Projects

 

Respect is due to those that make the routes! Nature may shape the rock with forces of water and wind but in the case of sport routes its man that completes the job and makes it accessible to all. Perhaps not the most natural of acts, using a machine to drill a hole into our precious medium, but often this is the only way to form the playground which we love. Bolting routes can be hard work taking days and costing even hundreds of pounds. Just getting to the top of the cliff could be an epic adventure, or the route could be bolted ground up, a scary experience holding a drill from a tiny crimp, drilling, and falling with the thing in your hand still whirring away, threatening to mangle you as you drop into space! Some delight in the task, an activity in its own rite, creating a passage for mankind that nature didn’t quite finish off. They may even have no desire to climb it, the creation being part of a process that leads to an ascent of a virgin line. For some climbing cultures every ‘project’ is open, once the bolts are in anyone can climb it, after all, no one owns the rock. For other cultures a project may be ‘owned’, the community allowing a specific individual to break new ground. In the case of a route that took many days to prepare, or a special route taking amazing terrain or the first to breach a cliff then I can understand the desire to be the first, and that the person with the vision should at least have the opportunity if they wish. That is the point; if they wish! Respect is due, surely! It’s a basic human quality. Without their efforts the line is not possible. Of course there is no law, no police to stop a person climbing ahead of another, but as climbers we are better than that, I’d like to think anyway!

 

Britain has a strong history of project ownership. There are many reasons from breaking new ground to publicity and sponsorship. The first up will grab the headlines, get the pictures, get the free boots, especially if it’s hard! This might seem extreme but it’s a part of climbing life. I know personally of a number of top sponsored climbers regularly investing time into bolting, or currently involved in their own mega projects that will undoubtedly promote their position, that are often beaten to a first ascent or even involved in a race to the top from those that see a line as belonging to no one. For some it’s a race for the publicity, perhaps even knowing that beating a particular star to the top will do wonders for their own status, or even topple the star from their lofty position. The bolters wishes are cast aside because no one owns the rock.

 

 

 

Zillertal

 

In Zillertal a 90m overhanging arête soared into the sky with a 200m rope sat ready at it’s base! I had to try it if only for the position, and after a few journeys the projected grade of F8c had dropped to F8b+ and I was ready for action. But it wasn’t to be. Jorg Verhoeven from Holland had bolted the line, a three day epic not including the expedition to get to the top of the cliff. This was a special line in every sense and he wanted to be the first to breach this massive wall. It had been assumed this would be an open project, because for most cultures projects always are. But I could see his desire to be the first, he’d been up there, picking out the path, pulling away vegetation and loose blocks, cleaning the holds and working the moves. He’d become close to the route; it was his baby. The prize for the first up was bigger for him than it could ever be for anyone else. On redpoint I unfortunately slipped off a hard move low down but then had the pleasure of a 70m adventure in one unbroken flow of climbing, and the knowledge that the prize would eventually go to the person that really deserves it.

 

 

 

Climber way up on the arete - if you can see him!