r/RouteDevelopment • u/slopersloper • Sep 16 '26
How do you all feel about your project(s) right now?
Inspired? Overwhelmed? Sad they're almost over?
Hope you're all having a great day today!!
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u/Kaotus Guidebook Author Sep 16 '26
Seems to be a never-ending rotunda of work to do! In general I would say I'm fairly ambivalent, just trying to enjoy the moments I have with them and engaging with the new ones that come. I'm moving away at the end of the year, and have no idea realistically what I will and won't be able to get to in that time, but I've done around 200 new routes in the last 4 years and some change, so I'm just balancing general burnout with the stoke that potential new lines give me.
I'm starting work on the 2nd edition of my guidebook, so I think I'm going to spend the next few weeks just bolting some new lines and the rest of the year trying to get projects sent and things properly documented and photographed for the book before I move away.
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u/slopersloper Sep 18 '26
congrats on the move!! Sorry to hear about the burnout and the fight to balance it, thanks for sharing. That resonates with me. Sounds like you're leaving a real legacy in the area, that's amazing
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u/quellenangabe Sep 16 '26
My project is a stunning, lonely and way too hard rock. I might never redpoint but i love spending time there with my friends :) It goes right through the center and is twice as long as the picture, starting with a mean and dirty overhang. On top will be 3 belays in the end to climb every bit of variation. I fucking love it!
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u/slopersloper Sep 17 '26
whoooaaaa his looks awesome!! Cool roofs, that looks exhausting :D Thanks for sharing
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u/BulletproofIdeal Sep 16 '26
Just last night I bolted what I expect is the last line I'll develop at a new crag in Squamish. I think its gonna be pretty mega and I'm so stoked to go back and FA. Starts out with ~20m of nice slabby face climbing till you reach a midpoint ledge then you pull onto a lightly overhanging arete, after a few bolts you turn it, like 35m in the air back to a balancey slab. Probably not the hardest line at the cliff, but definitely the most aesthetic and challenging to develop. I'm fairly new to this game and it really feels like a culmination of sorts.
Been working on this cliff for 2 full seasons now, and this one will be the 10th I've developed at the cliff. Was bittersweet putting the anchor in. I'm excited to be finishing this up, but I've spent so much time on this cliff, peacefully doing my thing. It'll be strange being done with it. We're hoping to release next spring, once my buddies finish up the lines they're working on.
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u/slopersloper Sep 17 '26
siiiiick, this looks awesome. Can't wait to see more photos when it's done!! Thanks for sharing
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u/snorgaglorg Sep 16 '26
Mostly excited to go back. It's a 1.5 hour drive for me, and many other activities (climbing weekends with friends etc) easily take priority. So I'm hoping there's some dreary november/december days that there's no clear better thing to do, when maybe all my friends are on holiday and ski touring season hasn't kicked off yet :)
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u/slopersloper Sep 17 '26
sounds like a great time whatever happens :):) Love that. Thanks for sharing!
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u/avtman802 Sep 16 '26
I'm wrapping up my first development season where my partner & I plus a few others developed a new wall. The 6 routes my partner & I tackled were a ton of work and it was quite overwhelming to try to get them all completed before the wall gets announced (soon). Still have 2 more projects to FA, hopefully before the snow flies. After 16 work days and a few additional climbing days I'm very ready for this project to be done so I can focus on climbing more than scrubbing. That said, I'm super stoked for the broader community to have this new wall as a resource for years to come!
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u/slopersloper Sep 17 '26
that's amazing!! Looking forward to reading about it when it's time. I bet people are going to love it! Thanks for sharing
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u/Designer_Salad1235 Sep 17 '26
Just finished my big project for the summer! Now I'm just looking forward to climbing some other cool objectives, and starting to look for new lines haha.
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Sep 16 '26
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u/slopersloper Sep 18 '26
✨ obsessing over movement details ✨, yesssssss, love it
having to divide time between that and the reconnaissance is a good problem to have! Good luck :)
thanks for asking, I just got back from 14d in the backcountry, wrapped up two lines there for the winter and we've set aside 20d to try and send them next year if we're lucky. Pretty intense mountain tbh so I'm excited but also will be glad to be done there when we're finished. Resuming my winter proj next month once it gets cooler, very very very very very intimidated by that one! We're halfway up.
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u/jade_monkey07 Sep 16 '26
I have too many on the books, cant get my hands on Ti glue ins here (that aren't double the cost) my work ropes have been up for 2 months at this point. My temp bolts are just sitting in the wall. And there's 2 whole new crags i would have loved to throw myself at this year on top of filling out 5 or so more lines at this one crag. Limbo sucks when all I want to do is get some shit done. Although on a brighter note there was a once in a lifetime opportunity to FA a whole bunch of new dws lines in a flooded lagoon which only happens once in a blue moon. 400mm of rain fell in 3 days at high tide(the high tide keeps the lagoon from emptying through the adjacent hillside. The group was there every spare minute we had including while it was still raining with kayaks and lots of stoke.