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Three major climbing areas are in the climbing news right now due to access issues. The common thread between these areas is how the proverbial Man is coming down on us, imposing his late-stage tyranny on our freewheeling spirits.
The BLM is making noises about moving forward with plans that would help cement popular vote loser Donald Trump’s illegal reduction of Bear’s Ears, which has the Access Fund sounding the alarm.
The park service that manages the Grampians in Australia has effectively shut down more than half of the climbing, justifying their actions with a nefarious propaganda war that has blamed climbers for things they did not do.
And a gang of 18 climbers chopped a bunch of routes in Ten Sleep to make a stupid point. These actions ultimately, and predictably, got new route development shut down in Ten Sleep for the foreseeable future.
This is Andrew Bisharat. In this episode, Chris Kalous and I talk about some of these issues and try to parse out what it means for climbing going forward.
Before unleashing this episode, I think it’s probably wise and prudent to state my opinion about chipping—which I believe that Chris also shares—before we get slandered for being chipping apologists.
To be totally clear, we do not support chipping at all, especially the kind of chipping that Louie Anderson appears to have been doing in Ten Sleep. The photos I’ve seen of his chipped holds are totally fucked. They’re unacceptable and out of line with any normal climbing ethic anywhere else in the world that I’ve seen.
Louie’s brand of chipping is the archetype most climbers imagine when they rail against chipped holds—ugly dripped jugs in otherwise blank rock to make routes easier than they would be otherwise. But this brand of chipping is also the exception. Many climbing areas have chipped holds, but very few have chipped holds like this.
In this episode, Chris and I speak about chipping with a bit nuance that we realized later might get lost on some of our audience. To be clear, the kind of chipping that we’re referencing is the kind that actually exists on a grey, nuanced ethical spectrum and is only acceptable insofar as most climbers will happily climb these chipped routes and rave about them without even realizing that they are indeed grabbing modified holds.
The case of Louie Anderson is clear cut. He is a terrible route developer making horrible routes, and his brand of chipping shouldn’t be tolerated anywhere.
But if you find yourself taking a hardline stance on chipping, you should also realize that it’s complicated. I can almost guarantee you many of the routes that you love have chipped holds, modified holds, holds that have been glued on, or holds that have been altered or removed, either to bring routes down the developer’s level, or more commonly to make routes harder than they would’ve been otherwise.
With that said, here’s our latest episode. Thanks for all the great feedback. And we appreciate you leaving reviews of the show on iTunes or wherever.
8 responses to “RunOut #27: Climbers Vs. The Man”
I didn’t realize I’d find this discussion in the show notes, but thank you for putting it plainly and explaining the nuances. I totally agree, blatant manufacturing I.e. drilling giant jug pockets in otherwise blank rock for the sake of route creation is heresy. Part of the beauty of development is finding a line and discovering the natural path of holds that may set it free. If it’s hard, then get hard or pass it to someone who has the ability.
The new podcast is really great by the way. It has a much different feel than the Enormocast and I like hearing the opinions on pertinent topics. Thanks for all the hard work.
Interesting point about climbing being kind of unique in this discussion of manufacturing routes. It made me think of mountain biking, backpacking, and every other “trail dependent” sport that wouldn’t exist without blatant excavation, tree cutting, smoothing, etc. But just like you said with climbing routes, the magic happens when the trail fits in seamlessly with the natural contours of the environment and uses the natural features in a way that seems organic and not man-made.
The leaving of the steel is somewhat unique, too. An ATV club couldn’t install a steel bridge or something like that without hell to pay. Yet, we leave 1000s of bolts all over public lands…
i was interested in the article and wanted to listen, but your political b/s made me stop from reading any further. maybe you should rethink your writing if you want to keep more than half of your audience…..
Much less than half, we suspect. We can bear the loss. Good day to you, sir.
lol
Mr. Bisharat,
I am a 60 year old recreational climber and alpinist who really enjoys the Runout (having wandered over from the Enormocast). I did not, however, enjoy your broad characterization of Baby Boomers as individuals who lived for their day and to hell with the future (my characterization, not your exact words). I do not deny that, as a generation, we have certainly made some mistakes— and I note that boomer bashing is an increasingly popular online pastime. There are, however, many boomers who fund, or work on efforts across the nonprofit sector to improve the condition of our planet, access for climbing, and the health and welfare of our planet’s—albeit too large— population. Please consider your use of broad generalizations with regard to large numbers of people. I enjoy snark as much as the next individual, but, unfortunately, over broad generalizations with regard to large groups of people are constantly with us in today’s political climate.
Thanks to you and Mr. Kalous for an excellent podcast.
BTW, I tried to send this note via the “Contact” link because I would have preferred not to contribute to the unfortunate habit of online bashing, but I was informed repeatedly that there was an error submitting the form.
Please consider:
1. The ever-increasing numbers of climbers.
2. “Development,” where the cliff environment is altered to suit climbing requirements, is now considered the norm.
3. The pervasive social media publication of route information
4. The death of Leave No Trace.
The future of public climbing access is not looking rosy. The wholesale regulation and restriction of climbing from public lands is just getting started. It is as inevitable as climate change and for many of the same reasons; too many people, too much impact, too little done to stop it. The obvious answer is all public land climbing activity that requires modification of the environment, from trails to bolts to scaling and sculpting, will require a permit from The Man. It seems inevitable.
Thanks for the podcast, guys. Very well done.