It says in the purple nears guidebook that this had fixed gear and was a project in progress in 2007. Any word on if the fixed gear is still there and if it's been freed?

Fixed gear was still in place in late spring.

It's been there a while (at least half a year). If it's in your way, clean it and leave it at the base. It's commedable to have a project of that magnitude, but to have it tied up for that long, interfering with other peoples enjoyment of the route is a little obtrusive if you ask me. This isn't Rifle, or the Red. It's the Gunks. Either send it, or get off it.

RR

yea spinal traction gets a lot of traffic, rob...

Hey I usually solo it once a year. If that shit is in my way........

Just kidding. In all likelihood I would use the fixed gear to make my aiding go faster. First time I soloed it my time was an abyssmal 4 hours. I have since shaved it down to about 2:15. God that sucks...the Huber Brothers can climb the Nose just as fast as I can aid and clean Spinal Traction. I'm a lame ass!

Yeah Rob, but you are our lame ass, and we think you are pretty cool.

As far as I'm concerned it ought to be cleaned every day regardless of traffic. Why would anyone intentionally leave what they consider their belongings on property that isn't theirs?

Took me about 3 hours to lead when I did it, things can get quite acrobatic under that huge roof.

"As far as I'm concerned it ought to be cleaned every day regardless of traffic. Why would anyone intentionally leave what they consider their belongings on property that isn't theirs?"

1. Would this include all fixed anchors in the Gunks? If that's the case maybe we should just pull all of the junk out of the cliff including rappel anchors. Try walking down the back of the Trapps after every 5.6 that you barely scrape your way up moron.

2. Find another route to aid climb. How about Erect Direction or some other "mega classic" that you probably can't free climb anyway. Spinal Traction was pretty darn close to getting freed by Brian Kim and Vadim Vinokur last year. If you break off the key flake aid climbing on it, it definitely won't go--ever. Just because you won't ever even dream of climbing that hard, doesn't mean you have to ruin it for others.

3. Leave the gear alone. It can't possibly be in your way-- remember your aid climbing! That means hanging on the gear in ladders last time I checked. There is virtually no difference between clipping fixed gear with your ladders and putting in A1-A2 placements. It's all kid stuff at that level anyway. At least with the existing gear in place you won't have to worry about destroying the route (ie breaking off key flakes) with your obviously lousy aid climbing abilities.

4. LEAVE BRIAN'S GEAR ALONE-- If you are so concerned about it, you could always ask him to remove it. He's a very laid back guy and surely would take it out if you asked him nicely. He's projecting a couple of other very difficult routes in the Gunks and would surely appreciate it if his gear was not stolen. If you feel you have to take it down yourself, please return it to him. Don't just leave it at the base of the route or someone else will feel obligated to take it. If the gear goes missing.... remember there are plenty of people who know who you are and where you live, including myself.

One more thing. For all those people who will think that this is just more arrogance coming from "hot-shot" climbers, let me remind you that The Gunks was once a world class climbing area. I mean world class in the sense that world class climbers were actually climbing there on a regular basis and putting up what were considered world class routes at that time. "Hot-shot" climbers like Lynn Hill, Hugh Herr, Russ Raffa, Jeff Greunberg, Jack Meleski and Kevin Bein used to project routes on a regular basis. Sure everyone knows that Lynn Hill and others put up a few world class routes essentially onsite solo because they wanted to do them in good style and more than likely to one-up the other guys. Also there was the occasional accidental X point- such as "Death's Head Mask" and "Yellow Crack Direct". However, everyone always forgets that these legends also projected the crap out of many other difficult climbs, bolting, nailing pitons, hanging fixed gear and slings all over these routes for many months even years at a time before they finally went free. They used yo-yo tactics, TR hangdogging, pinkpointing, hanging in slings- you name it.

Route examples include "Iron Curtain", "Diplomatic Strain","Talus Food" "Tweazle Roof" , "Twilight Zone" , "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" "Vandals", "French Connection" (they even chipped this one-- yuck!) even "Bone Hard" which isn't that hard anyway. If you do the math, the majority of the hardest climbs in the Gunks were projected extensively before they were ever freed.

My point is: nowadays, there are hardly any world-class climbers visiting or climbing in the Gunks. Possibly, they figure there aren't any hard lines left to pick out. Or more than likely, there is no longer a conducive atmosphere for elite climbers in the Gunks. Weekenders and gumbies crowding the crag, rangers who carry handguns and write tickets like YNP tools, fixed gear and projecting frowned upon by locals with mediocre climbing abilities. (Except of course all those moderate routes that they can actually climb that are loaded up with fixed pins and even god-forbid bolts. ) So why not let the relatively few dinosaurs of difficult trad-climbing continue to push the limits of hard climbing in the Gunks in the best style that they can muster ( a few removable fixed pieces of gear hanging here and there). In the end nobody gets hurt and their style is no worse than the legendary Gunks heroes that have been indemnified as godlike figures.