All Posts Tagged With: "route development"

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All’s Quiet On the Drilling Front

For several years, I was pretty focused on new route development in the Roaring Fork Valley. There were three cliffs in particular that we had a vision for, knowing that when they were complete they’d offer fun, unique climbing that was much closer to town than anything currently established. There were only a couple of us toiling away at adding routes, and it was a lot of hard work. Finally, in about 2007, the crags were developed enough that whether you were in the mood for granite, sandstone or something else, you’d have about 50 pitches to choose from at each spot.

July 28th, 2010 | | 7 comments | Continued
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The Eight Unfortunate Truths of Route Development

Ultimately it comes down to what matters more in the end, the style of the FA or the end product? The problem is that the “quality” of the end product means different things to different people. Some of my favorite routes scared the crap out of me because of runouts or bad gear. Those same things that added to the overall quality of my experience would ruin it for others, because they don’t climb to have a heady experience where they could get hurt or die, they climb because they like the movement and safety of it all.

March 24th, 2010 | | 7 comments | Continued