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General Climbing Discussion

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More slackline anchors 25-Mar-2013 At 12:23:00 PM Mike Bee

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On 25/03/2013 kieranl wrote:
>So you're proposing we remove all bolts at Arapiles? It's a valid proposal.
>However, don't hark back to some supposed "trad" era with no bolts. Bolts
>have been there since the very early days.

I didn't say that. I was advocating stopping bolting further into the future.
That said, I'd rather remove all bolts and ban it, rather than have it as a free for all for a range of user groups.

>So climbers will act as a vigilante force to manage another user group?

Pretty sure I didn't say that either. The fact that there are good quality abseil anchors already around the place means that when other climbers go to Araps, they can use the fixed gear that is alreay in place, rather than need to install their own. All I was suggesting was that the same idea be applied to some high line anchors in the more obvious highline places. If there are already 100% bomber anchors already installed and available to all highliners, then hopefully the word would spread through that community that Arapiles is not a BYO Drill location, that it's ready to go and further impacts on the rock are not needed.

>You make some very sweeping generalisations about
>the "qualities" of different user groups. Are you sure that ODH is a reliable
>reference point here?

Climbers use the rock as both our playground and our means of safety. High liners use the rock only for safety, their playground is the void between rock towers. To me, it seems logical that climbers would instinctively (on average across the whole user group) seek to protect the visual aspects of the cliff because part of our experience involves the asthetics of the climbs themselves. As long as the rock is strong enough to hold their anchors, a highliner doesn't have any further motivation to preserve the rock, so they are less likely to be discreet or thrifty with their bolting.