New Routes in American Fork Canyon

Hey guys! I am a free soloist and rope soloist in the Utah county area. Because I free solo, I have found several routs to the top of ridges that aren’t routes yet! I was wondering what the process to getting these routes, and other even turning single pitches into multiple pitch climbs into official routes, would be? Does anyone know?

Historically speaking, this is a 'don't ask too many questions' topic. This is a very grey area. Just know that it is illegal to place bolts with a power drill within designated Wilderness Areas, which some of AF is. Its debatable whether leaving any fixed gear is actually legal anywhere (grey zone). Route establishment is expensive and should be done in a highly though out fashion to both damage the rock the least amount possible as well as make the route climb well. Alpine routes with easy sections, for instance, shouldn't be chain bolted. Furthermore, some routes are not suited to being rigged to rap, due to several issues, including sticking ropes and rockfall. You also want to be sure to place fixed anchors correctly, or they can pose a serious safety issue, or degrade rapidly over time if placed improperly.

Good Luck, (to your bank account mostly if you have a bunch of stuff in mind)

This is random as hell.  By free soloing I guess you mean just sort of scrambling around?   You do realize that an "official route" means it's good enough (and safe enough) for other people to want to go try it.

My suggestion is that you start climbing with other people and hang up the free/solo gig, for now. Once you gain experience climbing with others, leading roped pitches, etc., you can go back to your free/solo lines. Along the way, you’ll learn where you want bolts placed, and more importantly, where you don’t want them placed. You’ll encounter numerous anchor types and figure out what will work best on your solo lines.
I feel that unless you have a few years of roped climbing with others, that you and others won’t be happy with the routes you create.
 Be patient, be persistent, train hard, listen to others who have gone before you, and you are likely to have a bright future in climbing. 

Every new post sounds like a bot to me these days. I think this is the beginning of the end.

We may have to go back to communicating with each other verbally, as in speaking!!

Jaren Watson wrote:

Samuel, sincere question—how does a free soloist and rope soloist not know how to open a route?

Well I know how to put in the bolts and I have experience building routes, but they’ve all been at a family owned indoor gym. I was wondering what the process would be for putting them in outside. Especially because of laws and regulations.

Russ Keane wrote:

This is random as hell.  By free soloing I guess you mean just sort of scrambling around?   You do realize that an "official route" means it's good enough (and safe enough) for other people to want to go try it.

Yes I do know that and when I say free solo I mean climbing official routes without ropes and climbing routes I’ve found at areas with other public routes. If you’ve seen the movie “Free Solo” featuring Alex Honnold, I do stuff like that, except it isn’t El Cap lol. All the routes I’ve found I have climbed multiple times and are just as safe as all the routes in the surrounding area. Good rock for bolts, challenging climbs but nothing unsafe or ridiculous, and even to good ground for belayers to stand on. 

Samuel Winder wrote:

Well I know how to put in the bolts and I have experience building routes, but they’ve all been at a family owned indoor gym.

IOW you have basically zero experience. And no, you don't know how to put in bolts in actual rock.

These bots are getting good these days 

Find local route developers. They will answer all your questions. Route development must abide by local norms, ethics, guidelines, and laws. The people who will be able to answer your questions are therefore local route developers. See if any developers whose routes you think are good quality have been putting up routes recently or are active on MP and send them some emails. 

Things route developers look for in a mentee: 

• Being willing to carry a heavy load 
• Being eager to learn and letting their mentor set the pace of what they do when 
• Zero complaining
• No hesitation about getting dirty or doing boring, mindless scrubbing and gardening 
• Money for hardware (this one goes a really long way for most of us) 
• Someone who has done enough of that discipline to know where a bolt should and shouldn't go. You should understand good bolt spacing for both sport and trad from just climbing. 

Things route developers do not want: 

• Questions about whether or not you'll get to "actually climb that day" 
• Wanting the loads carried in to be equal and "fair." They're teaching you, offer to take as much weight as you can. Seriously. 
• Being concerned about getting your nice clothes dirty. Don't take your nice clothes and if you're not filthy by the end of the day then you probably didn't take enough of your mentor's workload. Aim to be dirtier than your mentor at the end of the day. 
• Someone who doesn't actually know anything about outdoor climbing and what typical bolting looks like on their area
• Being argumentative about how they do things. If you don't like how someone puts up routes simply find another developer to be your mentor. If someone only puts up bold, hard climbs while hand drilling then it'll be on you when you're twenty feet runout hand drilling from a stance with your mentor yelling at you that you can't put a bolt in for another twenty feet. 

With these considerations in mind you should be able to write some compelling emails that most route developers would be delighted to reply to and take you on as a mentee. 

Under no circumstances would I consider going out on your own without a mentor a suitable option. 

Ricky Harline wrote:

Find local route developers. They will answer all your questions. Route development must abide by local norms, ethics, guidelines, and laws. The people who will be able to answer your questions are therefore local route developers. See if any developers whose routes you think are good quality have been putting up routes recently or are active on MP and send them some emails. 

Things route developers look for in a mentee: 

• Being willing to carry a heavy load 
• Being eager to learn and letting their mentor set the pace of what they do when 
• Zero complaining
• No hesitation about getting dirty or doing boring, mindless scrubbing and gardening 
• Money for hardware (this one goes a really long way for most of us) 
• Someone who has done enough of that discipline to know where a bolt should and shouldn't go. You should understand good bolt spacing for both sport and trad from just climbing. 

Things route developers do not want: 

• Questions about whether or not you'll get to "actually climb that day" 
• Wanting the loads carried in to be equal and "fair." They're teaching you, offer to take as much weight as you can. Seriously. 
• Being concerned about getting your nice clothes dirty. Don't take your nice clothes and if you're not filthy by the end of the day then you probably didn't take enough of your mentor's workload. Aim to be dirtier than your mentor at the end of the day. 
• Someone who doesn't actually know anything about outdoor climbing and what typical bolting looks like on their area
• Being argumentative about how they do things. If you don't like how someone puts up routes simply find another developer to be your mentor. If someone only puts up bold, hard climbs while hand drilling then it'll be on you when you're twenty feet runout hand drilling from a stance with your mentor yelling at you that you can't put a bolt in for another twenty feet. 

With these considerations in mind you should be able to write some compelling emails that most route developers would be delighted to reply to and take you on as a mentee. 

Under no circumstances would I consider going out on your own without a mentor a suitable option. 

I think another thing mentors don't appreciate is when people act like it's there rock. Odds are pretty good someone else has done some of these routes already. Be sure to share in your FA's and try not to gatekeep. They will want to come back for more if it feels like a team effort and not just a way to get your name on mountain project. Depending on the rock cleanong the route is typically some of the most time consuming parts. Be sure to have the tools nessisary to work with the rock. There are some great developers in that area. Just show them you are worthy of there time and you'll be on the right track.

Ricky Harline wrote:

Find local route developers. They will answer all your questions. Route development must abide by local norms, ethics, guidelines, and laws. The people who will be able to answer your questions are therefore local route developers. See if any developers whose routes you think are good quality have been putting up routes recently or are active on MP and send them some emails. 

Things route developers look for in a mentee: 

• Being willing to carry a heavy load 
• Being eager to learn and letting their mentor set the pace of what they do when 
• Zero complaining
• No hesitation about getting dirty or doing boring, mindless scrubbing and gardening 
• Money for hardware (this one goes a really long way for most of us) 
• Someone who has done enough of that discipline to know where a bolt should and shouldn't go. You should understand good bolt spacing for both sport and trad from just climbing. 

Things route developers do not want: 

• Questions about whether or not you'll get to "actually climb that day" 
• Wanting the loads carried in to be equal and "fair." They're teaching you, offer to take as much weight as you can. Seriously. 
• Being concerned about getting your nice clothes dirty. Don't take your nice clothes and if you're not filthy by the end of the day then you probably didn't take enough of your mentor's workload. Aim to be dirtier than your mentor at the end of the day. 
• Someone who doesn't actually know anything about outdoor climbing and what typical bolting looks like on their area
• Being argumentative about how they do things. If you don't like how someone puts up routes simply find another developer to be your mentor. If someone only puts up bold, hard climbs while hand drilling then it'll be on you when you're twenty feet runout hand drilling from a stance with your mentor yelling at you that you can't put a bolt in for another twenty feet. 

With these considerations in mind you should be able to write some compelling emails that most route developers would be delighted to reply to and take you on as a mentee. 

Under no circumstances would I consider going out on your own without a mentor a suitable option. 

Thanks guys! I’ll look into finding my local route setters. I have no problem working hard or putting money into buying the equipment to get the routes set. Thanks for the advice!

Tallan McCulloch wrote:

I think another thing mentors don't appreciate is when people act like it's there rock. Odds are pretty good someone else has done some of these routes already. Be sure to share in your FA's and try not to gatekeep. They will want to come back for more if it feels like a team effort and not just a way to get your name on mountain project. Depending on the rock cleanong the route is typically some of the most time consuming parts. Be sure to have the tools nessisary to work with the rock. There are some great developers in that area. Just show them you are worthy of there time and you'll be on the right track.

Yeah I don’t consider it as my rock haha. I just think they are more classic quality AF canyon climbs and it would be a shame to not set them. I couldn’t care less if it’s my name on the FA or someone else’s name