Jan 26, 2012 – Cerro Torre Bolt Chopping Press Statement Released

“After a lengthy introspection on the summit, we knew the act needed to be initiated by one party, without consensus,” Hayden Kennedy and Jason Kruk

Kennedy and Kruk, after a period of silence following their removal of more than 100 bolts from Cerro Torre’s famous Compressor Route, have published a press release. It describes in detail their impressive new route on the peak. They present their definition of “fair means,” explaining why, to them, some bolts are acceptable on fair means ascents and some are not. They also express their feelings about Maestri’s climb, which they call “a complete atrocity,” and his “use of bolts and heavy machinery [as] outrageous, even for the time.”  The reasons they give for chopping the once popular climb are on the one hand, to “return the mountain to its former grandeur,” and, on the other, to prevent “the unreasonable use of bolts by others.” “A bunch of people climbed the Compressor Route, and had fun,” said Kennedy and Kruk, “but now it’s a new era for Cerro Torre.”

David Lama, for his part, after making the first free ascent of the route after Kennedy and Kruk chopped the bolts, described their actions as “not very intelligent,” and said that in his opinion, “they were not entitled to do it.”

More details here.