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Slabby D
Trad climber
B'ham WA
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Aggressively landscaping landings, particularly in a national park, is probably a bad idea but going to the Park Service about it after it happens is even worse.
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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inside out and this is what to expect. Landscape, clear, make safer or the work that Dano did in the cave in Tahoe? We as climbers are and were never pure. what gets done now is just chasing the end result. Safer Sanitized indoor style climbing on outdoor rock.
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RtM
climber
DHS
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Is this still a rock climbing site?
Moving a massive boulder in a National Park, laying beneath one of the most iconic rock climbs on the planet, is absolutely unacceptable!
White Rastafarian was FA'd approximately 40 years ago by Stonemaster John Long, it has since seen ten of thousands of ascents, possibly hundreds of thousands.
This goes well beyond just moving "A" rock. It exposes a serious emerging flaw within the new rock climbing demograph - a complete lack of knowledge or awareness of ethics and climbing etiquette. People are being introduced to climbing in climbing gyms, in drogues, without any mentors or experienced climbers to teach them ethics or appropriate behavior at the crags.
The only recourse we climbers have to protect our climbs and also our freedoms is to weed out these poseurs and to expose them and their ignorant actions for all the world to see. The oldschool method of turning the other cheek, or expecting the climbing community to handle it "inhouse" is a complete copout!
If this incident was left to just the climbing community, the boulder most likely would have been moved back, the perps and every other wannabe climber would go on believing that what they did was acceptable. Furthermore, NPS would have found out about it anyways and would view it as an irresponsible action by the climbing community, and a complete fail on our part!
By contacting the Park Service and expressing our disapproval as well as offering our aid in the matter including possible solutions, we not only prove ourselves to be responsible participants, but we also engender their trust.
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bhilden
Trad climber
Mountain View, CA/Boulder, CO
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This is just a simple case of those lazy boulderers reaching the point of being so lazy that they didn't want to carry crash pads out to the climb:-)
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Baggins
Boulder climber
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But where to you draw the line? People trundle smaller rocks constantly. The natural line to draw is "can you move it by hand?"
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rincon
Trad climber
Coarsegold
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Climbers have been moving boulders and cutting trees as long as I've been climbing...but I've only been climbing for 25 years, so I guess I'm part of the new generation of climbers. I'm not condoning anything btw. Personally, I think they should ban bouldering pads from National Parks. I have seen the bases of boulders transformed from lush wildflower and cacti gardens into barren landscape from pads crushing plants.
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The Larry
climber
Moab, UT
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Finally. Now I might give 'er a go.
Edit: Now white guys with dreadlocks? That I find offensive.
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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"Route developers" many times don't feel like they have "developed" anything if they don't do some cleaning. Now don't get me wrong, this has led to a lot of really great routes that would never have gotten climbed otherwise, but a lot of time people take that philosophy to other places where it is not welcome.
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The Larry
climber
Moab, UT
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Yeah. I like laughing at people different than me too.
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Don Paul
Big Wall climber
Aurora Colorado
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^ Me too, when I see one of those crashpad climber expeditions on a popular hiking trail, I feel seriously out of touch.
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Roots
Mountain climber
Tustin, CA
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Now white guys with dreadlocks? That I find offensive.
Larry I assume you are just being facetious...but I must say anyone with Dreads are ok to me as long as they "dread". False Rasta no good.
Moving boulders is tough topic. I will admit to moving small cheat stones at the base of problems but never in a national park. This boulder seems a little big to be moving around and more importantly it was an iconic part of the climb.
[shrug] I never tried it due to the potential danger. -that and I can't climb that hard anyways.
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RtM
climber
DHS
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ok maybe I was slightly livid in my first post *mental note - never post before morning coffee*
But it is a really big boulder, like 3 or 4 feet diameter, and it was imbedded in the ground pretty deep. It had to take considerable effort, probably digging with a shovel.
All this in an area that is monitored for impact by the Park Service!
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dave729
Trad climber
Western America
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Getting bent about this is a mistake.
Once upon a time White Rastafarian Boulder was naturally face down on that little 'moved boulder'.
One night it mysteriously rolled upright and created the classic Rasta.
JT climbers never could have accomplished such an engineering task though.
Theoretically Yosemite climbers may have the knowledge base to do it.
That plus several bottles of wine and a rather long telephone pole borrowed from a construction site.
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JLP
Social climber
The internet
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In other news, someone took a piss on a nearby Yucca.
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zip
Trad climber
pacific beach, ca
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hmmm, interesting thought provoking thread.
Personally, I wouldn't get the government involved, or post anything on the Internet about the boulder being moved.
Remember when the government moved Intersection Rock on the other side of the road? That was a serious buzz kill for me. I always enjoyed the times I had belaying my second, and gazing out in to the wilderness. Now I look at a road, and Knuckleheads stopping to take pictures of me.
It wouldn't surprise me if they fenced this boulder off, or moved it too.
Nope, I would have left The Man out of it, but that's just my opinion.
I have always wanted to climb this boulder, and at one time had the ability, but just lacked the courage.
Now that the boulder beneath it has been moved, it doesn't make it anymore appealing to me.
I have spent the last 3 years in and out of the hospitals more times then I can count, and can not get hurt anymore. I only need 4.5 years to retire from my company, and would like that to happen relatively injury free.
If I ever decide to try this problem, I will do this with a top rope.
Bad style? So what. I'm not damaging the stone, and am not endangering anyone's safety.
Next,,,,
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MisterE
Gym climber
Bishop, CA
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SlabbyD nailed it with the first response.
Aggressively landscaping landings, particularly in a national park, is probably a bad idea but going to the Park Service about it after it happens is even worse.
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Fogarty
climber
BITD
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Great problem, never to be the same, if pads are not enough. Who ever did this please quit climbing or kill yourselves!
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Roughster
Sport climber
Vacaville, CA
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By contacting the Park Service and expressing our disapproval as well as offering our aid in the matter including possible solutions, we not only prove ourselves to be responsible participants, but we also engender their trust.
I love the smell of naïvety on a Friday...
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