Phil Druker/ Department of English/ UI  English317

Pitons, Bolts, and Chalk Oh My!

Interview Section

Climbing Ethics

    Introduce Before beginning the interview, Beiser pulled out a can of chewing tobacco and put a dip behind his lower lip. Characterization Without spitting, Beiser explained that when he started climbing in the 1970s, there were absolutely no climbing regulations and fairly lax ethics (Beiser, 2005). Interview During this time period, bolts were relatively new and not very common; “pitons were the standard” explained Beiser.  Pitons are spikes or wedge-like pieces of steel that climbers hammer into cracks to use as protection should the climber fall.  As the piton is hammered into a crack, it molds to the rock creating the tightest fit possible.  Obviously, pitons scar the rock every time they are placed or removed.  Beiser recalls a climb where cracks have even been visibly widened as a result of repetitive piton placement (Beiser, 2005). Interview Because of the scarring issues, piton use declined greatly since the 1960s when clean, removable protection became the norm.   This being said, pitons are still used in some aspects of climbing including winter climbing and mountaineering when cracks may be filled with ice (Mountaineers, 1997, p. 249). Article

    Introduce Bolts are fixed pieces of protection that are placed in a hole that has been drilled into the rock (Mountaineers, 1997, p. 216).  The first bolt in America was placed by David Brewer in New Mexico’s Shiprock in 1939 (Kerasote, 2000, p, 28).  Traditionally, bolts where only used to protect short sections of blank rock face where other protection could not be used; never to protect an entire route (Webster, 1990, p. 41).  <all facts from articles=note the synthesis

    IntroduceClimbing a route that has never been climbed before has always been an integral part of climbing.  By the 1980s, climbing had become very popular and most of the easily accessible, protectable, and climbable routs had already been climbed.  This sent climbers searching for different ways to climb new routs.  Climbers wanting to complete a first ascent of their own turned to climbs that were only protectable by bolts (Webster, 1990, p. 41). article With the invention of electric drills and specialized bits, thousands for new bolted routs went up.<analysis

    IntroduceTo get a better grasp on how climbing ethics have changed, I consulted the first and sixth edition of Mountaineering, Freedom of the Hills, which most of the climbing community considers the climbers’ bible.  When concerning previously placed pitons, the 1960 version states, “…any such piton should be removed and redriven before being given even limited confidence” (Mountaineering, 1960, p. 161).  The same book also states that, “The Western American School, however, considers it a point of honor to leave no sign of human passage and will go to great lengths removing not only their own pitons but also those left by previous parties (Mountaineering, 1960, p. 164).  In the same paragraph, the authors also say that the local ethic of an area needs considerable thought before this ethic is applied.