you new england climbers have been letting him terrorize you for far too long. break his fucking fingers, all of them. disable him. put him to bed.

So far the majority of this thread is filled with a lot clueless posturing from a bunch of folks that don't know Ken, don't know the region, or the history and genesis of the NE bolt wars.

The local ethics in CT were and are no bolting whether you happen to like it or not.

P.S. Anyone wanting to bodily scrap with Ken better be a burly m.f. as completely immune to pain as he is...

healyj... do you know Ken, the region, or the history and genesis of the NE bolt wars? I'm not trying to be a wiseass, just want to hear the whole story. I've been climbing in MA for a while and have heard countless stories of Ken's exploits, including at crags where I climb. It would be great to hear or read the real story of someone who is so (in)famous in the area.

Also, once again not trying to be a wiseass, but does a single "local ethic" work for all of CT? Thats a pretty big locale. Is this an ethic that was imposed by Ken? Did it come about as a result of his chopping? If someone discovers a new crag (maybe unlikely) that they decide to develop as a sport crag, doesn't that person get to define the local ethic?

Kevin

i beleive if he were to appear at rifle with the intent to chop bolts, there would be no shortage of "burly m.f.'s" ready and willing to protect their home turf.

Ken sounds like a loose canon and an asshole. I like these apoligists who have come on the site to support their buddy Ken. I really cannot see the point of chopping bolts if there is nowhere to put pro.

Some idiot suggested that there there may be a reason Saint Ken chopped all of the bolts. So f---ing what if he had a reason, having a reason for doing somethign does not make it justifiable. If Ken is such an honorable man, he should operate at daylight instead of chopping bolts under the veil of darkness when no one is around. One of you Northereasters out there otta kick his ass.

Don't bolt in CT and you'll have no problem with Ken.

So far the majority of this thread is filled with a lot clueless posturing from a bunch of folks that don't know Ken, don't know the region, or the history and genesis of the NE bolt wars.

Ken is a difficult personality no doubt; but he doesn't do anything without some rationale and he wouldn't be revisiting Mormon unless someone did something in CT to really piss him off. Before you do anything I would suggest you attempt to find out what it was that set him off if it was in fact Ken. Because if you don't address the reason he has been set off again you will simply descend into a spiral that is more his homeland than yours.

The local ethics in CT were and are no bolting whether you happen to like it or not. And if the reason for all this is that someone has resumed bolting in CT this is where all you bolting advocates who love to chant "local ethics" should be standing shoulder-to-shoulder on the side of no bolting unless your position is actually just a convenient hypocrisy.

Ken is a sociopath , who may be able to justify his actions in his own mind but is nothing more than a small time punk who never amounted to anything as a climber; and whose legacy will be defined by the collective sigh of relief breathed by the climbing comunity upon the news of his passing.

As a main participant in the "bolting wars" of the 1980's I find most of the quoted post and this thread historically incorrect and off the mark. While the common articulation of "ethics"(sic.) in the NE is often "no blots" the fact of the matter is that even in the 60s and 70s local elite climbers from the Gunks to North Conway did place bolts where they saw fit, fixed gear, chipped holds, chopped down trees, scarred cracks beyond recognition with repeated piton placements, left tons of trash at the crag, built trails in remote areas, made a lot of noise etc, etc, etc and really held no consistent "ethical" beliefs about the environment and climbing. Of course none of them would fess up to this, but the history which I mention is written in the crags of the region, (and the entire country for that matter). Take note every time you finger lock in an old pin scar, pass a rusting 1/4" bolt or see the old stumps at the base of classic climbs.

Let there be no mistake about it placing and chopping bolts in the north east never has, nor does it now, have to do with anything definable as "ethics", its exclusively about egos and who gets to have the final word about how climbing will be done in the area.

This is a mojor reason I left that climbing back water in 1991 to move to Salt Lake City, a place were all forms of climbing manage to co-exist quite nicely thank you very much.

From personal contact with the man years ago I feel completely justified in stating the opinion that unless he's had thearpy and medication Ken is a sociopath , who may be able to justify his actions in his own mind but is nothing more than a small time punk who never amounted to anything as a climber; and whose legacy will be defined by the collective sigh of relief breathed by the climbing comunity upon the news of his passing.

Healyje:
Assuming it was Ken:
Your arguement doesn't make any sense. The basic assumption is Nichol's put up some hard routes in Connecticut, therefore he gets immunity when he chops in Mass. That's plain stupid. Your justifacation is that something must have been done in Ct to piss him off. That is also plain stupid. Who cares what pisses a maniac off? If I'm mad at my neighbor I can't cut a hole in your house. The act is unjustafiable and you only make yourself look bad by coming to his defence.