The now infamous SuperTopo thread was innocently started by Coz with “I’ve been in Mexico working for four months and away from all this, can anyone tell me if this is true? I can not believe it myself. I just read in Rock and Ice a story call, The Better Half. Please tell me, I read it all wrong.”
As of 2:43 p.m. mountain time on April 29, there were 2029 posts in response. All the ethical debating and mudslinging has set a new SuperTopo record and given foreign climbing sites something to talk about. For those who haven’t been following, here’s an excellent wrap-up posted by Russ Walling for a confused reader:
Summary for the Kman:
SFHD rap bolted by a naked talus runner and a pro climber, who also does construction to feed his kids. Route is probably great, but since style is still important to many, FA guys are getting an earful. Other guys are loving the new way to do giant walls safely, and are coming to the defense of the FA guys. Many old crustys in the fray. Lots of bad spelling. Young guys poking old guys with sharpened stick clips…. old guys peeing on ball-less young guys….. Since opinions are like bungholes, even 5.4 leaders from the Gunks are lipping up along with the hardest of the hard from every era. No end in sight.
Sorry to give out the beta for those attempting the onsight of 100 pages of posts, but it’s not worth it.
Maybe Zach will chop the bolts and there will be another 2,000 post thread about whether or not to rebolt it. The recent comments about Matt Segal’s ascent of China Doll or Steph Davis’s ascent of Concepcion indicate that bolting will always be controversial, but tick mark ethics are also under attack.