2014 festival preview – Marc-Andre Leclerc

Answering the Critics
Progression in climbing has always been the action of individuals. It has never been about consensus. That goes totally against the flow of progression. We knew that. We knew that this has to be just an act of one party.

Those words from Jason Kruk capture his philosophy about climbing and like a neatly stacked rope Kruk’s other explanations for chopping Maestri’s bolts can be traced back to this idea.

What about consulting with the community and seeking consensus?
To get consensus on a thing like this that is so polarized, would that ever happen? I mean the bread maker thinks he should have a say on this matter. I don’t get a say on how he bakes his empanadas so what gives him a right to tell me what I can and cannot do in the mountains.

But there was a vote in 2007 in El Chalten, the majority wanted to keep the bolts.

The consensus was a totally fallacy. That vote in 2007 was on a day of good weather so most of the climbers were climbing in the mountains. Everybody who actually cares about the issue was in the mountains enjoying what they like to do.

You guys are these young arrogant kids who are you to say you have right to remove the bolts?

Yeah sure we are young kids, but we’ve climbed a lot in Patagonia. I’ve proven by first hand experience that we’ve gotten to know the mountains really well. We both know all the history and are both there actively in the middle of things. Sure we are not from Chelten and we don’t live there in the winters, but I’ve spent a good chunk of my life climbing in those mountains.

Didn’t you just erase an historical route?
You can’t destroy history, history is written down. The fact we removed the bolts, it’s not like bombing a church, it’s cleaning up someones trash that was a really unfortunate part of history.

Still the bolts should remain as a monument to a past atrocity
Those that say that I think that is just them hiding the fact that we’re all basically condemned by our own mediocrity and having a fun bolt line to the top of the raddest peak. It’s a little self serving I think.

You set a precedent, and now some will feel free to chop iconic routes like the Nose on El Cap
Gee I personally don’t think that would ever happen, that would be 100 times more ballsy chopping the bolts on the Nose. Let’s not do anything out of spite, Let’s not say ‘those guys chopped those bolts so we’re going to chop these bolts.’ Let’s have some respect and be grownups.