[TR] Dragontail Peak - Boving Route 8/13/2010

[Matt Christensen]

Trip: Dragontail Peak - Boving Route

 

Date: 8/13/2010

 

Trip Report:

August 13th I repeated the Boving Route 33 years after our first ascent. It was my third ascent of the route. My second trip up it was in 1981. It is nice to be able to reflect on the quality of that first experience all these years later. Jim Mathews and I found it quite difficult and spent nearly two hours a pitch on the first five pitches. I don't know that all the modern cams made it any easier or safer than the rack of hexes and stoppers we carried up on the first ascent. I will go back next summer and bolt a rappel route and place a handfull of bolts on several leads to make the route a modern safe climb. The first five leads off the glacier are great climbing on excellent rock. The last seven leads are not by themselves worth doing.

[stevetimetravlr]

Yeah! Nice route, nice send!

[kukuzka1]

nice matt, always wanted to give that route a go. whos the first pic of you or paul?

[genepires]

are the pictures from 2010, 1981 or 1977? the glacier seems too bare for this summer.

 

I think I can speak for many people when I say that we thank you in advance for any work you do on dragontail. Much appreciated.

[rat]

I will go back next summer and bolt a rappel route and place a handfull of bolts on several leads to make the route a modern safe climb. The first five leads off the glacier are great climbing on excellent rock. The last seven leads are not by themselves worth doing

 

lcd

[Dane]

Great addition here. Thanks Matt!

[Off_White]

I will go back next summer and bolt a rappel route and place a handfull of bolts on several leads to make the route a modern safe climb. The first five leads off the glacier are great climbing on excellent rock. The last seven leads are not by themselves worth doing

 

lcd

 

fa perogative

[rat]

agreed. just voicing one asshole's opinion regarding the choice.

[lunger]

no bolt nazi here, but i tend to agree with the emissions of the rodent-arse. the climb is excellent in its current state. but not a danger route (based on my memories of the climb, at least).

 

that said, i respect the FAs decision. and this is one hypocrite that'd probably enjoy rapping after the first 5, as also agree that the pitches above are not particularly aesthetic.

 

is this (bolted, chained rap anchors) the first step toward D-tail as a cragging destination? heckuva crag--could see gobs of nice 5-8 pitch lines over on that NE buttress...

[mountainsloth]

no bolts please. just my humble opinion. i know you were not asking but....

you guys rock for FA'ing that lovely looking line.

thanks for sharing the b&w photos!

[W]

Hey Matt-

 

My name is Mark Westman. I don't know if you remember, but in August of 1998, Joe Puryear and I met you at Colchuck Lake in the dark on our way to this route- you were taking your teenage son to Prusik Peak. You gave us some nice beta, made more interesting as we were concerned by the Beckey description mentioning kb's for belays and such and we hadn't been able to find any additional beta on the route up to that time. Joe even joked as we approached you in the woods that "it's probably Matt Christensen going to retro bolt the Boving Route...".

 

Anyway, great route and good work on it way back when. My two cents- while I thought the route was able to be climbed safely enough without any bolts, if there was one place for them, it would be not on any pitch, but at the belay stance at the top of pitch 1. That belay took me a long time to rig safely with tiny gear, and there was a bit of a runout off it for the next pitch. Definitely heads up there- the kb placements were filled with broken off old pitons so it was manky brass nuts and micro cams.

Funny, I recall vividly that Joe and I both agreed that if you had ever decided to come back and bolt a rap line for doing just the first five pitches it would have been pretty cool, for as you mentioned, after that, the climbing isn't very good.

 

Thanks for the memories-

MW

 

 

[Lucky Larry]

Never did the route but I sure enjoyed Paul Boving's cartoons in Off Belay. Sad, he was so young when he died.

[Matt Christensen]

I appreciate everyones input. I thought I might get some! I have a winter and most of a summer to think about it. I used to be really proud to have put up a hard ass route but in my dotage I have begun to think what is the point? No one climbs them and the few people who have climbed this one said it was f-n scary. The quality of the rock the climbing (finger crack and face with nothing unpleasant on the first five pitches)and its sustained nature make it a potential classic. Its reputation kills it. I propose rap anchors at each belay with stainless steel removable bolts so that future replacement is rock friendly. Pitches two and four are in my judgement R rated and deserve one bolt each. The original fifth pitch is probably 5.10a R or X. and deserves a couple bolts. My vision is for a sfe five pitch climb with an optional sixth pitch if you do the original fifth pitch and the new er fifth pitch variation. With a bolted rap it would make a reasonable day climb from the trailhead and there would be no need to cary boots and ice gear over the top. today with the permit restrictions a nice day outing in the Stuart Range is difficult.

 

 

The photos are all by Paul taken of me in 1977 when I was seventeen and Paul was 24. The glacier is amazingly melted out in the photos due to a drought in 1976-77. There was nearly no snowfalll that winter.

 

Mark I remember well that improbable meeting in the dark when Joe asked in the blackness if I was Matt Christensen. What on on earth made him ask that? He could not have had any idea who I was. I so enjoyed our conversation that morning and Sadly that was the only conversation I ever had with Joe. Thanks for sharing.

 

Matt

[Sol]

Matt, great post and photos. Please post more!

 

You said you expected some input so here's mine:

 

I've been looking forward to testing my metal on the boving route for a while. I usually put the boving route on my late july/august list for the year and each year I get pre-occupied trying to finish projects that I started earlier in the summer, this year was no different.

 

As is, your route is a bold direct passage up an otherwise blank slab. A testament to your vision and skills 33 years ago! While I can understand the disappointment in having so many years pass with few repeats and very little praise, retro-bolting the rig seems a bit drastic.

 

There are lots of well protected moderate routes in the vicinity to climb on that can be easily done in a day (which im sure you know!): D Tail: Serpentine, Backbone, Gerber-Sink, NE Buttress. Leche le Vaca and the NEB on CBR. Acid Baby on the Spineless Prow. NEB of Colchuck

 

And now there are some hard technical free-climbs in the area: The Tempest, Dragons of Eden, Let it Burn....

 

I see the Boving Route fitting right in the middle. Accessible to the 5.10 climber who wants a challenge and adventure, who's done the other moderates and wants something harder, but isn't up for 11+/12 free-climbing of the testpieces.

 

With that being said, it's your route and obviously you can rightfully make any changes that you see fit. I've always felt that before you can have an opinion about someones route you should climb it first, so, in reality, this blabbering on by me is a bunch of bs. I definitely value Joe and Mark's opinion, and you guys seem to have a similar vision, perhaps the route would be better with bolts. Nonetheless, I can't help but think it would be a damn shame that the old skool challenge and boldness of your line would be forever lost...

 

I am against bolted rap anchors on dtail. People keep saying that want to turn D-tail into a crag but to me it will always be a Mountain.

[kukuzka1]

I totally agree with sol, for what its worth.

[Rad]

...Nonetheless, I can't help but think it would be a damn shame that the old skool challenge and boldness of your line would be forever lost...

 

It won't be lost. Just don't clip the bolts. Think of Sonny Trotter.

[Pete_H]

I don't know if it will see more traffic even if its bolted.

[G-spotter]

...Nonetheless, I can't help but think it would be a damn shame that the old skool challenge and boldness of your line would be forever lost...

 

It won't be lost. Just don't clip the bolts. Think of Sonny Trotter.

 

He chopped the bolts on The Path

[RideT61]

As is often the case I have mixed feeling on the subject. I can say with confidence that I would be more likely to climb the route if a couple bolts and some rap anchors were added. What can I say, I'm a wuss.

[kukuzka1]

It won't be lost. Just don't clip the bolts.

Its not the same if you have the option to use the bolts vrs no option

[W]

Matt, great post and photos. Please post more!

 

You said you expected some input so here's mine:

 

I've been looking forward to testing my metal on the boving route for a while. I usually put the boving route on my late july/august list for the year and each year I get pre-occupied trying to finish projects that I started earlier in the summer, this year was no different.

 

As is, your route is a bold direct passage up an otherwise blank slab. A testament to your vision and skills 33 years ago! While I can understand the disappointment in having so many years pass with few repeats and very little praise, retro-bolting the rig seems a bit drastic.

 

There are lots of well protected moderate routes in the vicinity to climb on that can be easily done in a day (which im sure you know!): D Tail: Serpentine, Backbone, Gerber-Sink, NE Buttress. Leche le Vaca and the NEB on CBR. Acid Baby on the Spineless Prow. NEB of Colchuck

 

And now there are some hard technical free-climbs in the area: The Tempest, Dragons of Eden, Let it Burn....

 

I see the Boving Route fitting right in the middle. Accessible to the 5.10 climber who wants a challenge and adventure, who's done the other moderates and wants something harder, but isn't up for 11+/12 free-climbing of the testpieces.

 

With that being said, it's your route and obviously you can rightfully make any changes that you see fit. I've always felt that before you can have an opinion about someones route you should climb it first, so, in reality, this blabbering on by me is a bunch of bs. I definitely value Joe and Mark's opinion, and you guys seem to have a similar vision, perhaps the route would be better with bolts. Nonetheless, I can't help but think it would be a damn shame that the old skool challenge and boldness of your line would be forever lost...

 

I am against bolted rap anchors on dtail. People keep saying that want to turn D-tail into a crag but to me it will always be a Mountain.

 

Sol- I can't disagree with anything you wrote here. But I guess to clarify my opinion, I'm not saying it would be better with bolts vs. without. To be honest, I confess that the route was, for us, spicy enough that I am psyched to have done it in it's current state. It's a lot easier for me from the position of having done it already, to shrug my shoulders about added bolts. Having said that, I do think that what Matt is proposing would do little to remove the excitement of the various pitches while it would most certainly remove what I recall being a definite detraction of the route, which was at least one belay anchor that was quite poor and with a runout off of it to boot, with a potential for a huge factor 2 onto an rp nest that is the only thing keeping the team from a 50 meter plunge to the moat. It's been so long since I did it, but I seem to recall that maybe there was another belay that also wasn't so reassuring. As for the rap line...the alpinist in me admittedly cringes, but there's no denial from me that Joe and I, while on the route, said, "Matt should come back and bolt a rap line so we could just come and do these first five...". I might also say that the climbing was good enough on those pitches that I'd come do it again if there were rap anchors. The upper pitches were unenjoyable enough that I wouldn't otherwise go back. I've never drilled a bolt in my life and also never taken a strong stand on the issue aside from bolts near cracks, etc. It's Matt's prerogative in the end and I support whatever he decides to do with it. Either way, it is a great route that deserves more traffic. In it's current state, it's a route for solid 5.10 climbers who are really good at fiddling in gear in improbable places.

[Pete_H]

We brought some iron and used it (blades and bug's). Adding a couple bolts probably isn't all that different, ethically speaking.

[Dannible]

Based on all that Mark has said it sure sounds like the first belay at least could use a bolt or two. I don't want to hear about two climbers dying up there when a bolt could have saved them. Beats placing and removing pins over and over, or using fixed pins that will rot out or break quicker. Not a huge fan of the rap route idea, there are plenty of places to go craging around here and I've always thought of that route as one of the more proud ways to get up Dragontail, not just some nice, friendly climb to go do on a sunny afternoon. I know you don't have to rap off if you don't want to but it sure cuts down on the commitment, which is one of the things that makes alpine climbing what it is. Of course that is just my opinion and I respect whatever decision Matt makes.

[NoahT]

As one who hasn't climbed the route, but enjoys the challenge of a solid 5.10 climb, I'll enjoy it either way. 99% sure I'll clip a bolt when I see it, but equally sure I won't miss any lack of sketch.

 

Anytime spent on Dragontail is good.

 

Also, I most certainly will be headed for the top, rap route or otherwise. I love walk-offs.

 

N

[kukuzka1]

I love walk-offs

ditto. also belay bolts rock