Funarama not so fun anymore

[smallman]

went up to Funarama in the Bluffs today and discovered that pretty much every bolt on the first cliff has been chopped primarily on the Barley/ Young routes. I guess someone is not a very fun person.

[squamish climber]

I received this update from the Smoke Bluffs Park advisory committee.

Climbers please note: Robin Barley advises that he is removing all his climbs from the Bluffs. At this time hangers and anchors have been removed from his climbs at Bug house ,Funorama and Pink Cliff . The bolts have not been chopped as previously reported.

[smallman]

It is hard to tell if bolts are chopped or just hangers removed from the ground. I can just see that they are not there anymore. Just wondering if hangers are replaced will they be stripped again?

[Aaron]

I received this update from the Smoke Bluffs Park advisory committee.

Climbers please note: Robin Barley advises that he is removing all his climbs from the Bluffs. At this time hangers and anchors have been removed from his climbs at Bug house ,Funorama and Pink Cliff . The bolts have not been chopped as previously reported.

Whaaaaaaaat??

So someone must have seriously struck a nerve with Robin. So does this mean that his old routes can be reclaimed, renamed and given proper hardware with proper anchors? Fine with me. Or am I reading too much in to this and madness hasn't overwhelmed his mind.

The lord giveth and the lord taketh away.

[smallman]

Quote:
Climbers please note: Robin Barley advises that he is removing all his climbs from the Bluffs. At this time hangers and anchors have been removed from his climbs at Bug house ,Funorama and Pink Cliff . The bolts have not been chopped as previously reported.

Include ronin' corner on that list.

[Aaron]

I'm not sure if I should be confused, amused, or just plain disgusted. What's the story here? Someone has got to have heard some rumor or hard evidence as to why this is being done. So did someone finally put their foot down against his use of Ajax bleach and this is some sort of jaded spiteful response?

[squamish climber]

I am guessing that Robin Barley is removing the hangers and anchors from the climbs he put up in the Smoke Bluffs as a result of the position the Squamish Access Society has taken on the issue of staples, modified glue-in Fixe bolts and non-redundant fixed anchors. I posted this announcement earlier this month on the Climbing Forum Thread. Here is the text of statement from the SAS website http://squamishaccess.ca :

SAS Statement of Position Regarding Non-standard Fixed Protection

Within the past year, some recent route developments in the Smoke Bluffs park and other climbing areas surrounding Squamish have not adhered to any known bolting standard including (but not limited to) glue-in galvanized steel u-bolts, modified (shortened) glue-in Fixe bolts installed with non-compatible glue , and non-redundant fixed anchors. In several cases, testing on some of these “bolts” has resulted in their extraction from the rock with a single pull of a simple crowbar.

Despite the absence of legislated parameters or standards regarding fixed protection products used for rock climbing, the SAS believes that an area best practice has established itself over the years and urges community new-routers to inform themselves of these practices and adhere to them. In our estimation this is all the more important for not only safety considerations, but also in light of the municipal and provincial status of most of our rock climbing resources. Squamish climbers enjoy a large degree of freedom and self- policing is an important contributor to that freedom. As such, SAS fully supports the remediation of any bolts that do not adhere to these local, well-accepted best practices.

In the bigger picture, through work by the Squamish Climbers (of Rock) Advisory Group/Squamish CRAG (a collaboration involving SAS, BC Parks, local climbers and local guides), a best practices document is being written which will include guidelines for installation of fixed protection by standard and widely accepted methods.

Published on December 31, 2010

It seems to me then that Robin is taking responsibility for removing the fixed protection that the SAS says does not adhere to known standards and in some cases could be unsafe. What do people think?

[Dru]

It sounds to me more that he is removing every hanger he ever placed whether it be a non-standard bolt or not. A fit of pique perhaps.

[smallman]

I agree with Dru. He is not just removing non compliant hardware but has so far/ is removing hangers and anchors from all of his more recent Bluffs routes - ie) those not in the most recent guidebooks.

[Brendan]

But the bigger question here is what Robin will do if/when “his” routes get re-hangered?
Will he strip those too? That would be ludicrous.

[slopr]

that must be a huge bucket of bolts he's got there

[smallman]

I really hope that this does not morph into a similar situation as happened in the North eastern US with Ken Nichols.
http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=38849
http://www.stopken.org/Home.html

[Aaron]

I really hope that this does not morph into a similar situation as happened in the North eastern US with Ken Nichols.
http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=38849
http://www.stopken.org/Home.html

Similar? Not really, unless you consider Robin to be two separate people. Lets call them Robin and Evil Robin. Evil Robin clearly hates Robin and is hell bent on destroying Robins efforts. Here's hoping they work things out between each other and we can return to a more civil state were Evil Robin does nothing worse than mouth off the odd 20 something camp ground hostess. Personally I like Robin and have admired his efforts for years. Evil Robin, on the other hand strikes me as being a bit of a douchebag.

[smallman]

I was more referring to the situation Brendan described above.

[paulc]

Wow, not sure what to think here.

If he is distancing himself from these routes, then he should have no interest in them going forward as to bolting - unless this really is a pique.

Hope not. We should be working together not at odd with each other.

P