Cadillac Crag – Brand New Cadillac
Brand New Cadillac
“This application has three options. The first option is to add two bolts to the route “Brand New Cadillac” AND to move the current two bolts down slightly for better clipping. The second option would be to ONLY move the two current bolts. The third would be to leave the route in it’s current state.
| Route Name | Brand New Cadillac |
| Location | Cadillac Crag |
| Grade | 5.11c R |
| FA | David Houston, Kirk Peterson |
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Brand New Cadillac
- YES Option 1 (72%, 21 Votes)
- YES Option 2 (21%, 6 Votes)
- NO to both (7%, 2 Votes)
Total Voters: 29
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Looks like a spectacular line that could be a classic if more people dared to jump on it. It would probably still be pretty exciting with the 2 extra bolts.
Yes to option 1. Really good climbing on this route marred only by the poor 1980s bolting. Glad it’s going to get fixed up!
I just want to highlight that both of the first ascensionists are on board with option 1 to add a couple of bolts.
All in favor of first asenscionists fixing their route.
I don’t think this route needs any more bolts. One of Eldo’s hidden gems! Part of what makes this route special is the way it was bolted. Bold routes should remain bold, safe routes should remain safe.
I am in favor of moving the third bolt down about 1 foot to remove the nut extender.
I think that moving the bolts to improve the clipping stances is the best option.
Given that the route is rated R, I think that it should be maintained at that level.
I have not climbed the route but got feedback from someone who has.
I want Eldo to maintain it’s roots of having daring routes.
I could go either way on this application. It’s hard to say no to the FA wanting to change the character of their own route, especially one that hasn’t seen that much traffic over the years. I’ve made some of my own routes unnecessarily dangerous in the past and was happy to have the opportunity to fix them. Since this route was originally done top down, I can’t really think of the route as being particularly bold in the first place. This is all of course speculation from the comfort of my favorite easy chair and I’m sure I’d be terrified on the sharp end.
I think those in the community in favor of these kinds of routes need to clearly and honestly disclose whether they rehearsed the route top-down or not before sharing that opinion. My own opinion is that this style of climbing isn’t even trad climbing and shouldn’t be confused as such when citing the Eldorado tradition of facing risk with skill. It’s not ground-up climbing.
For what it’s worth, on the FA we top-roped it just enough to decide on bolt locations. After we placed the bolts we led it from the ground up but did not get it on sight, it took a few falls. This route was pretty much at our limit at the time. (still is for that matter!)
I vote for Option 1, although I’m conflicted. On the one hand, I basically think R-rated rap-bolted routes are silly for the reason that the FA team can check out gear placements and potentially rehearse moves – something the ground-up leader can’t do. I recognize that many Eldo routes were established top-down and they shouldn’t all get retrobolted, but this one seems to get little traffic and would benefit from moving/adding bolts. On the other hand, I wouldn’t support adding or changing bolts on the Doub-Griffith, also runout and (I believe) established top-down. Don’t want to be setting the wrong precedent.
For historical accuracy, here is how the D-G came to be:
(1) I led the first pitch from the bottom up, no pre-inspection etc. This took a couple tries. Later, on rappel, I fixed that wired nut at the crux.
(2) I rappelled from the top of the formation and added bolts, pins and wires. NOTE: The FIRST BOLT off the last belay, the Super Slab stance, was NOT one I placed for the 1981 FA. That bolt appeared (does anyone know who did this?) in the 1986-1990 range.
(3) I needed someone to belay, and Christian agreed. I led the route from the bottom up, first try. I never top roped any of the route prior to leading the pitches.
So that’s that. A blended approach, if you will. Plenty adventurous for me at the time, and I am happy to see people are still appreciating the route.
I first led this in about 1988 on sight ground up….just like most Eldo climbers would BITD. (just to clarify that in my opinion I do not think this is a route one has to rehearse )
I have no problem with the first ascent party fixing up this route.