- Help support sustainable sport-climbing development in the Willamette valley. If you enjoy climbing on new routes with glue-in bolts, there is a way you can contribute!
- My name is JD Merritt. I’ve developed 175 new routes at crags near Eugene, 113 of them with your help after we began this fundraiser!
- These are routes for everyone ranging from 20 feet to 4 pitches, and 5.7 to 5.14. I’ve also re-bolted many routes, replacing aging and dangerous hardware. I’ve spent much of my time at Lookout Point, the Moondial, and Tidbits, but have also worked on routes at Eagle’s Rest, The Garden, The Wormhole, Katsuk Butte, Deathball Rock, Salt Creek Falls, Deception Butte, and Larison Rock. I believe the climbing in our beautiful backyard can be safe, environmentally sustainable, and user-friendly!
[Photo: John Sullivan.]
I’m asking for your help. Modern bolts with marine-grade (316) stainless steel are the sustainable choice in our wet climate and glueins have superior longevity and strength: especially in porous rock, lasting an estimated 50-100 years. On the other hand, the often-used zinc-plated mechanical bolts can rust to the point of failure after just 1-5 years! This is a great deal for the developer on the cheap: they might climb it once that season and move on to damage more rock elsewhere, but the community is paying the real cost, with potential bolt failures that are impossible to visually assess and lead to accidents around the world.
Glue-ins minimize visual and environmental impact, are vastly stronger, and resist corrosion even in the harshest environments. However, they are expensive, at ~8-20 dollars for one bolt and the required glue. This quickly adds up, with, for example: one 10-bolt route costing ~120 dollars with lower-off anchors, and another 100+ dollars even for homemade chain permadraws, and 200+ for cable draws. I have the time and the motivation, but I’m on a grad student salary: for route development with glue-ins to be financially sustainable I could use some help. Since I’ve lived here I’ve spent thousands on anchors and permanent hardware. Permadraws and durable lower-off anchors can add to the safety and convenience of sport routes, but they add significantly to the cost as well. Besides bolts, we’ve spent a ton of time and money on tools, trail building, and landscaping safe and erosion-resistant belay platforms. We spend endless hours cleaning (this is the single hardest part of development around here). You’ll be supporting new bolting, re-bolting (with permission from original first-ascensionists or the consensus of the community), fixed hardware, ongoing maintenance, and all kinds of crag stewardship. Any contribution, big or small, will directly improve crags you can climb at!
- I want to open-source the route development process. Many projects can be shared, and crags and routes should be a public resource. Once a project is bolted and cleaned I often publicly post it as open. Anyone can try these. While it’s often convenient to bolt and clean alone, the rock belongs to all of us.
[Photo: John Sullivan.]
- Feel free to comment with questions or feedback. Let us know what styles of route you’d like to see more of, if you have an interest in development or climbing clinics, some specific route that needs a permadraw or sport lower-off, rock you've found that has potential, or any kind of stoke or idea you’d like to share!
[Photo: John Sullivan.]
Organizer
JD Merritt
Organizer
Springfield, OR