I’ve compiled some of the interviews that I conducted while researching my article, “The Tyranny of History,” Rock and Ice #201, which discusses the Shakespearean events that took place on Cerro Torre this year. And I thought it would be cool to share them here.
But first, some more thoughts.
I find it interesting how equivocating the reactions to the events on Cerro Torre 2012 have been. Based on the responses that I’ve received to my column, I have observed that many of the detractors to the headwall chopping have a hard time reconciling their protestations with some of the most basic tenets that we as climbers champion—namely, leave no trace in the mountains, employ a minimalist approach when it comes to gear, and to try to follow the natural line and rise to the natural difficulties of the mountain as best as you possibly can.
Why do these people make an exception to Maestri’s compressor, for example, and not just call it what it is: garbage in the mountains? Should we also leave the thousands of canisters of oxygen that currently litter the slopes of Everest because they are pieces of history, in that they are reminders of all the people who have passed before us?
But what happened on Cerro Torre is not an environmental issue.
I think it’s important to understand what an extreme outlier Cerro Torre is: Maestri was the first, and last, person to ever bring gas-powered power tools into the mountains to overcome difficulties he wasn’t able to climb. His Compressor Route didn’t spawn 1,000 other imitations around the world; no one followed in his path because wholesale drilling your way up a mountain that can be climbed via its natural features is a stylistic dead end. To do so is the end of creativity, the murder of the impossible, and the end of the sport, period. There’s nowhere to go from there, no opportunity to progress.
Therefore, it’s equally wrong to think that this chopping—also an outlier, and necessarily an antithetically equal outlier—would also set a precedent to be emulated. I don’t see that happening. The sport of climbing is not going to fall apart because of the chopping, no more than it fell apart because of the drilling. It is beyond our normal sphere, in its own, entirely bizarre orbit.
In this age where it’s common to bemoan the “loss” of adventure in climbing—with sport climbing, gyms and comps etc.—why are so many people having such a hard time celebrating the fact that a new generation of climbers (Kennedy, Kruk, and Lama are all under 24 years old) have embraced this very vision: where climbing is about a minimum amount of gear, and a maximum amount of skill and self-reliance? Where you rise to the challenge of the mountain and not bring it down to your level? Above all, this is just an affirmation that says: “Climbing is about using and following natural features—as opposed to following an indescriminately drilled bolt ladder.” After all, that’s how it works everywhere else in the world.
These are, once again, supposedly our sport’s most basic, if not sacred, tenets. Yet if anything the mixed reactions to the events on Cerro Torre has shown that not everyone can get behind these ideals because of … what? A “loss of history”? The specter of “elitism”? The fear of what kind of precedent it might set? The fact that everyone in the world would’ve liked to have been asked permission first? These fears and arguments either seem fundamentally wrong, or just unwarranted to me.
A word about the kid, too: Hayden Kennedy is one of the most down-to-earth and encouraging people I’ve ever met; there’s not a shred of ego or elitism in his bones. He’s not an elitist, nor is he an idealogue. He sport climbs as much as anyone I know; it’s not as though he’s opposed to bolts, and he is certainly not opposed to less-talented people being out, enjoying the sport. Anyone who has ever met him will know that Hayden is just as happy to go climbing with someone on a 5.4, or on a 5.14.
He felt strongly that Maestri’s bolt ladders were wrong; they were out of place with the mountain; and they were pieces of garbage that didn’t belong on such a beautiful peak. People have been saying that for 40-plus years but no one has ever done anything about it. I applaud him not just talking about what needed to be done, but actually taking action.
In climbing, action is all that really matters. My writing, your responses, forum posts, campfire debates, and, above all, the ubiquitous arguments I’ve read online that muddle things up by making climbing into something abstract and metaphysical—all of that is ultimately nugatory. To anyone still grumbling and grousing over the loss of the Compressor Route, I present this option: go up there and replace the bolts if you’d really prefer to follow Maestri’s directissimma as opposed to the mountain’s natural line. Or, another option: find out the size of the holes, and bring up a rack of removable bolts if you had your heart set on taking a stroll down history lane and repeateing Maestri’s path. Either one of those actions, to me, is better than criticizing, complaining and especially espousing more notional concepts that have been concoted as if the sport of climbing is something that’s entirely metaphysical. Climbing is anything but metaphysical! This shit’s the most real shit on the real, yo!
Though this debate has been interesting to think about, I think it’s also dangerous to plunge too far down the metaphysical pipeline, because then climbing is no longer real. Because it must be real. It must be experienced to be understood. For reasons that are sacred.
I find it encouraging to see a new generation of gym-bred sport climbers (like Hayden) use their sport-honed talent in the mountains and do amazing things there while remaining true to our sport’s traditional heritage. This is something that the climbing community should be celebrating because it shows that we are headed in the right direction.
Anyway … onto the interviews. Please continue reading on the next few pages …
There are probably more mundane than metaphysical reasons in some people’s opposition to the removal of the bolts. The route has been made harder (i don´t know how much harder) and maybe there are local guides that won´t be able to take customers to it. That´s an impact in their economy that probably Hayden and Jason did not have in mind when doing what they did. If people got that angry probably it is because restoring the route to its original condition would remove it’s legend or it´s “touristic” appeal.
Not that i could call myself a climber, least an alpinist but this subject touches me quite, cause i think they really had no right to do what they did. Maestri did wrong for sure. But the damage, to the mountain, has not been repaired and some people has felt it as an affront and i can see why. Climbing is about freedom, and imposing your views to others is not what i understand as freedom. Of course, someone could go back up there and replace the bolts but then all this nonsense would never end.