No really, trust me

Solid?

This past weekend I was fortunate enough to spend Saturday on Pinnacle Buttress and Sunday on Sliding Board at White Horse. On Pinnacle Buttress we came across several pins and on Sliding Board we came across some left over “booty” - a small nut and a carabiner. I clipped all of them. Some of them I backed up, and some I did not. The one’s that looked solid I clipped independently and the one’s that looked questionable, like the one pictured above, I backed up. Sometimes I feel absolutely confident about the placement and sometimes I do not.

Now I have not been climbing for very long, but I came to the realization that there is no set, sure-fire way to measure the durability of left over pins, passive or active protection while on a route. Cams, nuts, pins, old knotted up runners, and tricams that have been left behind during emergency repels, through the generosity of local care takers, or placed with a tad too much enthusiasm can be found all over the world. Sometimes they can be claimed as “booty”, ignored and not used, or provide the only protection to be found anywhere on that particular section of the route.

While climbing with three folks from Spain in the Fitz Roy Range (Amy Coulier, Aguja Guillaumet - East face) in January of 2011 I learned that not everyone looks at left over protection the same way. I was, compared to the rest of my party, far more skeptical of the integrity of the repel stations we were using. I did back one anchor up (to the amusement of my friends from Spain), but the rest of the stations passed my on site, thirty second scrutinies. A year later I landed on the other side of skeptical when I did not back up three pins as an anchor at the top of a climb on Cathedral called Black Lung. As far as my friend was concerned, a three pin anchor was not a safe option and it should have been backed up. I do not think, at this point, that I was wrong and he was right. Or, for that matter the other way around. What I do think is that when I climb with this particular friend I will take into consideration not only my judgement, but his.

For me there is a great deal of technical information that is essential to staying safe on a climb. No one should ever underestimate how important that can be. But there is also good old fashioned judgement that seems to be a mix of experience, art and confidence that is constantly shifting and expanding.