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Climbing, Adventure, Gear & Choss
Red Tags: Ego or Respect?
I came across an interesting discussion over on Joe Kinder’s blog about the idea of red tagging a route. He was talking about how he went out to Rifle with Dave Graham and they wanted to get on this sweet line Andy Raether had bolted, but it had a red tag. They climbed on other stuff, but they were kinda tweaked about the route being “closed”. People have weighed in on the pros and cons of their argument, and I guess I see it both ways.
On all but the most impeccable stone, it can be A LOT of work to bolt a sport route. There’s choss to clean, anchors to establish, clipping stances to figure out, bolts to sink….and then you get to climb it! It’s truly a labor of love, and as they say, if it were easy, everyone would do it. As it stands, most people don’t put up new routes, and that’s fine, except most don’t understand what really goes into all those nice clip ups you enjoy.
So back to the point, are red tags cool? Yes and No. Most of the time, I don’t care. I’ve bolted routes and then let friends have the FA, it’s a really cool gift to give someone. Sometimes I know a route is going to be challenging for me, and I let a better climber nab the FA so everyone can enjoy it sooner, and then I can work on it without keeping it from the public. That being said, I have, on occasion, tagged a route. Usually these happen to be the really good lines, and/or the ones I had to put a lot of effort into. I guess I feel like since I am taking the time and energy and money (this stuff ain’t cheap) to do a service for the climbing community, I can save one or two of the gems for myself.
Anybody else got any thoughts on the topic? Should all projects be open to everyone? Do developers get a reasonable chance to send their creations? Comments are on.
3 Responses to Red Tags: Ego or Respect?
Bulldog Creek Dog Walk (IV WI 4+)
Hayden Carpenter and Tom Bohanon recently repeated an obscure ice climb on the south side of Mt Sopris. Given a brief mention in Jack Robert’s ice guide, Bulldog Creek Walk is described as being 100 meters of WI 4. What they found was seven pitches of ice in a remote setting that makes for one […]
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First ascentist has the say. Because they clean it, bolt it, climb it(regardless of the style) and open it to the public.
On a separate note.
I was at Rifle today (4/6/08) to climb one of my routes and to my complete suprise someone had put a BIG plaque in front of one of my climbs. Re-naming it and Re-gradeing it. How much time did this unknown climber put into this route? I didn’t see him or her there when I put it up in 05.
michaeljmcgee.com
that’s pretty lame. at least the new guidebook will straighten things out. some people, eh?
In reading Kinder’s blog, you’d think he was making an argument for respecting a red tag (the Rifle bolting red tape, the work that goes into cleaning a route, and the physical demands of bolting a route). If a red tag is there for a long time, then yeah, maybe it should be open to the public, but in this case, why not let Andy reap the benefits of his hard work.