike! I heard he pink pointed the aid climb and claimed it as an onsight!

When my book comes out I know you will see many pitches with mid-pitch belays - people skip them if they want, or use them if they want, no harm, no foul.

YA BUD LETS SEE YOU LEAD FOTE HOG AND TIE A BOWLINE IF YOU GOTS SO MANY OPINIONZ

moosedrool and Sceagoat, working on an Eric Sloan approach trail comfortizing project

But, to return to the issue at hand . . . . .

Can you add a few bolts to the left of the mid-pitch anchors for the mariachi band?

kick sloans ass

I added that belay. It's for practice aid climbing. If you remove the bolts, I will add them back.

Now I'm back at my bivy putting doll clothes on these marmots I shot and stuffed last spring. Hoping to sell these gems roadside to fund my Yosemite Select guidebook, woot! I've got this one, it's dressed like a ski bum with goggles in its hea - hea - hea....

Nov 7, 2015 - 07:32am PT
It's not just the old guard that is into it, though, the newer climbers like ...the YOSAR crew

EriK

I'm sorry but you just can't say this.

The YOSAR crew consists of so many people including the Valley District Ranger, and all Yosemite Nat. Park LEO.

YOSAR is a branch of NPS Law enforcement protection division.

And "THEY" all all agree with you?

"If you're going to be crazy, you have to get paid for it or else you're going to be locked up."
-Hunter S. Thompson

One last thing, Eric straight out REFUSED to talk sh!t about Nanook at facelift.

everyone I've talked to is super psyched about the mid-pitch anchor, mariachi band and generally festive vibe. No, the problems started when Ernesto took a factor 2 fall onto the band while tending the sopapilla fryer I hauled up there

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First Ascents are a coveted climbing prize for many experienced climbers. The feeling of setting off into the vertical unknown, on relying on your and your partner’s wits and expertise to unlock the mysteries of the rock puzzle in front of you, are incomparable to the everyday, follow-the-line-in-the-guidebook experience. First Ascents happen all year long in Yosemite. There is always something new being discovered, or a route that was previously paid-climbed is being free-climbed for the first time, a la The Dawn Wall on El Cap. Here are some basic First Ascent ethics, as well as some rules about First Ascents in Yosemite.


General First Ascent Ethics



Make Sure Your Proposed Line Looks Good: When you are new to First Ascents, looks might be deceiving, so talk to your partners to make sure your proposed line is worthy.
Do Your Homework: Research your line to ensure it hasn’t been climbed before. Many old routes were not reported, or the old guidebooks were so opaque that certain climbs languish in obscurity.
Don’t Fight Over It: If the route has been attempted before, but has not actively been attempted, say in the last few months, contact the party who is attempting the route before climbing on it. Work Together! Nothing brings unnecessary friction in the climbing community as people who feel like they own a section of a mountain, because they have been attempting a route on it for some time. If you can’t climb a route in a reasonable amount of time for that type of route, say a few months, then accept that others might be interested in trying it out – or buy the land that the climb sits on so that you control every aspect of your climb.
Make Your Climb For The Community: Put fixed protection and anchors in the best places for all climbers – if you’re 6’ 2” tall, imagine someone 5’ 7” climbing your route, and bolt it accordingly. Think of how much fun others are going to have on your route.
Place Fixed Anchors That Will Last: Rusted, tiny bolts and rat’s nests of webbing at belays is out. Appropriate-sized bolts, with rappel links at belays, designed to last a minimum of 50-75 years is the new standard. Place fewer, better anchors!
Share It: Report your new route to the current guidebook authors or post about it on a climbing forum. Many climbing areas are on public lands, so the public deserves to know what you have installed/climbed on their land

Yosemite First Ascent Rules

Climb Clean: Complete your climb with minimal alteration of the natural environment as possible. In Yosemite, it is illegal to alter the landscape in any way. In rock climbing, this is usually interpreted to mean that first ascentionists do a minimal amount of cleaning on new climbs, as it is often next to impossible to do no cleaning at all.
Leave The Best Anchors: If leaving fixed anchors, only use the highest quality stainless steel hardware. Yosemite’s landscape is priceless, and we need to treat its climbs the same way. The days of going to a hardware store and buying whatever the cheapest bolts were, of saying, “they’re good enough,” is over. Strive to equip your route with anchors that are designed to last 50-75 years.
Minimize Fixed Rope Use: Don’t leave fixed ropes on your climb unless you are actively working on it. Fixed ropes are considered abandoned property in Yosemite, and can be removed by the Park Service after 24 hours of inactivity. So if you leave a rope fixed for any reason, leave a note with it stating the date when you intend to return.
Share Your Joy: There are tens of thousands of climbs in Yosemite, so make sure to share information about your new climb so that others can enjoy it, too. Yosemite has too many cliffs full of climbs that no one knows about.

4. Make Your Climb For The Community: Put fixed protection and anchors in the best places for all climbers – if you’re 6’ 2” tall, imagine someone 5’ 7” climbing your route, and bolt it accordingly. Think of how much fun others are going to have on your route.

Climb Clean: Complete your climb with minimal alteration of the natural environment as possible. In Yosemite, it is illegal to alter the landscape in any way. In rock climbing, this is usually interpreted to mean that first ascentionists do a minimal amount of cleaning on new climbs, as it is often next to impossible to do no cleaning at all.

"Hi, Gang! It's the pillar of the community in my head, Erik Sloan!

Phew, I've been super busy posting to other forums, but wanted to check in with the geriatric demographic here.

Funny story: A few mornings ago, I had to take a massive steamer so I stop by the Starbucks in Oakdale and order a quadruple capp and pumpkin spice scone. I ask the chick at the counter if they have a public restroom and she points to the back, so in I go with my brew and scone. I'm halfway into my sh#t and 3/4s done with my capp when this terrible rumbling in my gut makes me shove the scone into the sanitary napkin dispenser and hang onto the toilet for dear life. Did I mention I ate two bags of freeze-dried chili mac the night before? Anyway, I made a big mess of the toilet and figured it was time to wipe and go, so I reach for the toilet paper and wouldn't you know it, it's my girlfriend's brand of tp (the kind that leaves lint pom-poms in your a*#). Guess what else? They replaced the hand towel dispenser with a Dyson hand dryer! Long story short, I had no choice but to wipe my ass with my hand and smear feces onto the wall above the toilet. And yeah, I took a bit of artistic license, who wouldn't, woot!

Anyway, I close the door behind me and who should be standing right in front of me but Eric Gabel. I ask him about the super secret topos he's been bogarting and he just mutters something about needing to take a piss and pushes past me.

So I'm back at BOR adding mid-pitch anchors for aid practice, and all these YMS guides are telling me about how they saw Eric at the Starbucks in Oakdale this morning, super upset and raving about how someone smeared a swastika in sh#t on the restroom wall. They were all like, "Eric, please control yourself, you're scaring us with your erratic behavior." Later they were laughing about it, saying, "Yeah, you better not paint any swastikas with your feces when Eric's around, sheesh."

Community, these are public restrooms. If you can manage to take a sh#t in one without turning it into the Sistine Chapel, then I say go for it. Otherwise, don't alter someone else's vision by mopping the wall with Simple Green. I've spoken telepathically to dozens of Valley locals in the last few hours who say they love the improvements to the Oakdale Starbucks restroom.

Until Starbucks comes to their senses and rightfully reinstalls the hand towel dispenser, I say this: If you erase my sh#t swastika, I will paint a new one.

Woot woot!

Erik Sloan"

Critter cams attached to Claymores.

Ed Hartouni - Yes, I have added bolts to many climbs in Yosemite, mostly while replacing bolts on my own time, and dime. Your suggestion that I haven't 'fessed up' to it is comical. I published all the bigwall topos for free on my site before printing them in a book. I published the Sentinel Creek topo on this site and others.

The way that we as a climbing community intrude into this unlimited world of license beyond posting here is to talk with Erik directly about his activities. Those of us who went through the clean climbing revolution remember plenty of piton happy idiots that required collective work to change. That at times very heated conflict dramatically slowed down the degradation of our shared environment preserving much of the character of the vertical world we all enjoy and hope to pass along in as pristine a condition as possible.

before it becomes a law enforcement issue

It's not a law enforcement issue.