At the base of the east face there's a rock with a sheltered opening, where--shortly after the routes had been put up--the developers of this formation had left a canister containing copies of a topo drawing with route descriptions.
The names of the formation and routes (and a couple ratings) given in the early topo sheet differ from the current ones as listed here and in Marty Lewis' guidebook. The original name for the crag--"Conspiracy Dome"--has stuck among some locals who know the routes from the original topo.
Thank you very much for the new information. From your comments, it's obvious that you are very familiar with the area. I would like to include this piece of history to the OZ page. Do you, by any chance, know why and how the original name was changed to OZ?
Conspiracy Dome:
Crystal and I found what we called Conspiracy Dome in Fall 2001 when we were looking for a nice camp spot away from the weekend ATV crowd in the AB Hills. We loved it, and could not believe there were no recorded routes on this formation. Over the next few years, we went back, bolted lines, and left updated topos in a hollow rock at the base of the formation. The name Conspiracy Dome came from a book on conspiracy theories we were reading at the time.
In 2006, I was contacted by Marty Lewis about publishing the routes in his new guide book. I was a bit hesitant, because Conspiracy Dome had become our sanctuary in the AB Hills, with a good handful of routes of a challenging grade, and a regular stop when driving up the Eastside. We did not want it to change...but life moves on. During publication of the new guide book, Marty Lewis was contacted by Marty Hornick, who had climbed some of the routes in the 1980s and named the formation Oz.
After some discussion and debate with dos Marty's, we all agreed that the name of the formation should be Oz, as given by the first climber of record. After more discussion and debate, we all agreed that the bolts on Marty's routes should stay, and that they were suitable given the climbs and area. I also thought the conspiracy names for my routes seemed kind of out of place on a formation called Oz, so I changed the names to fit the venue.
So that is the story of Conspiracy Dome...it was an escape, with some challenging leads. I was kind of disappointed to see that anchors have gone in on top to set TRs, but it seems like we all have different versions of Oz...enjoy!
I'll try and post one of the old Conspiracy Dome topos for history's sake.
Thank you very much for the detailed history of Oz, a.k.a. Conspiracy Dome. I included the old topo in the main body of this page and for the history I made a reference to the "Additions and Corrections."
Tom239 - Jan 26, 2013 7:58 pm - Hasn't voted
a.k.a. Conspiracy DomeAt the base of the east face there's a rock with a sheltered opening, where--shortly after the routes had been put up--the developers of this formation had left a canister containing copies of a topo drawing with route descriptions.
The names of the formation and routes (and a couple ratings) given in the early topo sheet differ from the current ones as listed here and in Marty Lewis' guidebook. The original name for the crag--"Conspiracy Dome"--has stuck among some locals who know the routes from the original topo.
Marcsoltan - Jan 26, 2013 8:46 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: a.k.a. Conspiracy DomeThank you very much for the new information. From your comments, it's obvious that you are very familiar with the area. I would like to include this piece of history to the OZ page. Do you, by any chance, know why and how the original name was changed to OZ?
Poser - May 24, 2014 7:28 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: a.k.a. Conspiracy DomeConspiracy Dome:
Crystal and I found what we called Conspiracy Dome in Fall 2001 when we were looking for a nice camp spot away from the weekend ATV crowd in the AB Hills. We loved it, and could not believe there were no recorded routes on this formation. Over the next few years, we went back, bolted lines, and left updated topos in a hollow rock at the base of the formation. The name Conspiracy Dome came from a book on conspiracy theories we were reading at the time.
In 2006, I was contacted by Marty Lewis about publishing the routes in his new guide book. I was a bit hesitant, because Conspiracy Dome had become our sanctuary in the AB Hills, with a good handful of routes of a challenging grade, and a regular stop when driving up the Eastside. We did not want it to change...but life moves on. During publication of the new guide book, Marty Lewis was contacted by Marty Hornick, who had climbed some of the routes in the 1980s and named the formation Oz.
After some discussion and debate with dos Marty's, we all agreed that the name of the formation should be Oz, as given by the first climber of record. After more discussion and debate, we all agreed that the bolts on Marty's routes should stay, and that they were suitable given the climbs and area. I also thought the conspiracy names for my routes seemed kind of out of place on a formation called Oz, so I changed the names to fit the venue.
So that is the story of Conspiracy Dome...it was an escape, with some challenging leads. I was kind of disappointed to see that anchors have gone in on top to set TRs, but it seems like we all have different versions of Oz...enjoy!
I'll try and post one of the old Conspiracy Dome topos for history's sake.
Erik Anderson
Marcsoltan - May 24, 2014 8:16 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: a.k.a. Conspiracy DomeThank you very much for the detailed history of Oz, a.k.a. Conspiracy Dome. I included the old topo in the main body of this page and for the history I made a reference to the "Additions and Corrections."