Field Notes

Notes on Route Development

Three seasons of scrubbing, bolting, and learning what the rock will give you.

When I first rappelled into the West Face of Dome Rock in late October, the wall was unclimbed and entirely unknown. No chalk marks, no fixed gear, no recorded attempts — just eight hundred feet of impeccable granite split by three discontinuous crack systems. Establishing new routes is not about conquest; it is about listening to what the stone offers and committing to the fewest permanent marks necessary.

Ground-Up Ethics in the Age of Power Drills

The ground-up tradition holds that a first ascensionist should lead from the bottom, placing protection on lead and drilling bolts by hand. In practice, this means spending hours hanging from hooks while operating a hand drill — a commitment that filters out all but the most motivated developers. The 2023 season on Dome Rock required eighteen days of work across six weeks, most of it spent suspended five hundred feet above the talus with only the sound of wind and the tick of the hammer against steel.