Sunset Strip horror show

[jessejames]

Dirt on Millennium Falcon. I spent a day cleaning up my mess on the first three pitches of MF. In fact I scrubbed sections to a higher standard than they were originally in. cleaning loose dust becomes a little futile, you sweep it off on a section of a climb and depending on the winds it just ends up somewhere else on the route or on adjacent routes.

Europa Bolt Ladder. Is right beside pitch 9, so rather than having two bolt ladders side by side, I decided to combine the two, I removed the original bolt ladder and put five bolts very close together on the .10d pitch. The bolts are close enough together to be an effective bolt ladder. The aid climber might have to do two more straightforward aid moves off of cams to get back onto 5.8 terrain.

I understand other routes get a little dirty from route-building, sure. Those trees, however, were actually PART of the route - they provided climbing holds and protection at the top of the pitch. Protection is now absent, and the slab is covered in debris. I understand it's just 5.8, but 5.8 unprotected slab covered with pine needles is kind of nasty. I consider Mil Falcon to be damaged from the removal of those trees - and I do recall the uproar when J.Frimer caused damage to Great White North while building Milk Road.

As for the bolt ladder, there are no options for gear protection there anyway, so I don't have any real beef with closely-spaced bolts. What I find strange is that the climb on the whole is supremely well-protected, but the bolt off the anchor on pitch 2 is VERY hard to clip. I understand some people are better climbers than others, perhaps better at chimneying, but my typical grade is far above 10d, and I find it extremely spicy reaching that bolt (I'm 6'0 also). Something is really fishy on that pitch and totally out of character with the rest of the climb, which is super-chill if you climb 5.10 ...

Other than that, it was a stellar climb ..

Jesse James

[jonny2vests]

We were promised photos Jesse.

[jessejames]

We were promised photos Jesse.

I was the first on the route today - ask Harry Young

[Brendan]

I re-climbed the route today...not enough exposure and too many ledges to be super-classic

Ok, so then what is Angels Crest and all those other routes that are "classic"?

I can suggest a good psychologist for whomever claims that's fourth class

I said "stiff 4th class", which in your case is euphemism for easy 5th.

I was the first on the route today - ask Harry Young

And?

[mcfly]

Jesse James,
How many routes have you developed in Squamish?

[jred]

And still you are the only one complaining about pitch two....

[greenerj]

F?@$in hilarious Stu!!! This Jesse James guy sounds like a real douche bag.... "Climbed every multi-pitch under 5.12" is quite the bold statement. I guess we should leave all the route development to Robin and Frimer, They've been doing some amazing classics these days...

[Optimally-Primed]

Frimer here, just back in town from Winnipeg for the summer. I feel ecstatic to learn of all the amazing new routing and retroing that took place in my absence. Dig Club is alive and well. Here's a shout-out to all of the members of the Club!

I loudly applaud the work that Colin did for the climbing community. From personal experience, I have a sense of how much effort, time, money, and heart goes into developing routes like this. I especially appreciate Colin developing a (relatively) moderate route and making hardware decisions that invite relative mortals to experience the route. Knowing about Colin's ability on the rock, it's clear that the bolts were not for himself.

I support decisions to remove trees that shed on important climbing pitches below, such as in this instance. And I think that Colin's tact on this thread in the face of harshly worded feedback is a testament to his integrity and poise. Other route developers, take note of how to handle these sorts of situations.

From my experience developing 60+ pitches in Squamish, bolting decisions are far far more difficult than most people appreciate. The bolts I placed in the past few years (Milk Road, Skywalker, Rambles) were the result of extensive research and reflection... climbing pitches over and over, marking possible sites, discussing bolt sites with a fellow developer, etc. In some instances, I changed my mind after the fact after receiving tactful feedback from community members. Even with bolting decisions that remain in place, I had my doubts. Some of them, I still second guess (e.g., on the final pitch of Milk Road, and the final pitch of Skywalker).

I haven't climbed Sunset Strip yet, but plan to soon. I say all of this to encourage climbers to give developers the benefit of the doubt... to appreciate how difficult these decisions are... to create some space for developers to make mistakes (or for differences of opinion)... to address all developers (even Barley) first with immense gratitude for their service... and only second with tactfully worded questions.

[t2climb]

Excellent route Colin.

Climbed it this past weekend and it is a sweet route. The pitch with the 'so-called factor two fall potential' is a non-issue. Chimney up and clip the bolt or layback to the 1st bolt......really no biggie.

Quality climb..........

Thanks for putting it up.

[jonny2vests]

I'm climbing this route again tomorrow and bringing a camera. I'll post pictures of the destruction to the Mil Falcon belay ledge and the bolting insanity.

We were promised photos Jesse.

I was the first on the route today - ask Harry Young

I'm not doubting you were the first on it (?), I just wanted to see what the fuss was about.

[tobyfk]

It seems that the main effect of this thread has been to interest people in doing this excellent-sounding route ...

[jessejames]

It seems that the main effect of this thread has been to interest people in doing this excellent-sounding route ...

Go do the route .. but get on it early, or you will hit a traffic jam at the top of Mil Falcon P1

[J Mace]

The fuss is that a "professional climber, rock and big wall guide" (according to his blog) couldn't get past the first bolt on a variation to the first pitch of Millenium Falcon (MF). Instead of walking 20 feet left and climbing 5.6 terrain around it, he rapped off and proclaimed the route sh*t after only climbing the first pitch that was put up a decade or more ago.

That first pitch used to be scary as sh*t, but CM obviously asked Rolf and put a much needed bolt just off the ground (Thanks!!!)

Then he climbed MF coulndt find the anchors on the 11a pitch and started this meltdown thread about bolts and trees, which, if you read his other posts about MF needing more bolts and sketching out on Slesse and the Mouses tooth is pretty much par for the course.

I thought it was a superb and stout route.

Thanks for the line

[tsouth]

Climbed about 60-70% of the route, we climbed the gauntlet pitches instead and finished on sunset strip as the last two pitches of the gauntlet had us perplexed route finding. From what we climbed it was enjoyable with the exception of the chimney, I'm a terrible chimney climber, but that has nothing to do with the route that's me. The pitches we climbed where well protected, especially the second 10d pitch which was protected really well for the second. The hanging belay at the base of the chimney wasn't great but there is nothing you can do about that aside from bury yourself in there maybe. I don't really understand what all the whining was about in the first place. All and all a good route that made me realize how bad I am at chimneys.

[t-bone]

Jesse, are you in fact a licensed guide (as your MeetUp profile suggests)?