Midnight Lightning Bolt Erased

jamesclucas.blogspot.com/

This James Lucas guy sounds really brave. So brave, that he decided to erase the bolt under cover of darkness.

How is this news?

And yet, this really bothers people? It was done in chalk, has washed off numerous times due to rain, been put back, been modified, and is currently redone since the day after James cleaned it off.

But some graffitti is sacred, amirite?

The lightning bolt in question:

That guy is at tool.

what a fuknut

What is bothersome is that James Lucas took it upon himself to erase what could be considered a modern petroglyph, rather than a mark of graffiti. He took it on himself, under the cover of darkness, and without the consent of others, to remove this marking. This would be akin to smashing a route plaque at Indian Creek.

While I agree that it has been washed off by rain, and will likely be just as easily re-drawn by others as it has in the past, the intentional act of removing it I find brazen and uncalled for.

Do I really care? No. I haven't sent the problem.

And I doubt James Lucas has either.

It's like crossing your heart in the pews, brah.

More on the Taco:

supertopo.com/climbers-foru…

It's OK a bald guy redrew it .

Seriously, stop linking to his blog. That turd doesn't deserve the traffic.

As I commented on blog... I don't get it. What does this blogger thinks he is doing??

This person provides a history of how the lightening bolt got there, complete with quotations from climbing legends to take us back in time, and then proceeds to make it "look like every other rock in Yosemite???"

Obviously if it was important enough to blog about, it is important. I don't blog every time I brush excess chalk from holds, or when I clean trash from the street.

Bunch of dudes focusing on the least permanent thing JB "created" rather than the hundreds of things he left us in routes. If you want to remember JB, go climb the thing and be awed by the vision of putting it up, not get hung up on his poor art that (as it has been pointed out) has washed off naturally before.

Yeah, ML is an iconic route, but that isn't because of the bolt.

It's just the balls on the guy I'm surprised at. This is the same guy that pulled Dale Bards anchor on OZ.

Jeff Kent wrote:It's just the balls on the guy I'm surprised at. This is the same guy that pulled Dale Bards anchor on OZ.

He is? I missed that when I reread that thread.

Same guy. I worked in the valley for a few years, that's him.

Stupid move. Stupider even to blog about it. To paraphrase Mark Twain, it's better to let people believe you're a dimwit rather than open your mouth and remove all doubts. Maybe he felt left out what all the attention over pulling the bolts on Cerro Torre.

What anchor on Oz?

It would appear that James craves negative attention. Surely he isn't oblivious to the reaction both acts would get him.

The bolt removal on oz. was almost a decade ago now , some of the bolts were manky 1/4 inchers, and an intermediate anchor next to a crack . Many folks , including myself , we're fine with seeing the unnecessary hardware go .

Again , his inflammatory style about posting about that incident was what rankled a lot of feathers , kind of like the dumb lightning bolt thing now.

Good riddance to the (lightning) bolt , I worked and climbed with James in Yos. in 02' , he's a nice guy , the bolt thing now is kind of weird though...Not sure what his motivations are

Attention.

Sadly I was wondering if it was just a trick to draw eyes to his blog ....

...seems like it has worked.

It's unfortunate though because IMO James is a talented writer , he has written many fine pieces about climbing , the bolt thing is not a good representation.

vincent L. wrote:Sadly I was wondering if it was just a trick to draw eyes to his blog .... ...seems like it has worked. It's unfortunate though because IMO James is a talented writer , he has written many fine pieces about climbing , the bolt thing is not a good representation.

The only other thing I have read on his blog is about his fall. I thought it was well written. I won't be visiting his site again though, that's for sure.

Edit: Oh, and however happy people were to see the anchor go, he never even bothered to get in touch with the FA. That is a prick move. That's what I will remember.