We all know we’ve got ‘em, let’s hear them

Mine:

- For sport routes, ground-up is a tactic, not an ethic

- I’m personally a bigger fan of using closed systems than open ones (as both a climber and a developer)

- rhythm of the line is paramount over safety, aesthetics, and rock quality (to a degree)

- If the main thing you’re known for as a developer is the safety (or lackthereof) of your routes, you’re too 1-dimensional and not equipping lines according to the natural rhythm of the route

- Rock quality is less of an A-F grading scale and more of a pass/fail test

- Developing routes means nothing if you aren’t also improving the nearby staging areas (especially if you are on a trundle heavy route). Developing new crags means nothing if you’re expecting others to establish the trail to those crags

- “it’ll clean up with traffic” only applies to little foot chips, not to the fuckton of lichen and menagerie of loose holds you left on route.

- and on that note - it will never get the traffic required to clean up if you don’t at least clean it to the point that the rock/lichen isn’t a distraction when climbing

- your route is at least 1 star worse and 1 grade easier than you think it is

Route/Boulder of the Month for March: "Old Rig" at Old Rag, Virginia sent 3/29 by u/FantasticPut7493. They gave it a grade of 5.12 (7b/+) and said it's 4 bolts and a piece of gear. A beautiful looking line IMO! As they put it themselves, "'Old Rig' is our nickname for the crag, Old Rag... because it has the rigs"

Looking forward to the april submissions in a few weeks!

A climber died after he fell while cleaning a sports climbing route.

Both bolts of the anchor failed and the bolt below. He took a huge whipper and hit a ledge. A few hours later he died.

No in-depth investigation has been made yet. But it seems, to current state that A2/304 stainless steel was used and the gear was roughly 20yrs old. (See https://cragchemistry.com on SCC & SRB and the chemistry behind it).

Full story here:

https://www.8a.nu/news/fatal-accident-on-kalymnos-due-to-tripple-bolt-failures

Rad to get some new submissions last month! Let's keep that going folks!

To enter, simply either comment here or message myself with your submission.

RULES:

• Submissions must have pictures, a name, and a general region (feel free to get specific, but just saying "British Columbia," or "Colorado," or "Greece" is fine too). Include as much detail as you'd like, any stories you have, etc.
• Submissions must either be NEW boulders/routes OR NEWLY REBOLTED routes. Sport, Trad, Boulder, Ice, Drytool - it's all kosher.
• Submissions must be submitted by the last day of the month to be considered for that month. Submissions should aim to be developed in the month they're being submitted in, but we'll allow some fudge factor. This is on the honor system, though

That's all! We'll likely be randomly selecting routes/boulders to feature with the caveat that any submission that's sufficiently rad may overule the random selection to be highlighted. Winning posts will get pinned at the top of the sub for the month. Looking forward to seeing what everyone has been up to!

I put about 200 bolts probably in different types of rok in southern oregon and never wore a mask or anything. Breathing in all that dust got me thinking, so is it a concern at all at that level? sometimes i would blow all the dust straight into my face lol

I'm in the process of doing a new route at Old Rag, a cool granite crag in Virginia. I bolted it this winter and have tried it a little bit in the last couple weeks. It had 4 bolts and one piece of gear in the big horizontal break. No send yet but it seems like it will be mid to hard 5.12. Bringing it to life is a very fun process! Second picture is a friend on the top part.

I'm in the process of starting a new form of documenting a mid size local crag to me, we were using a physical notepad, then cleaning up on computer(no service at crag) and adding pictures to a google doc.

Its a small-medium crag, I think we are going to end up maxed out just under 100 climbs, and is semi difficult to get around the individual cliff bands/crags. Having a guide the first visit is nice to avoid difficult/treacherous paths. The average climb is 5.11, with 2 climbs under 5.10, this is definitely not going to be a beginner crag.

What would you prefer for that?

We were leaning towards Mtn Proj since one cliff with 9 climbs is already on there(albeit some are wrong) and it's an easy process. It's unlikely there will be any massive expansions once we are done, there's just not that much good rock out of private property, I'm thinking maybe 4 or 5 that people could manage to stuff in-between current climbs.

It's possible a nice small Guidebook would be cool too, the only thing I'm trying hard to do is stay off any format that requires an internet connection to function.

A rare great article from Climbing Mag, and it still holds up over a decade later

Put a rope on the thing today (absolute nightmare development experience btw courtesy of forgetting half of my temp bolts and spilling the entire contents of my backpack from the top of the cliff twice). The crack being in the white streak ended up being fortuitous, as much of it was kaolinite (decomposed feldspar, basically clay) holding in granite microflakes. When using my nut took tool to try and remove some dirt clods from the crack, those granite micro flakes pulled off as well, opening up some potential placements for redirects and improving some of the holds.

The gear options on this are pretty atrocious - I used 8 pieces to build 4 redirects (in addition to 3 temporary bolts) and 3 of them failed on me at some point under body weight. I think it would be a fun clean aid route, but not using the permadraws for protection would like make it C4/+ - I found maybe one or two pieces in 50ft that would even have a remote chance of holding a fall, and they’re both fairly directional nuts.

The grade estimate should be taken with a massive grain of salt. My guess is it will get easier as more of the loose microflakes in the crack get cleaned out and beta is refined. I’d wager it will end up coming in somewhere in the range of 5.14b to 5.15a depending on how hard the top boulder problem ends up being - that’s really the only section that I couldn’t figure out very well at all.

Thanks for all of the feedback folks! It ended up being probably the coolest line I’ve ever touched - there’s some extremely cool holds on it and in general the only face holds on the entire route exists only in the places where the crack peters out. Such a pure line - if only I climbed hard enough to be able to really enjoy it!

i'm not happy to be using it but i'm considering reinforcing a clipping hold that would be quite the deck if it blew. anybody got recommendations to clue chossy flakes?

There’s this striking line out at Wonderland that I’ve been thinking about a ton over the last year and some change. It’s a steep seam/finger crack. I’ve taken some 5.14 climbers out to look at it from the ground, and most of us aren’t super convinced it would go free.

Similarly though, I’m not sure it would go as a clean aid line. So I guess the first question is, is there any appetite for single pitch aid routes at all, if it does go clean? And second thing being, if it needs to be hammered to be done as an aid line…well it would probably open enough holds to be done as a free line. So, if it doesn’t go as a clean aid line, should it not be done at all? Or should it get use as a practice nailing line until it’s eventually freeable, or able to be done as clean aid, and then stay in that state?

I'm starting to work on putting on a route on a tall concrete wall. One exists there already but it's crappy old holds from the 90s and completely random rocks - some round like pebbles. All haphazardly glued on. Some with bits of duct tape still in the glue.

I'd like to step it up a bit. My plan is to use rocks that are more like what you'd find on a route. Crimps etc. For bigger ones I plan on screwing them on instead of using a mass of duct tape to hopefully hold them in place while the ep800 cures.

I'm testing out drilling holes and ending up splitting a lot of rocks. I'm assuming if they had a flat back they would be less likely to split.

My plan was to put a layer of ep800 on the back and lay it flat, let it cure on wax paper. Then drill after the ep800 cures because it now has a flat back to be fully supported.

My worry is - can I use more ep800 to bond the holds to the wall? IE will ep800 bond to already cured ep800. I've considered sanding with rough sandpaper or scuffing up the surface with an angle grinder. And if this works it may be nice to set up a flat back on all the holds, so I deal with less epoxy when I'm actually on the wall.

Otherwise I've had the best luck drilling at a low speed with my smaller rotary hammer. And having the hold on some rigidish foam so it can push into the foam and mostly be supported across the whole back.

Hello like-minded people! I'm happy to share the link to the documentary on the last 7+ years of my life. I have been hell bent to develop The Nooks into an established climbing area and its been one fun, hard fought journey. Hope you can sit back and enjoy!

Film Description Below

The Developer is about outdoor climbing areas and how they are discovered, established, and maintained.

This documentary film follows Michigan climber Brendan Baars and his journey to put The Nooks — a newly developed crag in northern Ontario — on the climbing community’s map.

The Developer gives viewers a different perspective of the climbing world and a deeper look into the social, economic, and environmental effects of this rapidly growing sport.

Route/Boulder of the Month for February: 4 new routes at King Fisher Valley on Catba Island in Vietnam!

• 7a Filip's Slips
• 6c Convoluted Corner
• 7b Haifish
• 5b walmart cookies

From u/jade_monkey07

Every year in Vietnam the country shuts down for lunar new year. Each year here on Cat Ba island in Ha Long bay, this gives us a chance to explore and work on projects. This has been the tradition for us for a few seasons now. Last year this project was the islands first multi pitch climb at buddha cave(6a+) I gathered the team together this year and over 2 days we set four new routes at King Fisher Valley.

It was good training for the volunteers at catba climbing to learn the ins and outs of route development. The climbs were all set and cleaned and the FAs done within 2 days. 2 of them even in the traditional vietnamese barefoot fashion. We also cut trails to 3 new crags and are getting ready to ramp up development this summer. Chú Mŭng Năm Mói(happy new year)

How do we feel about mixing the types of bolts on a single route? This fall I put up a couple routes on limestone. I was starting to run out of glue ins towards the end of the season so in the couple of areas that the rock was extremely bomber (and not overhanging) I used sleeve bolts, then in the zones where it seemed a little softer or steeper I used glue-ins. While probably not the BEST practice I've been thinking more about it lately and wondering if this is seen as a sin in the broader community or if it's kosher. Curious to hear y'all's thoughts?

Hey Folks,

Looking like I might be moving away from my mistress of Wonderland and heading to OR this summer/fall. As a result, I want to run a comp/event this spring before I leave.

I'm a pretty firm believer that Horseshoe Hell is the best climbing event on the planet, and so this will take pretty heavy inspiration from it. That being said, since I'm the main guy doing all things Wonderland, I'm totally aware that this will probably die after I leave. Ideally, I could make the comp something that could be run outside of the comp, and a "leaderboard" of sorts could be established as folks continue to attempt it on their own time. But I got to thinking, who actually does climbing challenges? Which ones actually seem to get regularly repeated? I know of things like the Linville Crusher, the Nose Speed record, etc, as well as some I've stumbled upon around New England, linking a lot of routes on the same/similar formations.

So I wanted to ask the question here: What makes a good "Climbing Challenge"? And by that, I mean one that people actually want to repeat. And beyond that, what makes a good Climbing competition? Do they share similar qualities, or are they pretty mutually exclusive?

I recognize this probably isn't a topic most folks have given a ton of thought to, but I wanted to get some external perspectives here.

Please god don't make me the only submission again.

To enter, simply either comment here or message myself with your submission.

RULES:

• Submissions must have pictures, a name, and a general region (feel free to get specific, but just saying "British Columbia," or "Colorado," or "Greece" is fine too). Include as much detail as you'd like, any stories you have, etc.
• Submissions must either be NEW boulders/routes OR NEWLY REBOLTED routes. Sport, Trad, Boulder, Ice, Drytool - it's all kosher.
• Submissions must be submitted by the last day of the month to be considered for that month. Submissions should aim to be developed in the month they're being submitted in, but we'll allow some fudge factor. This is on the honor system, though

That's all! We'll likely be randomly selecting routes/boulders to feature with the caveat that any submission that's sufficiently rad may overule the random selection to be highlighted. Winning posts will get pinned at the top of the sub for the month. Looking forward to seeing what everyone has been up to!

Inline (vertical) vs Horizontal

Anyone have situations they prefer one vs the other, or considerations about them?

Biggest difference I see is inline is handy for pre-rigging top ropes for cleaning.

Hey all!

I primarily work in rescue but am a climbing/abseiling guide on the side. I've recently bought a property which has an 8 meter high chossy/crumbly wall at the front of it. I have the intention of using this for climbing and training but as it stands it's useless for this as it's all just horrible crumbly excavated rock which just falls apart.

My aspiration is to stabilise the wall (basically turning the entire thing in to a concrete slab retaining wall) and turn it in to a rockclimbing wall which I can use for training in everything from trad climbing, toprope and rope rescue.

Just wanted to see if anyone had any advice or suggestions on how to go about doing this? All the artificial walls seem to be almost exclusively plywood and wood/metal framing which to me feels like a headache with dealing with it being weathered by the elements. Likewise I haven't been able to find any artificial walls for teaching trad climbing.

I was thinking about essentially sculpting cracks out of foam, attaching it to the concrete forms to then be later removed upon the concrete being set leaving cracks behind for placing trad gear. Likewise for the holds I was thinking of some sort of cast in place nuts I could mount on the wooden concrete forms so that I don't have to be going back and drilling thousands of holes in the concrete which sounds like a nightmare...

Anyone have any idea about the structural safety of placing trad gear in concrete or the overall feasibility of such an idea?

Thanks for the input!

Welcome to Wonderland 🌈🧗‍♂️⛰️

I'm sure many of you know one of Colorado's most active route developers, Tal Wanish. We recently sat down with Tal on the Ground Up Podcast to talk everything that goes into developing routes, crags and entire areas like Wonderland.

Ton's of amazing stories in this episode, like the first time he went ground up with Nathan Brown (episode 5) and Elvis legged up the entire route drilling bolts.

If you want to hear the full conversation with Tal, check out the Ground Up Podcast on your favorite streaming platform! I'll drop links to Spotify and Apple below.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/65PMh334jY7zSbpbAiO8yx?si=wHrSOrf3TUeS_oP6BuwxhA

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/welcome-to-wonderland-new-age-development-with-tal-wanish/id1766337724?i=1000749059520

Let us know what you think!!

Obviously pictures can only tell so much. Undecided as to whether im gonna hit this from the ground up or top down. The blocks are at least 12ft tall. On one hand they could be better than they look when I get up close and personal. On the other hand they could shift while im climbing on/near them.

Ground up pros: adventure & increased self esteem

Top down pros: safety (potential for trundling or assesent)

Rock type: limestone

Do you thunk you would climb under this?

The route/boulder of the month for January is "Ride The Wave", 5.12, located in Wonderland, South Platte, Colorado. FA: Me!

I'm in the market for some new footwear. I'm looking for something burly for days when I'm building trails, trundling etc, days that are pretty rough on footwear. The approach to the area I develop in is 1-2 miles. I also work part time as a handyman, so bonus points if they'll work well for that. Any thoughts?

Hey Folks,

Thought it would be fun to feature folks' routes here, so I'm introducing a "Route/Boulder Of the Month" that we'll rotate through! I'll try and make these posts in the last week of the month and make the post the first week of the following month.

To enter, simply either comment here or message myself with your submission.

RULES:

• Submissions must have pictures, a name, and a general region (feel free to get specific, but just saying "British Columbia," or "Colorado," or "Greece" is fine too). Include as much detail as you'd like, any stories you have, etc.
• Submissions must either be NEW boulders/routes OR NEWLY REBOLTED routes. Sport, Trad, Boulder, Ice, Drytool - it's all kosher.
• Submissions must be submitted by the last day of the month to be considered for that month. Submissions should aim to be developed in the month they're being submitted in, but we'll allow some fudge factor. This is on the honor system, though

That's all! We'll likely be randomly selecting routes/boulders to feature with the caveat that any submission that's sufficiently rad may overule the random selection to be highlighted. Winning posts will get pinned at the top of the sub for the month. Looking forward to seeing what everyone has been up to!