Old slings at Tahquitz/Lily Rock

Today while climbing The Step on the Upper Bulge of Lily Rock I ran into some old, fried slings and remembered the two sad accidents that happened last year (one at Joshua Tree and one on the Royal Arches a few yards away). I decided to remove them and the knife cut them with one extremely easy cut, they pretty much disintegrated. I would like to encourage the more experienced climbers to do it too, so the less experienced climbers will not use them risking their lives.

This is a small portion of the tat I've collected at Tahquitz in recent years:

Clean that tat. Better yet, stop leaving it.

chains

apogee wrote:

This is a small portion of the tat I've collected at Tahquitz in recent years:

Clean that tat. Better yet, stop leaving it.

I accumulated my first rack on tahquitz

Andrea Campanella wrote:

Today while climbing The Step on the Upper Bulge of Lily Rock I ran into some old, fried slings and remembered the two sad accidents that happened last year (one at Joshua Tree and one on the Royal Arches a few yards away). I decided to remove them and the knife cut them with one extremely easy cut, they pretty much disintegrated. I would like to encourage the more experienced climbers to do it too, so the less experienced climbers will not use them risking their lives.

So when did everyone start calling it “Lily Rock”?

Andrea, Removing old tat has been a way of life for climbers for, 75 years. Carry new webbing to use and a knife to remove the old crap is what smart climbers do.

But thanks for the reminder, it was truly a tragedy when that whole party dropped off of Taquits a year or two back.

Later 

And yet bolt anchors are the big baddies. Lol

Jared E wrote:

And yet bolt anchors are the big baddies. Lol

Slings (and gear) are being left presumably (almost entirely) due to unexpected retreats. These were not intended to be belay anchors (gear placements are abundant at Tahquitz).

The suggestion that bolted anchors (and "chains" suggested above) be placed where natural gear is readily available is more than a bit misguided.

Trusting someone else's old tat has always been a recipe for potential disaster. Removing it when encountered is a better approach and a public service.

Randy wrote:

Slings (and gear) are being left presumably (almost entirely) due to unexpected retreats. These were not intended to be belay anchors (gear placements are abundant at Tahquitz).

The suggestion that bolted anchors (and "chains" suggested above) be placed where natural gear is readily available is more than a bit misguided.

Trusting someone else's old tat has always been a recipe for potential disaster. Removing it when encountered is a better approach and a public service.

I wasn’t suggesting bolted belays for gear protectable stances. I had assumed this was for rap descent

Jared E wrote:

I wasn’t suggesting bolted belays for gear protectable stances. I had assumed this was for rap descent

“An assumption is the joke; truth the punchline.”

Jared E wrote:

I wasn’t suggesting bolted belays for gear protectable stances. I had assumed this was for rap descent

There's a walk off from Tahquitz. Two different ways, even. Most of the tat on the mountain is from 5.12 gym climbers bailing off their first 5.4 trad climb...

Andrew Rice wrote:

There's a walk off from Tahquitz. Two different ways, even. Most of the tat on the mountain is from 5.12 gym climbers bailing off their first 5.4 trad climb...

I see. Tat raps aren’t uncommon where I am and I resent them for the same reasons as shown in the OP

Jared E wrote:

I see. Tat raps aren’t uncommon where I am and I resent them for the same reasons as shown in the OP

Tahquitz is a pretty crusty, traditional area. Even IF someone installed rap anchors (there are a number of routes that it would be a definite shortcut), the old school would chop them in a heartbeat because the tradition is to walk off. 

Andrew Rice wrote:

Tahquitz is a pretty crusty, traditional area. Even IF someone installed rap anchors (there are a number of routes that it would be a definite shortcut), the old school would chop them in a heartbeat because the tradition is to walk off. 

Oh I’m sure

We ‘crusty local old schoolers’ would cut them because tat is (dangerous) trash, not because of some expectation that walking off is somehow superior.

apogee wrote:

We ‘crusty local old schoolers’ would cut them because tat is (dangerous) trash, not because of some expectation that walking off is somehow superior.

He meant chop new bolts, not cut tat

While we're on the topic, there was some older-looking tat at the top of pitch 3 on Constellation (the one next to Long Climb).  I wasn't able to remove the tat but it was solid white like in the OP's post.

If someone happens to go up that route, might be worth removing it.

apogee wrote:

We ‘crusty local old schoolers’ would cut them because tat is (dangerous) trash, not because of some expectation that walking off is somehow superior.

I was talking about bolted rap anchors. "Convenience anchors" as they like to call them in J-tree. Like, for example, if someone bolted a series of rap anchors from the top of Angels Fright down, toward Lunch Rock, how long do you think that would last? 

Thanks for the clarification.

Prolly not long, if they just suddenly appeared without the involvement of someone with longstanding knowledge of this area. I might not chop them myself, but I’d applaud the efforts anyone made to do so.

Just to clarify what I mean:

1- New bolts and chains are NOT the solution. Established routes should be climbed and  LEFT as the first ascenders did.

2- It can happen that -in an emergency- we need to leave slings or gear to rap down quickly. It is an emergency. 

3- We all were new climbers at some point and we should not forget it. 

4- We all did our mistakes and some of us are still alive just because of an extremely fortunate stroke of good luck (including myself)! Not because we are better.

5-  New climbers do not know the risks of using fixed gear (it is a fact!). Old slings can even look okay when wet....

6- Old climbers do know the risks, and can help preventing accidents and also avoid the more experienced ones to expose themselves during rescue operations.

7- We all carry gear when climbing and leaving a few pieces behind in case of emergency must NOT be a big deal (if it were slings it may be less expensive then the gas we used to go climbing that day).

8- Eventually, we can go back the next day and retrieve our gear or ask the MP community to do it for us. I know the majority of us would do it!   

Let's keep our community safe by watching for each other!