david lama and cerro torre again..

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Mark Hudon

Trad climber

Hood River, OR

Jan 28, 2011 - 01:36pm PT

Those photos of the bolts right next to perfect cracks make me sick.

donini

Trad climber

Ouray, Colorado

Jan 28, 2011 - 01:43pm PT

Yeah- sometimes those damn bolts grab your shoelaces as you're jamming past them.

Disaster Master

Social climber

Born in So-Cal, left my soul in far Nor-Cal.

Jan 28, 2011 - 01:50pm PT

donini

Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado Jan 28, 2011 - 10:43am PT
Yeah- sometimes those damn bolts grab your shoelaces as you're jamming past them.

Try slippers!

ydpl8s

Trad climber

Santa Monica, California

Jan 28, 2011 - 02:11pm PT

Coz, Philo is a nature loving person that believes in a lot of the old trad values that we grew up with in the 70's. I'm sure that he respects your abilities and resume of climbs, as they are too impressive to ignore. Philo does have a fairly impressive list of FA's and early repeats of routes in the Black and Red Rocks himself, but he would be the first to downplay his impact, being the self effacing person that he is. That being said, there is nothing he enjoys better than good banter about issues he feels strongly about.

Mighty Hiker

climber

Vancouver, B.C.

Jan 28, 2011 - 02:50pm PT

I still wonder how Lame-a will be 'freeing' the upper headwall, which is usually plastered with ice and hoar.

Gene

climber

Jan 28, 2011 - 04:02pm PT

Those photos of the bolts right next to perfect cracks make me sick.

Reposted from Page 3 of this thread.

As a career 5.6 climber, I find this as revolting as many of the more skilled climbers posting here. Wrong is wrong.
g

jschaefer

Sport climber

Munich, Germany

Jan 28, 2011 - 05:45pm PT

David Lama posted a news item on his website. It looks like he is not going to rappel-bolt...

Ghost

climber

A long way from where I started

Jan 28, 2011 - 05:47pm PT

Here's the latest entry from his website. He does say no rap bolting, so maybe all the noise we and others have made did have an effect after all.

January 28, 2011
First try on Cerro Torre!

We hiked up to Cerro Torre with high expectations for our first attempt this year. Unfortunately we achieved no progress. We made it up to last year’s highpoint, but no further.

The night in the Bergschrund on the Col was short and cold, but first when we started climbing it got really shitty. There was a thin layer of ice in most cracks and also on parts of the rock. Enough ice to make climbing with the hands really slippery, not enough ice to make good use of the ice gear. In hard laboured climbing we made it up to the bolt traverse, there the weather forced us to quit our attempt.

So I’m still stuck in the same situation as last year, not having seen the upper part of the route and still lacking information on the headwall, such as rock quality or features for freeclimbing… I hope we will soon get a share of good weather and conditions to be able to make it to the summit. First then I’ll be able to see if there is a possibility to try out for a free attempt. As far as possible I would like to stick to the compressor route; I’ll refrain from bolting in rap-style. Should variations from the original compressor route be necessary for a free climbing attempt I will have to do that on lead, a quiet time intense venture for the short periods of good weather on Cerro Torre.

At the moment I’m frustrated that we were not able to achieve progress on the mountain. But we’ll take comfort in drinking some Patagonian beer and do, what most people are doing here: Waiting.

Gene

climber

Jan 28, 2011 - 05:57pm PT

I’ll refrain from bolting in rap-style. Should variations from the original compressor route be necessary for a free climbing attempt I will have to do that on lead...

Begs a question about bolts for the camera crew and support team.

survival

Big Wall climber

A Token of My Extreme

Jan 28, 2011 - 05:58pm PT

Wow!! That's a positive "looking" development!

mike m

Trad climber

black hills

Jan 28, 2011 - 05:59pm PT

Here here, I am going to definately hoist one tonight to the taco and all our members.

the kid

Trad climber

fayetteville, wv

Jan 28, 2011 - 07:02pm PT

nice words Coz, as usual spot on and talking like one who has been there and knows.
it would be good to see David understand the significance of his plan and the folly that will play out. free it if you can on the gear that is there.. if not leave it for someone who can..

Port

Trad climber

San Diego

Jan 28, 2011 - 07:06pm PT

This is great news!

Ghost

climber

A long way from where I started

Jan 28, 2011 - 07:11pm PT

free it if you can on the gear that is there.. if not leave it for someone who can..

One interesting point that no has brought up is that a magnificent failure will do a whole lot more for his reputation than a success that was achieved by reducing the challenge. David Lama has nothing to fear from failing to free the route. Nor do his sponsors. If he goes in there, and gives it everything he has (which is considerable), without resorting to rap bolting, he'll gain huge respect in the climbing community. Regardless of whether he makes it to the top.

philo

Trad climber

Somewhere halfway over the rainbow

Jan 29, 2011 - 02:02am PT

Coz, much respect.

It is not the climbing per se that I was referring to as not comparable it was the level of commitment inherent to Patagonia over California. An average bloke could fly in to California to do a ElCap or Half Dome route over the weekend. Accurate long term forecasts, easy cell & internet and ready access to rescue make any route in the lower 48, regardless of technical grade, a far less involved endeavor. Patagonia has intense unpredictable weather with minimal windows of climbable time.

Though I did express understanding of the GU team's motivations I am actually not a proponent of bolting at all. Rap bolting least of all. I have placed 3 bolts only in the decades I have climbed. Two hand drilled on leads as the only possible alternative after run outs. And one rap bolted at the end of 1000'+ of fixed line. Does that make me a tainted hypocrite?

We were training for the Painted Wall and went off the rim to replace the crux bolt on the Goss Logan. The bolt at he end of the 5.11 runout. The bolt that keeps a fall from being a death pendulum into the big dihedral. We hadn't initially planned to rap bolt but friends had pulled it out in their fingers the day before we were going to climb the route. In that case rap bolting allowed me to really land a safe bolt where crap had been before. Lots of people have done that route since. Should i pull it?

And yes Lama saying he wont rap bolt is a good turn of intents.

Mighty Hiker

climber

Vancouver, B.C.

Jan 29, 2011 - 02:07am PT

Replacing an existing, accepted bolt en rappel doesn't count as rapbolting. It might slightly detract from the onsight experience, at least for that part of the climb - if the climber hadn't done the route before. But that's about it.