Old Rusty Ethics

I would say 70% of the first bolts in the canyon are in bad shape, rusted, stripped, loose..etc. That means 7 out of 10 routes have ATLEAST a bad FIRST bolt on it. Thats usually the one noticed the most, because of the stickclip nature. When I was talking to the MAN about the stories of him and others bolting these routes, we both realized that 90% of the routes where bolted around 10-15 years ago.

I was asking how hard it was to go through the channels and get the permit for replacing some old bolts. He assured me that with his permission I wouldn't have a problem getting out there. He didn't understand why I wanted to rebolt..

He said things like:

People will not give you the respect you think you will get for bolting.

The canyon doesn't get enough traffic to matter. The bolts are fine.

Don't waste your time.

When I started thinking about all this I soon realized that there is NO ONE out there doing this service. Refrase, no one in the new age climbers. I am not taking any respect away from the select few older guys who still make the journey with a hook and gun. It's like the baby boomers of the climbing generation. The only pattern I see differently is people putting up hard routes, not rebolting the ones they know they will not fall on.

The number of people climbing in the canyon is rising as well as the risk of people getting hurt. With a decade of old steele hanging from the canyons sand stone, we need to make a change, so we will become the next generation of people who take care of these places. If we don't who will?