PDX Rocky Butte climber question

[OrygunJim]

I was just out there today thinking how lucky we are to have a great little outdoor gym. Some of those lines are absolute classics, not to be missed. C.M., next time bring a tarp for your rope, and a small trashbag with some gloves. While those may be unusual ethics for a crag, they apply at the Butte.

[iciclespyder]

There are some fine routes at rocky butte. If it was cleaned up and the belays updated to modern standards, it would be very popular with local climbers. It’s a neglected area, surrounded by freeways and Catholics. Does the city own the cliff? Their map seems confused.

[Peter_Puget]

Stupid Question: Would there be a fight against a Rocky Butte Climbers Group maintaining the area? If not why isn’t there one?

[dan_forester]

Peter, "maintaining" rocky butte would be a full-time job - picking up litter, outreach to the junkie and prostitution communities ("could you all just go somewhere else, like a motel room?"), and achieving some kind of rapprochement with the mystery bolt choppers. There was a clean-up down here a couple months ago, which felt good to be a part of, but you'd have to do a clean-up every weekend to really keep the litter under control. And at a certain point picking up bottles and condoms when you'd rather be climbing loses its fascination.

 

(by the way, side note: Bill, are those your boxer shorts hanging on the wall 15 feet to the right of the crux on Birds of Paradise? They've been there for months, pick them up sometime, would you? geez!)

 

Personally I think that the more people there are out climbing there the better place it'll be to climb. And on a nice summer weekend the butte is anything but neglected. Though I had it to myself yesterday afternoon, which was kind of nice too.

 

And C.M., if you ever decide to go back to the butte, hook up with some of the folks that climb there a lot & get them to show you the sweet routes (you won't find them from the top). In the summer there's often a semi-regular evening climb session there w/ folks on this board, look for that in the events forum I think.

[JosephH]

There are some fine routes at rocky butte. If it was cleaned up and the belays updated to modern standards, it would be very popular with local climbers. It’s a neglected area, surrounded by freeways and Catholics. Does the city own the cliff? Their map seems confused.

 

I believe those are evangelicals, not catholics. And by "belays updated to modern standards" do you mean indoor standards as opposed to those nasty and complicated outdoor gear and top-rope anchors.

[iciclespyder]

There are some fine routes at rocky butte. If it was cleaned up and the belays updated to modern standards, it would be very popular with local climbers. It’s a neglected area, surrounded by freeways and Catholics. Does the city own the cliff? Their map seems confused.

 

I believe those are evangelicals, not catholics. And by "belays updated to modern standards" do you mean indoor standards as opposed to those nasty and complicated outdoor gear and top-rope anchors.

 

I am expecting a couple of large bolts for top-rope anchors. And somehow, the mystery bolt choppers need to repent. It is complicated and who own this nasty piece of land?

[dan_forester]

the only routes I can think of offhand that would really benefit from some bolted top-rope anchors are blackberry jam (you need quite a lot of rope/webbing to sling the nearest tree), and maybe white rabbit. Bill probably has a longer list.

 

most of the other classic routes have a tree or decent gear placements handy.

[JosephH]

I try to back up toprope setups with something at or over the edge in case one of the Russians kids with a beef against Bill cuts my rope for entertainment.

 

As for who the clown is who chops all the bolts out there - now that is a mystery. I'm about as anti-bolt as folks come and even I recognize RB is a pointless and ignorant place to chop [TR] bolts. Would love to know who the mystery man is and exactly what he thinks he's protecting. You just have to wonder what delusions of spent innocence he's harboring.

[letsroll]

I think we should grid bolt RB. Maybe the shear number of bolts would prevent or overwhelm who ever chops the bolts