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Bolting at Piddo 11-May-2011 At 1:17:33 PM dave h.

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On 11/05/2011 nmonteith wrote:

>Why? Providing the new bolts don't effect the already established classics
>I fail to see the problem. People can argue over the 'trad ethics' of the
>place - but the reality is there is heaps of bolts there - and always has
>been.

I don't mind the occasional good additional ring-bolted route. (There's that excellent ~21 with about 3 U bolts/Rings around the Flake Crack area - very happy for that to be there.)

But I'd be angry if Piddo were turned into an over-bolted sport crag. But then so would we all.

I guess I think that having rows of shiny U's everywhere would "effect the already established classics" a bit.

How much of an effect does a bolt need to have before it affects a classic? Sighted at a distance while on a classic route? Sighted nearby but significantly out of reach while on a classic? Near, but just out of reach for a tall climber on a classic route? Clippable from a classic?

I don't know what the answer is. I guess I'm OK with the first, probably with the second (let's not quibble over how out of reach something has to be before it's "significantly" out of reach), and becoming increasingly unhappy with the third and fourth hypothetical.

Anyway, my preferences aren't based upon logic. I like the place the way it is. I have good memories of climbing there with my dad ~9 years ago. Dad climbed there back when John Ewbank was guiding, and Piddo was the place to get scared on a 15. Back when men were men and sheep were scared :P

Keep it as it is for the sake of nostalgia. I think it's great that we have areas that serve as a monument to the style of the day. Shipley & the Glen are monuments to modern sport-climbing. Cosmic is to some extent a memorial to mixed climbing. And the style at Piddo (happy to be corrected, plenty there I haven't done) is predominantly trad, with some carrots here and there. Although I guess there's an evolution from pitons, to bash-ins, to glue-ins too. But I think the point still stands.