An open Inquiry into the establishment of ‘young guns’ at Big Sleep.

[YETI]

I would like to publicly ask Jeremy Ross to shed some light upon his routes ‘direct variation to Drench warfare, and the ‘young guns’ route at Big Sleep.

In the guidebook, it lists you as FA for the first 1.5 pitches of Drench Warfare.  Below are a few questions myself and partners would like answered as we did not have the benefit of knowing you had done the initial pitch until  the guidebook came out.

1-Did you free solo the crack up to the left leaning (P2) arch, then continue out left following the arch before you walked off to climbers left? 1.5 pitches would put you well above the arch, near the pitches only bolt?. Can you please explain exactly where you free soloed in this area?

2- You apparently did this free solo in 08.  Drench warfare was done much later, yet you never made mention of having done this to any one of the 4 people involved in the route after it was completed.  Why, after you were made aware of our ascent did you not contact us with the information you provided for the guidebook?

3-Your Brother Justin made a post on Supertopo regarding Drench Warfare. In that post he  spelled out his frustration in the way we equipped our route, yet again, no mention was made of your ascent prior to ours.  Why again, after this encounter did you not contact any one of us to clear the air?

4-Did you give permission to Tom Slater to add an anchor, below our P1 belay for his route ‘Young guns’?

5-If so, why did you not contact any one of the 4 of us to ask for our input seeing as the guidebook lists your solo, and our ascent for the FA Credit of Drench Warfare.

I just want to get the story straight.  I find it odd that you would withhold this information from us, full well knowing that we had completed our route having used 1.5 pitches of your free solo.  You seemed inclined to turn this information into gram for the guidebook credits, so it was obviously important enough to you to detail your path for the topo. 
Thank you in advance for reading this, and possibly replying to my query.



Now these next few questions are directed toward Tom Slater, in reference to your route ‘Young guns’

1-   Is this the route you intended on establishing when you asked John if you could add an anchor on ‘our’ route for a warmup?

2-   When John specifically told you not to add that anchor, did you then go to Jeremy for permission to add it, or did you not know he had already free soloed it and in turn retrobolted the route without permission of the FA parties?

3-   Were you aware that your line had already been climbed by myself and Sue on the day we finished Drench Warfare?

4-   Why did you bolt your anchor right next to a protectable crack?

Your anchor now creates a dangerous situation for any team that chooses to use it when climbing Drench warfare.  From your anchor, a climber will not be able to reach our P2 belay, even with a 70m if they choose to use the single nut placement on the pitch in addition to the lone bolt.  This not only creates a hazardous situation for the leader but the follower as well. This is why you were told NOT to install that hardware.

I find it disturbing that you chose to alter our route and Jeremy’s free solo in this manner.  You thought enough on it to ask us first which was honorable, yet chose to defy our request.

I hope you will chime in here and explain your actions.

Best Regards,

Josh Mucci

[Justin R]

Josh,
I think email would be better to reach either Jeremy or Tom, cause I don't think either of them frequent this website. I can give my knowledge of this, but can't speak for either of them. First, I know for a fact Jeremy did not want to be listed in the fa credit, and he never soloed it, he placed one piece and I think he had to eventually downclimb after he realized he would need a bolt. I believe his wife kinda talked him out of it and not sure if he was going for an fa or thought it was a route already done and after a pitch and a half saw no anchors and downclimbed it. Like I said I don't know the exact facts, but I know Jeremy didnt want to be listed or credited with the fa.
Not sure what you're referring to of me slamming the way you guys equipped the route, I do have a bad memory and the only thing I recall is maybe making fun of 1/4 buttonheads drilled from a stance. This after you were referring to us as poofters, haha. I could give two shits now, I try not to hold a grudge and some real injuries have made me rethink the seriousness of climbing.
Regards.

[YETI]

Justin-

Big thanks for clarifying, I appreciate the straight shooting.

No grudge here man, you and I buried it. 

I am just amazed at the discrepancies, and blatant disregard of FA submissions found throughout that book.


Hope your doing well, injuries be damned.

Cheers

[John]

Putting in this route was a totally intentional dick move by Tom Slater.

Big Sleep arguably has the lowest concentration of climbs of any big formation on the ridge and he puts a dumb route right into Drench Warfare and bolts cracks. Why not around Afternoon Nap? Plenty of room over there.

Anyhoo, I figure Slater watches this site so I am publicly offering that Slater, if you want the hardware for your route back, it is all hanging from the third pitch anchor of Drench Warfare. We rebolted the route last weekend so at least there is no 1/4" hardware any more and P3 has two bolts now so it is a good one for the kiddies.

Your anchor was, A) 6 inches from bomber cracks, and B)right in the middle of a pitch of our route and you darn well know it is not welcome there as we discussed by email years ago. That said, we have no right to say if you can or cannot put a route there but if the hardware gets re-installed the anchor hardware will be removed and hung back on the third pitch of Drench Warfare where you can pick it up at your leisure. You will be left with a 50' bolted 5.4 route with no way to get down unless you climb 6 pitches of runout climbing or downclimb-solo. Good job man. Nice example for the kids.