What do you guys expect, ice climbing has become the latest
city-slicker dweeb sport. Where every young white man from
north to south, east to west wants to ice climb. I see it every
day, some fool with several thousand dollars worth of brand new
gear and its his first time climbing, Americans!

Dear Editor,

I have lived in the Telluride region for five years and have been mountaineering in one form or another for about that long. I have nothing to prove to anyone. I climb just because I love it. I mentor younger climbers as best I can in my spare time and enjoy learning from others.

After climbing the Ames Ice Hose several times this year, reviewing the antique state of the anchors, witnessing 30-foot and 50-foot ground falls with luckily just minor injuries, and seeing the rapid deterioration of the resource, the climb began to bother others and myself in the climbing community. The first anchor is made up of an old rusty piton and a rusty quarter inch bolt tied together by a rat's nest of webbing. Some climb past this anchor, while others top rope the first pitch. Plus there is no reliable protection for the first 30 feet of the alternative rock route being climbed this year because of lower ice levels; you basically have to free solo it before you can get any protection in. As a consensus among the people I climb with, we placed one bolt as a compromise, two are actually needed, to protect the 30 foot ground fall on the alternate rock route and planned to replace the first anchor as our next project. The original ice route remains untouched. Since the leaders in the climbing community were not policing themselves a new group had to step up to the plate. This was not an effort by just one person.


Feedback from local climbers I have received ranges from "I am so glad you put a bolt there, that is a death climb," to "what you did and the way you did it was highly inappropriate." The negative comments come primarily from those who have placed literally thousands of bolts themselves in the region or from the elite local guides. They make me feel that I have impinged on their territory or power structure in some way. The positive feedback comes from the regular climbers, other guides, as well as Search and Rescue instructors that often risk their own lives when someone else gets hurt.

Some of those with negative opinions have gotten a little out of hand. Folks who are supposed to be the award winning elite in our community have spammed my e-mail address which I had to change, given out my phone number, and blogged almost every major climbing magazine and Web site all about one lousy bolt placed with nothing but the best intentions. Not a single person with a negative opinion has taken the time to get to know me, to find out what route we are talking about, replace the dilapidated anchor, or just take a deep breath first. If this is how our most senior leaders and first ascenders behave, vengeful and angrily, then maybe we need new heroes.

As far as I am concerned, you can make climbing as scary as you and your family want, but safety first for the community at large. If you want to show off, then do not clip the bolt and run it out or free solo the entire route. It is hard to see how some climbers who have placed thousands of bolts in the region like a rivet gun, have anything to complain about one bolt on an alternative route. This is especially true for climbers who cannot lead the pitch or who do not even ice climb. I am sure you will be hard pressed to find a single regional route bolted by these folks with the first bolt 30 feet off the ground above demanding climbing with no logical, clean alternative.

As our weather warms or droughts continue, we are going to have to deal with more limited ice climbing conditions. Several southwest Colorado climbs are not climbable this year because of none or unprotectable ice on the first pitch. They include other classics such as The Talisman, The Ribbon and Birdbrain Boulevard. Do not shoot the messenger.

Then I get "you just have to be a better climber," from the naysayers. I am not the world's greatest climber, but I try to lead ice climb about three days a week. This year I have lead climbed the right side of Ingram Falls four times, the Ames Ice Hose four, plus Bridal Veil and Cornet a couple just to mention a few. If I am not ready who is? I have snow and waterskied for over 30 years, but I do not look down my nose at anyone who has skied less.

I have also had negative feedback from some of the original first ascent climbers to whom I meant absolutely no disrespect. I am disappointed in the first place some are more concerned about preserving their accomplishments than safety or getting the facts straight. For example, alluding that adding a bolt flies in the face of the original ethic. First, these climbers do not climb with the same gear they used 30 years ago either so what is their point. Importantly though, we are not talking about the original ice route; it remains untouched. Before you haul off and conjure up the meanest e-mail you can, get the facts straight.

Then, I hear, "you will just fall in the snow." Fine, be my guest, free solo up the first 30 feet and jump. I think this is where the term "social Darwinism" came from. One of my climbing partners was injured by a crampon when saving one of the parties who fell 30 feet. Remember, you are ground falling loaded with sharp ice screws, ice axes and crampons, plus there is a rock ledge to avoid on your way down and a log at the bottom under low snow conditions. And finally I get, "it has been climbed the same way for 30 years." Actually the alternative rock route is not the same. The bomber flake the first ascenders were able to grab has come off and the only seam to place a small aid nut is now almost busted out. The rock resource is deteriorating quickly from all the crampon traffic and must be preserved for future generations.

Most dedicated climbers have read "Into Thin Air" or "Touching the Void," but not too many have read "Where the Mountain Casts Its Shadow." The latter book tells the story of the wives that have lost their husbands on Everest and the personality profiles of those climbers. For me, I am not trying to make history every time I climb, get my picture in a guidebook, or be apart of an elite clique. I just want to get outside and come home to my family.

I am not telling anyone how he or she should think. Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion. That is fine. But, if you do not have anything good to say, keep it to yourself, especially if you are a leader in the community and when you do not know the other person involved or the complete circumstances. I wrote this to enable those concerned about safety to be able to voice their opinion and not be intimidated by others.

If the bolt is replaced again, it will not be by me. But I guess it will mean that there are other climbers out there who realize climbing is just a sport. Live and let live.

Chuck Burr

Telluride

Since the leaders in the climbing community were not policing themselves a new group had to step up to the plate. This was not an effort by just one person.

As far as I am concerned, you can make climbing as scary as you and your family want, but safety first for the community at large.

Chuck, you completely misinterpreted the state of the climb - local leaders were completely fine with the current state of the route. You on the otherhand were completely irresponsible in your self-serving inference that the FA's and other long-time locals were in any way negligent.



This is a gross imposition of your personal opinion on the climbing community at large. I can assure you it is not shared and I actually find such consumer-oriented, risk-averse, suburban attitudes painfully out of place in the wild beyond the confines of your local gym. "Safety", first and foremost, is a personal responsibility in climbing - not one abdicated to any "community" nor imposed on any individual by the same. The "just don't clip them" argument is as sad and pathetic an argument today as it was yesterday and will be tomorrow. The actual operative phrase is "just don't climb it". Your attitudes, inexperience, failure to seek out longtime locals on the matter, and subsequent actions and verbage clearly give away the only thing painfully obvious in this sad episode - that you have no business bolting at all.

Dear Editor,

You climbers really bust me up sometimes. In reference to Damon Johnston's letter to the editor in the Feb. 20 edition of the Telluride Daily Planet, earning a climb is a matter of perspective isn't it? As a non-climber, Damon, I see your approach to climbing as identical to Mr. Burr's. If you have to hang from a rope to drill holes in the rock for bolts that enable you to do the climb, your skills are lacking and you didn't earn the climb.

But far more importantly, Damon, I advise you to reconsider your attempt to publicly humiliate a San Miguel County neighbor, especially over something so very, very, petty. We are living in some very sad times. How many of our troops have died in Iraq and how many more are sure to follow? There are so many moral issues our nation is grappling with right now and you write about one silly little bolt like it's a moral outrage.


Damon, I'm sure climbing is very important to you but in the whole scheme of things climbing is just another form of play and not that important. And you should learn to play nice.

Personally, I think it would be so cool if the climbers/hangdoggers of the region played by the same rules as the rest of the backcountry users. Leave no trace behind. Why stop at snipping one bolt. Why don't we snip ‘em all and you know what Damon? You might find it very rewarding to start earning your climbs. But be careful - know your limits.

Tom Slocum

Telluride