Welcome to Yosemite

Back in the olden days, a couple of ex-Valley trads decided to check out the new-fangled sportclimbing craze at Shelf Road. Unfamiliar with the proper style and etiquette of this new flavor of convenience climbing when they stumbled upon a fine thin crack, they pulled out the gear and started at the bottom. The result was "Welcome to Yosemite", an ironic commentary on the new trends.

Bob and Carrie Robertson came along shortly thereafter and sprayed a line of bolts alongside the crack. Their creation, identical in all respects to the original route except for the protection system, was recorded in the guidebooks as "Welcome to Shelf Road".

Call it what you will, today's climber has a choice: place gear or clip bolts. If you want that extra spice and pump from rigging your protection, do it in the style of the original ascent. If all you want is another convenient tick, clip the bolts and think about what it would be like without them.

Wherever you stand on the issue of bolting up trad lines after the fact, please leave the fixed protection on this route fixed. But let's stick with the original name and let it be food for thought.

Standard rack to 2.5", or five bolts to a two-bolt anchor.