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Show Russell Jacobs 3 March 2010 necessarily the big issue. The big issue is more the traffic that comes along with a fixed route, so that there's more people traveling to that climb. So it's the traffic that's the issue, even more so than the fixed gear. Do you feel that that's ... RJ: Well, climbing sport has exploded exponentially, for sure, and certainly with the development of, and the shops that are springing up everywhere, providing equipment, I mean, it's a great sport, there's a lot of challenge there. So for those that feel the need for that challenge ... MD: And adventure. RJ: And an adventure, it's going to draw climbers. Yeah, it's exploded population wise enormously since I was, in the late '70s, early '80s. Yeah, you almost have to queue up early or be overrun by climbers waiting to do those routes. Case in point: Sentinel in Yosemite, which was typically done as a two-day climb. People are doing it in one day. If it wasn't for us being there before light, Les Ellison and myself, you would have been turned away. If you're the fourth party on any given day queued up for that route you might as well forget it. In fact, the fourth party on the route, we only heard their voices; we never saw them. The three parties that followed us were all European. That's just one case, it's, yeah, you have to ... even on the Grand Teton, Grand is certainly ... campsites are only allowing so many people. So during the season in the Tetons, the mountain is maxed out as far as how many people will be on the mountain any given day and it's been that way for at least twenty years. The campsites which are four, sometimes five, they're only allowed so many per campsite. Once those permits are issued, they don't issue any more for that day. When you're on any route, you're queuing up with other climbers. Sometimes it's allowed that you can bypass if you're a faster climber, certainly 5 |
