Climber Joe Kinder was mapping out a new climbing route in the Sierra Nevada. The location was “an underground crag in the Tahoe region of California.” (Here “underground” does not mean he was spelunking. It means secret, known only to insiders.)
In the Lord of the Rings, Treebeard is the eldest of the Ents, who are protectors of trees. His motto is “Do not be hasty.” Or “seldom psyched.”
Kinder’s a professional climber. He travels internationally, climbs year-round, peddles photos and videos, and has sponsors who make climbing equipment and outdoor gear. His motto is “always psyched.”
He was psyched by this excellent granite wall. The friends who showed it to him took him up a route called Treebeard. In this route the climber scales a big tree, and at the top moves to the rock and begins the climb from there. Kinder called the Treebeard route “one of the best 5.12c’s I have ever done in my life.” (The number grades the difficulty of the climb. Also see “Yosemite Decimal System.”)
Kinder wanted to create more routes on this “inspiring” crag. He consulted with a local climber (a mannerly thing to do) about it.
He pioneered a new route, which he describes as risky, terrifying, and a lot of work. It was great, but he thought there was a problem.
A tree “was blocking the start of the route.” Another tree, this one dead, was blocking what Kinder considered to be the start of the next route over. (What jerky trees.)
“This tree… was in a dangerous spot due to the fact that there was a difficult part on this route near the ground. Essentially, a fall from this lower section might have left a future climber injured: stabbed by tree limbs or worse.”
When Kinder came back with two companions, he took ten minutes and sawed down the trees. They had a great day climbing, “extremely fun.” One of the friends did the route later and told Kinder it was one of the best routes he’d climbed in his life. Kinder was psyched.
HE SAWED THEM DOWN?!?! I thought with the advent of clean climbing, stuff like hammering in fixed pitons was a thing of the past, not to mention CUTTING DOWN EVERYTHING IN YOUR WAY .
OH, WHY NOT JUST CHIP STEPS IN THE ROCK?
(Okay, calm down.)
Tahoe-area trees. Some of these trees are just accidents waiting to happen. Most of them, really. Maybe all of them, when you think about fire. Anyone who cares about children would chop them ALL down.
Looking at what Kinder later posted on his blog, and the account given by the web publication Adventure Journal, it’s hard to tell what order things happened in next.
On October 17th climber Bernie LaForest put a photo up on Instagram (since removed), showing the until-recently-living tree lying at the foot of the granite wall. He captioned it, “The CA Juniper cut down by Joe Kinder with accomplice Ethan Pringle. I wonder what Muir would think of the progression of our sport. Let these guys know how you feel. Maybe it will make a difference in the future. This tree has been growing here before most of our families came to this continent.”
Adventure Journal began bombarding Kinder with calls, emails, and “social channels,” seeking his response. Later that day, Kinder responded on Facebook, posting “All good man…that was pretty much a joke and nothing needs to be said. No comment and nothing ever happened that was posted as fact. Nothing.”
Maybe it was after this that Kinder got email from the local climber. “I opened it giddily, thinking it would be some exciting news about more route development at this Tahoe-area cliff.” No, it was about the ex-tree.
The email said this was “a precious, respected tree: a juniper, perhaps very old. Junipers…can survive for a very long time, upwards of a thousand years.” (Junipers are long-lived, particularly when they grow in tough conditions, like this one.)
“Hearing this I nearly died. I had no clue and I felt completely awful. I had really F—d up.”
This is probably a completely blameless climber near Lake Tahoe, someone who packs it in and packs it out, fears no evil, and leaves no trace.
Discussion raged on Instagram, in climbing forums, and in other social media channels. Most were angry, some said it was just one tree.
On October 20th Kinder put a long post on his blog, titled “My Actions, My Responsibility, and My Mistake.”
It begins with a cute paragraph about his childhood.
When I was a little kid I was always rambunctious… My dad used to always say, ‘Ok buddy, you are gonna learn the hard way’. Whether I was leaving the hose on and flooding the yard, eating too much candy, sneaking out and getting caught or constantly missing the bus… I learned the hard way. The Fall of 2013 is surely another one of these moments with a healthy dose of remorse and a painful lesson learned.
I have been putting up routes for over 6 years now…. Putting up a new route is a creative process… But like any creative process, there are many decisions to be made… Not all of those decisions are justifiable and not all are correct. My recent decision while new-routing has offered me one of the most intense learning experiences I have ever known.
To make a long story short, I was recently informed that I had done something wrong last month while establishing new routes… I cut down two trees. Not just any trees, either. Junipers.
I’d like to try to address and speak about the specifics of my actions, but in doing so, I want to make no mistake that this was a regrettable error on my part. I am deeply apologetic about what I did. I was wrong. I F’d up. And I’m very sorry. Now, I’m using my blog, my voice and my position in the climbing community to bring awareness to an important issue of route development in order to prevent people who may be as ignorant as I once was from doing this in the future.
He describes the events, including praising the “Tree Beard” route, and emphasizing that Pringle and Pringle’s girlfriend didn’t know he was going to saw down the trees and didn’t help.
What followed—and perhaps rightly so—was a lot of angst and anger directed toward me—through climbing forums, through Instagram, and other social media channels. My phone number was posted publicly, and I received some heinous calls, threats and other messages of hate.
I understand that I am a high-profile sponsored climber, and so even though I am deeply embarrassed and ashamed from my actions, I also understand this reaction even if a lot of the outcry is made worse simply by my role in the climbing community.
My only hope now is that I can use my position, blog and voice to bring to light this issue of route development ethics, whether they are “grey” (like cleaning rock) or just downright wrong, like cutting down a precious tree. I hope that people who read this can share this message with people in the community and perhaps share it in a positive way.
This whole event has really hit me emotionally. I’ve been thinking long and hard about it lately and feel broken.
Dean Potter told me recently, “the Juniper will be happy to know you learned a major lesson … We are nature too, Joe, and everything is connected.”
…My attempt to make this wrong right is… speak to local climbers, land managers, and even a botanist friend for suggestions.
Again, I have learned something from this and I am extremely sorry for my actions. I hope that I have relayed that my heart was in the right place, but my actions were not correct. I hope that this message offers some pause and reflection for the future generations of climbers and route developers so that they don’t have to “learn the hard way” like me….
It’s a big improvement on the ‘Nothing to see here ha ha’ Facebook post of a few days earlier. Which has been taken down and which Kinder does not refer to in his blog post.
As for the apology, Kinder loses points for the beginning, with the appeal to think of him as a rambunctious kid – who’s learned his lesson. It was painful!
The plea that he cut down the tree for the safety of others, while surely true, is reminiscent of the Boy Scout leaders who recently destroyed an ancient “hoodoo” rock formation and then unconvincingly claimed they did it so it wouldn’t fall on anyone. They did it for the children, and for you!
He loses points for complaining about the hate directed at him. (He’s broken!) He loses points for saying he realizes people are especially mad at him because he’s so great. He loses points for the bit about how the Juniper will be happy he learned his lesson. What is this, The Giving Tree? (I would also dock him for Lorax references, but I took those out for space.)
He get points for saying he’s sorry. He gets points for taking responsibility. It would be better if were more specific – if he took responsibility for being ignorant about trees and the landscapes he climbs in, instead of just saying he had no clue. (I left out the part about how he felt faint.)
Aconcagua, highest of the Andes. Vera Watson made the first solo ascent of Aconcagua in 1974. Not first solo ascent by a woman, first solo ascent. My late stepmother, she left behind guides to trees, wildflowers, and mountain wildlife, as well as geology and climbing routes. She was sound on junipers.
Since writing the post Kinder has also pledged to donate $1,000 to the Sierra Nevada Alliance, and to spend a week planting trees and doing other volunteer tasks in Yosemite. He may also end up being fined for cutting down a tree without a permit, depending on the relevant jurisdiction at the “underground” crag, almost certainly on public land.
His hope that his message will make others think, and not make the same mistake, is actually plausible. Comments on Kinder’s blog include support, more hate, more ‘it’s just one tree,’ and at least one climber saying they might have done the same thing but now they know better. Awareness raised! I’m psyched!
Depending on people running across a blog post isn’t always a reliable way to get the word out, though. He might make a more organized effort. I hope he does.
What a goober… bless his heart.