The first time I went to Waterline Wall in Castlegar to climb it was 2006. I went with Hamish, who later became one of the major route developers. In those days, there were a handful of routes only, perhaps a half dozen, almost all of which were gear routes (trad) and at least 5.10 or above. My notes for the day are interesting, particularly in hindsight with the extreme popularity that Waterline eventually achieved. Here they are reproduced below, and, at first glance, you would have to wonder why we ever went back.
his 3 star 10a line
There are three marked moderate routes - one 5.6 and two 5.7's - none of which look very appealing - they are dirty and look to be full of loose blocks. We ended up starting out on a 5.6, which Hamish led. This goes somewhere up a crag with a big crack/chimney on the left and a crack on the right. Going up the chimney would be close to 5.6 if not for dirt, loose rock and trees, whereas going up the small crack and face is definitely harder than 5.6 and had Hamie breathing heavily and placing lots of gear. I struggled up behind Hamish, taking the easy chimney route where possible. A thoroughly unappealing climb.
Next we toproped a 10a in a big corner. This is an epic undertaking if you set up a bell-ringer, as although the anchor bolts are easy to reach, the climb is long and requires two ropes to set up a bell-ringer. This climb is very good in the upper half. The bottom half is dirty (dirt on the rock and in the crack) but the upper corner is quality climbing.
Within a year, we were climbing at Waterline regularly, Hamish was putting up new routes (with a variety of partners) at a great rate, and those dirty corners, cracks and faces were cleaning up and revealing dozens of high quality routes. That initial route was Black Arrow and is now rated 5.7 (probably soft), the small crack and face is Pilots Crack and one of the best gear 5.8’s in the area, and the big corner with quality climbing in the upper half is The Big Corner, 5.10a, and is now described as “an all round excellent climb.”
Just under a year later, in April which is about as early as outdoor rock climbing used to start in the West Kootenays, Doug, Hamish and Kyle, completed the first ascent of Tastes Like Saffron, rating it 5.7 and installing four protection bolts for the 18 metre route. This became one of only six sport routes under 5.9 at Waterline Wall. There are lots of quality routes at Waterline, but very few for the novice climber.
Fast forward almost 20 years (18) and, on the local community rock climbing page, someone anonymous (never a good look) suggested the route be “decommissioned” which is another word for chopped; which is also, when you are talking about a route that has been in existence for almost two decades in a well known sport climbing area, one or all of several things: weird, hubristic, excessively safety conscious, rude, or silly. The OP (original poster for old people) wrote:
Call me crazy but I think Tastes Like Saffron 5.7 at Ravens wall, Waterline should be decommissioned as a sport route. Perhaps it’s got history I’m unaware of but I reckon that thing is an accident waiting to happen. I very much agree with the one comment about this line on sendage.
Gob-smackingly, there were half a dozen comments from people who had never climbed the route (or at least if they had could not remember it) in agreement with one person (a former ski buddy of ours) even suggesting that the fixed gear (paid for by Hamish) be harvested and used on their own routes. Back in the day, this was called “stealing.” But back in the day, if we wanted to change, chop, or upgrade a route that someone else had put in, we did them the courtesy of contacting them! Especially when Hamish literally lives down the road from the crag! WTF are you thinking! This is the age of AI, the information you seek is available within about 20 seconds. I know what I was thinking: “This is how Canadians elected WEF puppet Mark Carney as Prime Minister after watching Justin Trudeau spend the better part of a decade destroying Canada.” Elbows up; clearly, there are a lot of people who are easily influenced by bad ideas!
Of course, I let my mate Hamish know, and, along with a couple of other climbers who haven’t yet taken so many knocks to the head that they have addled their brains, the suggestion to “decommission” (aka chop) the route was soundly defeated. A case of the wisdom of crowds, but if the initial crowds had been left unchecked a decent route would have been destroyed for no reason.
The reality is climbing can never be made completely safe, nor should it be. Waterline is not a great place for beginners who “max out on 5.7,” because there are only two sport routes and two trad routes that are 5.7 and under. History is important, Hamish (who is over 80 now) would have kicked the arse of any of these young climbers snivelling on a 5.7, and deserves some respect for his multitudinous contributions to climbing most of which were completed in an era when gear was worse (significantly), access was difficult, and, to quote Hamish “chickenshit bastards” would never have survived.
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