JosephH

It almost was moved, but in very small pieces. Those tunnels are blast charge holes and the "Arena of Terror" (big overhanging circle on the SW Corner) was formed when one of these tunnels packed with explosives was blown. The intent was to use it for gravel for railroads and building in Portland.

That sounds like reasonable feedback from a couple of folks who have climbed it both in the past and quite recently.

To a degree Ivan is right. I post here to highlight the unusual situation Beacon Rock represents relative to all interested parties. It may be in Washington, but the vast majority of Beacon climbers including all the locals are from the immediate Portland area. This is not without consequences relative to legal, advocacy, monitoring, and relationship aspects of involvement with managing climbing and access at such an active, highly multi-use state park.

Beacon Rock Update 9/11/05

=================== Beacon Rock Update - 9/11/05... =================== Illegal Route Markings - We had an incident of two climbs being marked with arrows scratched into the rock. We'd like to make it explicitly clear that marking of any kind is forbidden by State and BRSP regulations and that route finding is both a required skill and an integral [and desirable] part of climbing at Beacon Rock. If you know the way you don't need arrows and if the person following you can't follow your rope [and chalk] without arrows they don't belong on the route. Please do not make markings in or on the rock in any way whatsoever [even with chalk] as a) it sucks and b) it gives Jim Opdyke seizures and we are trying to keep him around at least as long as the SE Corner tree. Bad Fall on "Free for Some" - As noted elsewhere on CC.com, a groundfall was taken on 8/30 on "Free for Some". This accident was a bad fall where otherwise good protection failed under specific, induced conditions. The belayer did a great job and leader was placing good protection; but in the fall got their leg under the rope snagging their second piece of pro and pulling it resulting in a ground fall. It is miraculous how little this lucky climber was injured given the fall and the topology at the base of the route. We don't have all the technical details yet, but this serves to remind us all to be constantly aware of the relationship of feet to rope while climbing; that helmets are good; and that "taking" on a difficult [trad] leads may not necessarily be an option available to you. The climber in question has displayed a stellar attitude in the wake of this incident and is to be commended for communicating the experience so well - all our best to their swift recovery and return to the rock. SE Corner Tree - As one step in a long term effort to preserve this landmark tree we have installed slings and rings on it. Please use these rather than the tree for a belay or rappelling anchor. Also, with regard to rappelling from the tree: this has got to be one of the lousiest rappels on earth; just continue up to the Grassy Ledges main rap or, if you must rappel after the second pitch, then don't go up to the tree at all. Rather, at the top of the second pitch slab, instead of going up to the tree ledge, just go straight ahead 15 feet to the second pitch anchors of Young Warriors and rap there (2 raps with a 60, 1 rap with two 60's - don't do this with one 50 meter rope) Trails and Ledge Paths - Please take extra care and watch your footfalls when walking on both the climber's trail to the base and on ledge paths such as up on Grassy Ledges. All trails and ledge paths are taking a bit of a beating this year. On the main climber's trail to the base in particular please pay attention and try not to further erode the trail. On ledges please pay particular attention to loose rocks and stones - especially smaller ones when going by them with either your feet or your rope. Helmets are definitely recommended. Anchor Replacement Project - As noted above the SE Corner tree got slings and rings, please use them if you don't feel comfortable building your own anchor in rock which is how the that pitch is traditionally anchored. - The broken Z-pin at the top of "Jill's Thrills" was replaced by a long fat Lost Arrow. The Z-pin was not all that well placed (too long for the placement) and pretty much came right out and the "eye" was also splitting off from the body due to folks stepping or hanging on it over the years. We tried to replace it with a shorter Z-pin but the only thing that worked [solid] was the Lost Arrow. The lower Bugaboo on the route is solid. - The top anchors on "Flying Dutchman" have been replaced, but need to be tightened. - Future efforts: we are onto the main south face columns with "Flying Swallow" the first to go and we estimate another 25-30 anchors need to be replaced across the columns along with a smaller number of fixed pitons. Many of the intermediate anchors on these routes will get just the large Metolius Rap anchors that can be rapped directly and will not be outfitted with rings and slings as they don't get nearly the traffic and basically none of the raps are multi-directional, they just rap straight down the column. We have the costs covered, but let us know if you're up for helping out in the work sessions. They can make for a long, grueling day of humping gear, hauling, and jugging without doing much of anything in the way of climbing per se. If your up for that, then send an email to Beacon.Rock@AvaSys.com with "Anchor Project" as the subject line and we'll get in touch with you. Peregrines - Healthy and screaching about everytime we go out - magnificent in a dive and you can see the remains of their feasts on many of the column tops across the South side and on SE corner ledges: Seagulls, Blue Jays, and Pigeons in broad circled splashes of feathers and discarded wing sets... Free Parking Pullout - As always, park diagonally, head in to the Southeast in the free pullout to the East of the main lot - not parallel to the road. Joseph Healy Beacon Rock Climber's Association

Cobra, Beacon is my adopted home, and it is a long established crag where I feel like I'm contributing more to a custodial role than anything else, and that more in honoring of the many, many great climbers that established all those great routes out there. I got involved because relationships had gone south among all the involved parties out there and I perceived there were multiple threats to climbing out there. As for your specific question of anchors and anchor replacement. That is what the effort is all about. Most all of the anchors we've replaced (which will be most of them) were quite deteriorated or "spinners" when you looked at them close and it was far past time to replace them. I got involved with that project both for selfish reasons (lousy anchors) and because, as a "mature" crag, objective risks such as loose rock and bad anchors have accumulated over years to the point where collectively they represented a real danger. That danger threatened access in general if accidents started happening. Given the body of routes out there aren't my FA's I don't feel it's my place to change the character or nature of climbing at Beacon by adding or removing anchors. The only new or planned anchor additions are strictly a result of discussions / decisions made with BRSP Staff with regards to getting anchors off various trees to protect them. As for what I would do differently had I climbed there back when most of these anchors went in - no, there are many I wouldn't have put in - but anchored pitches are the tradition at Beacon. I also wouldn't have put nearly as many bolts on Young Warriors either - the first pitch in particular I lead on pro as often as I clip it. But that's me and I would have had to have been more actively involved out there long ago if I wanted any say in those decisions.

The issue is strictly one of a more or less complete dependence on bolted lines by the vast majority of today's climbers. They view bolts through a different lens as a desirable thing as opposed to a bad thing or even possibly a necessary evil. It is a view shaped by gyms and based on dependence and need. Yes, I was a beginner once, but in a very different era when there were no bolts and no gyms. I was also fortunate to learn to climb in an area basically with no climbing history so my experience was quite different even for the day compared to a Boulder, Gunks, or Valley experience. My views may well sound harsh, but they are based on watching the effects, impacts, and trends I speak of roll out over thirty years.

I would simply have to disagree, I can't think of any aspect of climbing that has benefited from crowds and a large population of less skilled and self-responsible climbers. What I have seen is an endless requirement for the continous "development" of bolted routes to sustain the [commercial] output of gyms. This is a dollar and entertainment driven machine the net effect of which has steadily corrupted what climbing was all about. Sure the folks that rise to the top are capable of great things and do come around to looking for more "adventurous" endeavors because they get bored senseless. But the achievements of the top few of a very large pyramid isn't the issue, it's the ongoing impact of the very large base of [gym-supported] novice and intermediate climbers. Bolted on holds, route directions scratched and painted on the rock, inappropriate bolting. Now, you can paint all such incidents as abberations, but I call them unavoidable and direct affects of a larger population - more people, cluelessness, vandalism, and bad choices. It's more a matter of statistics than judgment. From a statistics perspective, the population base of climbers required to advance climbing from 5.10 to 5.12 was relatively small with a large percentage of that population able to climb at a high level with a relatively low toll on rock. The population base behind the push from 5.13 to 5.15 grew enormously with a very small percentage of that base able to climb at a high level. Again, it isn't about the impact of the small percentage of folks that climb at a high level today, it about the impact of the vast majority who need gyms and bolted routes to sustain their identities as climbers and toll it continues to take on rock.

Jim, Yes, Marco and I put it up back around '93 after a thousand trips driving past it on the way to the Wall; each time going "that looks like a hell of a route". I did take off about two tons of rock on the lower right side of the route in one fall so the route you climbed is significantly different at the start than it was originally. A big circle comprising all four points cut on me. It was a real classic cartoon moment of me trying to slot out a 6" loose block just a bit to cop more of an edge on it - with "keystone" results in more ways than one. My belayer had eyes the size of saucers when it was over. We called it "To Air is Human".

It's amazing how, in twenty short years, the only form of rock climbing there was inexhorably became "trad" or "adventure" climbing. True, there is certainly an element of fanaticism in "trad" FA's and there has been no shortage of occasional narcissism in the mix over the years as well as FA's tend to be a mirror. But [sport] bolting has taken about the same amount of time and courage as it took to kill all the buffalo a hundred years earlier and I deal with that as well - I just don't consider either one to be a matter of sport so much as sprawl. You're posts here are consistently pro-bolting and advocate "safe" climbing. That along with the cynical tone of your earlier post earned my response in like tone...

Scott, Tex is right about the offset aliens and you're welcome to borrow mine the next time as they are pretty hard to come by...

Ah, Geek, [rap] bolting a "sport rig"... Get a Hilti TE-6a with an extra battery and a battery pack belt extension, bolts and hangars of your choice (preferrably camo'd), a rubber tube to blow out the holes, a hammer, and a socket wrench. Suspend creativity and improvisation, neatly fold and lock risk management and technical skills "safely" away, assume the mantle of "community service", pretend you aren't permanently altering the rock, and then rap and drill while appearing to agonize in an inscrutable quandry over how far apart to put the bolts - close for pandering popularity, far apart for a shameless displays of ego, or "just right" to the topology and opportunities of the route in a masterful and Goldilockian exercise of competency that provides reasonable "safety" yet preserves some shred of "sportiness". Repeat this "drill" ad nausem - ding - next crag; life is good... AR_Guy, it doesn't matter at this point how you got into climbing, but do yourself a favor and find someone to take you out trad climbing and check out the differences for yourself. The best way to learn to trad climb is by seconding as many good trad leaders as you can talk into taking you up routes. If you give a shout when you're in PDX I'd be willing...

Retired, There is also a route up the overhanging arete/prow at the far East end of the main wall facing the road. If you are driving by HTB you will see this three-step overhang silhouetted by sky like a ship's prow. Very nice.

AR_Guy, glad to get a little clarification on what you're asking. I definitely fall under [trad] "old school" relative to FA's. The ethic/ideal I pursue when I get a potential line under my skin is to do it ground up, no previewing, no toproping - just get on it and climb. Sometimes it works out even better than you expect and you onsight it (seldom if you are aiming high) and other times you epic big (somewhat way this side of more-often-than-onsights). For me, not knowing is the very best part of doing an FA this way - it would suck to know anything more about the route than you can see from the ground. That means you do have to sometimes deal with loose and uncleaned rock, shitty pro, and the occasional dubious anchors - but you either make do or you bail. I love the epics I've had as much as the successes over the years, and to be honest, I learned more about myself and my partners during the epics than I ever did from the ones that followed the vision exactly. Multi-pitch voyages up completely unclimbed stretches of rock are just about as sublime as life gets as far as I'm concerned. It requires a semi-obsessive vision; a high level of technical skills; a stubborn dose of constantly reinvented naivete mixed with an odd, clueless willingness to just let the things unfold without any real plan; and most important, a partner that can be talked into pretty damn near anything, especially endeavors obviously stupid and ridiculous at first glance. Once you have those prereqs in the bag, and make it to the base without forgetting or losing anything, you pretty much just throw caution to the wind and climb; or at least that's more or less the old "why are we here?" school of climbing. Also, I don't really give a rat's ass about the "no one has climbed this before" aspect of FA's so much as the outright assurance that you will be completely clueless and improvising every step of the way with no guidebook, beta, chalk, or bolts lighting the way. P.S. Oh, and please be aware that in a few of the older, more rigid "traditional" cliques and quarters that most hallucinogens are still considered a form of aid. ------------------------------------------ "Place thy protection well, lest the ground rise up and smite thee..." Sage wisdom from an old "Devil's Lake Trial and Error School of Rock Climbing" tee shirt...

I'm sure the best climbing in the Gorge, must be even further east - just keep going and you'll find it. If you miss it you can always stop at City of Rocks on your way out of Dodge...

MtnFreak, Thanks for that addition, I should have qualified my statement better relative to the top anchor. If it is protecting a tree, leave it, if it is simply so someone doesn't have to top out and walk off, pull it. This is another farly sad hangover from gyms which have no top outs. Several of us have been commenting lately that that is beginning to evidence itself in a rise in accidents and near accidents related to just being around the tops of routes and crags as folks simply don't get that exposure or experience indoors. Preventitive top anchoring of routes with walkoffs to compensate for a lack of experience and self-awareness is not the answer.

AR_Guy, There is way more to trad climbing than "find a crack and climb it". I'm sure you have the best intentions but would suggest you actually try some more trad climbing and in general get way, way more experience under your belt before even thinking about bolting new lines. How about availing yourself of several more years of climbing existing lines to gain the sort of experience and yardage necessary to make informed decisions and choices in such matters.

When it comes down to bolts next to protectable features and chains on a walkoff you probably should ask the FA to remove them, but if they don't I would have no compunction in removing them at all or in announcing my intent here. In fact, I'm somewhat stunned no one from one of the organized groups in Washington hasn't have brought the matter up and initiated a cleanup...

Again, anyone with information about this incident or about who may have Scott's gear from his accident on Free For Some - please PM me or Bill Coe...

Geek, I would completely agree with that assertion and it is the exact result of gyms churning out large numbers of risk-averse, "safe" climbers. What you are suggesting is a tyranny of democracy that represents yet another step on a not so long road to the death of assumption and [self] management of risk as an base competency in climbing. You're talking about a democracy that abdicates the soul of climbing to a combination of fear, a lack of skills, and to entertainment. Unrestrained, that path will lead to the grid bolting of every [unprotected] crag over the course of coming years. P.S. Moderator, I saw no cause here at all to split the thread...

If anyone knows who is responsible for these markings, or if you made these markings because you felt there was a need, please contact myself or Bill Coe. Again, route finding is a feature of climbing out at Beacon Rock, the community has no interest in eliminating it as part of the character and long history at Beacon.

This follows an incident two weekends ago where the couple ahead of us on the route put a big chalk arrow [pointing the wrong way] on the slab above the crux. We'll see what we can do to repair whatever damange has been done now. Please people - no markings of any kind!!! The chalk is actually bad enough...

Bill, what mystery bolt are we talking about now? I am getting too damn old...

As I said early on in the conversation, Erik is doing absolutely the right thing calling Peter and asking everyone here and out at the crag. But again, asking shouldn't be automatically receiving, it should begin a quest for the history and facts to determine if the a change is warranted. The default starting position should always be no change until facts (did Peter do it with a long sling, etc.) and or circumstances (such as broken key hold, etc.) dictate otherwise. Again, Erik is definitely to be commended for not retrobolting unilaterally...

Dru - well, I may be a simple whore, but I'm an old, discriminating simple whore and I avoid such predicaments by being careful of who and what I get on. I'm also a traditional sort of guy and just don't sport around that way...