I always knew that my wife, Heather Baer, and I would do a classic, signature new route in the Sierra Nevada, somewhere. But if somebody told me that route would be within spitting distance of the Regular Route on Fairview Dome, I would have called them nuts. But that’s where it is.

Our climb started out as a variation to a variation (Crowd Pleaser, 2004), and from there it blossomed into a full-blown route of its own. Starting on the same initial belay ledge as the Regular Route, our route surfs left and up. It crosses the Regular Route a pitch above Crescent Ledge and climbs directly to the tree located at the end of the difficulties on the Regular Route. Of the eight pitches, there are three pitches of 5.11, with the first pitch (5.11b) being the crux.

Due to the climb’s proximity to the Regular Route, I used tactics that were new to me in Yosemite. I would top-rope a section first, making sure it was worthy, and then mark bolt placements. Later I drilled the holes and placed the bolts on lead, according to my staunch Yosemite trad ethics. Back in the day, I never would have rehearsed a section like this.

We redpointed the route on August 1, 2014, finishing a four-year vigil. I placed all 31 bolts by hand, belayed by Heather. All the pitches are PG, and you’ve got to really work for the bolts. We called the route Rumour Has It (IV 5.11b). It is a great route, and despite pumping out a bunch of public topos, it still remains to be repeated, as far as I know.

– Steve Schneider