Will Gadd Mentors “Bike Helmet Bolters” from Yamnuska
Two new climbers had the adventure of a lifetime, and then found out they made some dangerous mistakes along the way
A few weeks ago, we reported that two climbers were spotted drilling dangerous bolts on Yamnuska, while wearing bike helmets and using extremely dangerous quickdraws. You can read the story here.
The bizarre details of this situation led many to believe that the two climbers were a couple of pranksters. Just how does a new climber skip so many steps and end up on Yamnuska bolting on lead with homemade quickdraws?
But, it wasn’t a joke. The original Facebook post by Merrick Montemurro on the Bow Valley Climbing Community Facebook page had responses that ranged from shock to insulting of the unknown climbers.
It led to this video being made by a well-known YouTube climbing account.
Mentorship
Will Gadd, one of Canada’s veteran ice and mixed climbers, said on social media that if the climbers wanted to reach out to him that he would be happy to mentor them, give them some advice and point them in the right direction.
Specifically, he said: “If anyone knows these guys I’ll give them a free day of whatever form of climbing instruction they need including bolt removal, please DM me if you know them. What they did is clearly “bad wrong, very bad no!” But, they had the vision, stoke and “Go for it!” to get up on a really big cliff and climb with clearly close to zero education. While misguided, I have to admire that level of stoke, even as their actions are wrong, bad, etc. They need some engagement and pulling into the fold, but they’re likely not bad people out to destroy Yam and our way of life, just ignorant of basic climbing practices. Again, wrong, bad, no, NO, bad climber, don’t do that. And no, I’m not going to do free days for anyone bolting classic Yam routes.”
The two climbers reached out to Gadd, and they all met up for a day of climbing. Gadd updated folks on the Bow Valley page on June 26.
He said: “OK, so these guys had the guts to take up my offer of a free day of instruction, and we had a great time out together. They are genuinely remorseful for their actions, and have also read all the threads here and elsewhere. They are super embarrassed about it all, but still really stoked on learning to climb, despite the publicly awkward start. One said, ‘The best adventure day of my life turned into the worst when I read all this, I had no idea.’ While the results of their self-taught efforts clearly weren’t the way forward, they now know a little more about climbing ethics and systems than they did. Anyone who just loves the idea of climbing so much that they go for it like these guys did have climbing in their blood. They remind me a lot of where I was when I started, I just didn’t have Amazon or power tools. I hope the community can laugh a bit with them, but also welcome them and other perhaps less educated but really stoked people into this crazy game/way of life we all love. I’m not going to out them, but they are good guys, hungry to learn, and did I mention they are fully stoked on climbing? I hope we can all lifeguard each other a bit out there, and gently share what knowledge we can. And thanks for the bolt removal, Nick Baggaley.”
Like many pro climbers, Gadd has been a mentor to many and has once again shown that the best reaction to other climbers’ dangerous behaviour is to help them learn how to improve.
Be sure to follow Gadd on Instagram for tips and tricks from the world of climbing.
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