Message Thread from Facebook

I sent out a message on facebook to create discussion on the issue of fixed chains on routes in Arkansas.  Facebook, for a variety of reasons, isn’t a good place for that discussion.  So, I’ve transplanted the original message, as well as all of the comments, to this post.  Please try to be conversational, otherwise this is a waste of time.

–Chad Davis

Dear friends,

If you are not aware, there’s a bit of a controversy brewing in the Arkansas climbing community. The central issue is that some climbers are putting fixed chains on routes that were previously established without such niceties. By fixed chains, I’m referring to 10 inches of heavy chain link attached permanently to the bolt hangar on one end and to a carabiner on the terminal end. This amounts to a permanently fixed draw.

There are generally two reasons for this. First, on particularly steep routes, as in Kentucky’s horizontal terrain, it can make it easier to clip. Second, you can conveniently climb grades beyond your onsight limits since you don’t need to worry about leaving bail gear behind; you can just lower off of the fixed chain-draw.

Normally, the accepted community standard is that the first ascentionist gets to determine the style of a route. This rule is widely accepted. I personally think it’s perhaps a bit too simple. For instance, it leaves room for people to free solo first ascents on grades well below their own climbing level. In this case, the rule fails because it allows folks who are climbing well to enforce their style on climbers of lower levels. I cite this example only to acknowledge that the community standard of the first ascent precedent is a nebulous and not always “good” way to determine what should and should not occur.

Acknowledging this, I will go beyond a mere restatement of the accepted “style of the first ascentionist” rights when saying that I absolutely, positively don’t want to see chains hanging off of the many beautiful routes that I established in Arkansas. I put those routes up and I will remove any unsightly, and unnecessary, hardware I find on them. ( And don’t try to tell me that I am stealing; I’m fairly certain that there’s no such thing as property rights on things left in the woods. )

But, as I said, I will explain myself. Let’s try to carry on like more like a community than members of oppositional political parties. My position starts from several key principles, that I would hope are shared by the majority of climbers. Please speak up if you disagree with these. 1) Climbing is better than other “sports” because it provides a spiritual and aesthetic satisfaction far beyond competition and personal glory. 2) Climbing takes place in the natural environment, and that environment is taking a frontal assault as the world rapidly overpopulates.

My logic is simple. The spiritual and aesthetic aspects of climbing are something special. They are not about convenience. They are not about numbers. They are the motivational soul that will keep you psyched and continue to nourish your soul throughout your life. If you run out of psych, you we’re chasing numbers and ego. This is the energy that led me to hand paint my bolt hangers and anchors so that the beauty of the rock wouldn’t be marred. When I see a couple pounds of raw chain hanging from each bolt, it is VERY hard to believe that the folks who installed that stuff are feeling the spiritual / aesthetic connection.

And this lead nicely back to point number 2. Climbing takes place in the natural environment. As the world overpopulates, the natural environment will become more and more damaged. Not just from industry and global warming, but from user impact. As we speak, climber areas ARE being closed due to heavy impact. This will only increase. Even if you are unconcerned with the spiritual and aesthetic, simple access to climbing demands that we focus on minimizing impact as much as possible. If we don’t address this, access will be restricted at some point during our lifetimes. I’m only 40 years old, I fully intend to be sending for another 3 or 4 decades. Protecting access by minimizing impact should be the priority of every climber. Again, a couple pounds of chain hanging from every bolt is not the way to minimize impact.

I can see no other excuse for these fixed chains except convenience. If convenience outweighs your sense of spiritual and aesthetic reward, you’ll run out of psyche long before you run out of life — and that won’t be fun. While it’s easy to detect the ire in my words here, I hope it’s also easy to detect my love for climbing. And if I have climbed with you, or even spoke with you about climbing, I think we both know that we share this love. I believe that we all know that climbing is better than other “pass times”, and we should hold ourselves to the highest standards.

Peace,
Chad

FACEBOOK REPLIES

From David McGee

Well spoken. I agree. Anywhere we can voice this opinion that might make a difference?

From Corey Canada

Well said Chad.

From Lori Boren

Dear Chad, thank you for that response. It was beautiful and physically brought me to tears. While reading it I could see and hear an opaque view of you, Mary and Baxter. Anyway I love all those experiences in AR and we value your friendship with the highest regard.

From Clay Frisbie

Chad I think you said exactly how I feel. I could not have expressed it more clearly and you covered every aspect of it from first ascent ethics that have flaws to the importance of keeping access to the public climbing areas. I do believe that climbers have put the chains up with good intent to make climbs “better”, but I also believe they really are ugly and are not worth the trade-off.
Not to be a hypocrit. I have put chains up at Horseshoe Canyon which is basically an outdoor climbing gym with the permision of the owner but I have never considered putting up fixed chain draws anywhere else. I would hope that the ethcis of bolting and such that have been used at Horseshoe Canyon have not been confused with all the public climbing areas. Horseshoe Canyon is a paid Outdoor Climbing Gym. Please anyone who finds any fixed draws on any route I have put up you are welcome to remove them.

From Stark Ligon

Hey guys, I was directed to this post by a friend. I no longer live in Arkansas, but as recently as 2 months ago I did live in arkansas. During the last 2 years of living there, I either personally developed or had my hands in developing over 100 sport pitches. Many of those pitches I equipped with fixed draws, due to the steep nature of the routes and difficulty in cleaning them. I personally invested thousands of dollars on bolts, bits, chains, and biners.

I need to apologize for originally putting fixed draws on Flying Elvis. I should probably also apologize for replacing the badly rusted and IMHO dangerous bolts on Flying Elvis about 5 years ago. I recall 1 bolt (crux) sticking over 1.5 inches out of the rock, and 2 other bolts the sleeves crumbled to rust in my hands after i removed them.

I can’t recall hanging fixed chains on any other routes that I didn’t have the express permission from the 1st ascentionist. Since then I have fixed plenty of routes, but only my own or other friends who liked the idea of fixed draws.

As with any debate there are always going to be different sides. I only saw people reiterating the same point, that fixed draws are bad and ruin climbing. I guess that’s why places like the Red, and Rifle are so unpopular as climbing destinations.

Regardless I thought I should share my differing opinion to balance the debate a little. I also feel that I speak for countless individuals that have personally thanked me and some of my friends for the hard work and hardware investment we made to Arkansas. Lacking any official count….i’d say i’ve had close to 100 climbers express their appreciation for the routes i’ve bolted and the fixed draws i’ve left on them. As such I ask that other climbers leave MY routes’ fixed hardware intact. That’s how i wanted them done, so that’s how i did it.

But before you get emotional over some metal hanging off of 60 foot cliffs in arkansas, go to D-rock, go to Hudson Mtn, go to any of the other crags my friends and I developed and at least try our routes before you blame them for the downfall of the sport. If you don’t like my routes or the ‘convenience’ of the fixed chains, keep walking, there’s bound to be something you like further down the cliff.

From Chad Davis

Stark — I’m not sure that the “popularity” of other climbing areas and practices amounts to much of an argument. And I’ll be more than happy to climb your routes, and I look forward to visiting all of the AR crags that have been developed in the past few years.

This isn’t about seeing who can come up with the best comebacks. It’s about the health and future of climbing. With that in mind, I’d still like to understand how you balance convenience against aesthetics and access issues? Access or Convenience? I can’t see much debatable ground.

From Rich McDade

I agree whole heartedly, I do not climb because it is easy or popular. I have used fixed draws of course, but it is not my preference and do not like the look of a crag with lots of dangling hardware. Even long anchor chains are an eyesore in my book. And while I’m at it, I hate seeing tickmarks on every hand and foot hold because I do not like to be told how to climb. Pull the chain draws and brush em up. Low key has always been my favorite way to go