Paging Don Serl

[t-bone]

Hello Don,
I was wondering your thoughts on the recent proposal to retro-bolt Dancing in the Light? The post can be seen on the Gripped BB.

I climbed that route a few years back and it proabbly my most vivid climbing experience. I got up it but did take a few huge falls on the 10d section....my partner and I laugh about them to this day. I would be saddened to see the runouts reduce as I think they're an integral part of the experience.

Thanks for a great route....

PS: falling on slab really isn't too bad....as long as you can backpedal really fast

[J Mace]

Doesnt it say on the gripped forum he has ok'd it? if you still dont believe it why not grab one of his guides and grab his email and mail him

[Don Serl]

yah, Chris Stolz contacted Dave Jones and me recently to get our opinions on replacing the older bolts on Dancing, and also proposed putting in a couple 'redirect' bolts just above a couple of the belays to keep the long possible falls from coming directly onto the belay. Dave and I both agree that replacement of old bolts is totally fine (we used some zinc-plated stuff back then, i guess). we also have no big issue with the 'extra' bolts just off the belay - probably the top of the 3rd/4th pitch is the key issue, where you have to climb steepening slabs to the little 'edge'. you can dick in a small nut, but it's not easy or secure to protect, and i've heard of l-o-o-o-n-g falls outa there. the falls are part of the game, but protecting the belay ought to be too.

i'm gonna get together with Chris to do the necessary work, and to scrub the route up again a bit - i don't think the hard Apron routes get climbed that much these days. we certainly have no intention of adding bolts within the pitches to reduce the runouts - as you say, slab falls are no big deal - both Dave and I took multiple 30 and 40 footers bolting the route on lead - it just teaches you to be 'cool'.

question: back when we did the FA, we arranged rap stations off cordage and rings at every station (originally so we could rap and scrub). this allowed us to rap the entire route in 20 minutes. does anyone have any opinion on whether to revive those? how about chains? is that overkill? or would it be nice to be able to climb hard, then bail easily rather than walking down and around?

cheers, don

[PAW]

after just doing a rock rescue course. My two cents would be why not put in quick links and chain.

Pros- can rap in a second, doesn't need to be replaced as often

Cons- cost, the sight of them

[Don Serl]

update:

the other evening i rapped Dancing in the Light to re-familiarize myself with the route, in prep for cleaning and re-bolting with Chris.

number 1, the 'debate' about whether to set it up for rappels or not is moot point - it's already that way. somewhere along the way the cordage has been replaced with chains (i presume by Dave Jones) at all except one station. the chains are a bit old and rusty on the surface, but they're otherwise fine. funny, but i have no memory of anything except cord and rap rings...

number 2, all stations except one feature one 'good' stainless steel bolt and one rusty mild steel. we'll probably add a stainless bolt to each of these belays - might as well leave the 'old' bolt in, cuz it's REALLY hard to get 'em out. i might try to pull one as a test, but...

number 3, the 'mantle/layback' move protects really well with a #5 RP. u can also get a mediocre #0 Metolius TCU into the crack.

number 4, the start of the first pitch will also take a #5 RP in the crack out to the right, but better pro is available from a 1 1/2 Friend or similar sized cam plugged into the arch that you pull rightwards out of onto the slab.

number 5, Chris is right, the route is in need of a bit of a brushing, altho most of it's not bad.

cheers, don