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First in best dressed? 8-Apr-2013 At 8:01:13 PM rowan

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This is a long winded post so bear with me. You can probably skip to the last 3 paragraphs and still participate in the discussion

2 octobers ago I discovered the new and currently trendy Elphinstone. I've bashed my way all over the mountains and this was what I had been looking for all those years.
I was so excited I wanted to share it with anyone interested. I told Lee Cossey who jumped on board straight away. Slowly more people got on board and everyone bolted new lines with the intention of the cliff being climbable on very quickly. Even my girlfriend bolted a route excited around the corner on another sector that I helped her with.
There was even 2 or 3 trad routes over there that I was super psyched to find. I took all kinds of people over there to show them the potential. Eventually a friend who had just moved to the area was super keen to get involved. I pointed out the trad lines and said bolt what you want just leave those 2 lines and maybe that 3rd one will go on gear.

I went overseas for 2 months. My friend had got excited about it and when a couple others saw him over there they joined him And bolted away.
When I returned from my trip I was extremely disappointed to see how heavy handed they had been removing vegetation including many trees that really need not be cut down. To quote Chris Coggil "It's great down there as it's not national park so you can cut down as many trees as you want." I was even more disappointed to see that the harder of the 2 trad lines had been bolted as a sport route. I was initially quite upset that this could happen after sharing such a place. I called the friend that bolted it and told him I was upset and that I thought it was absolute sacrilege to bolt trad lines. He said he believed it didn't go on gear and thought I wouldn't of been bothered. If he knew I would get upset he wouldn't have done it.

After this conversation I decided to head out there and remove the offending bolts. I did this and still need to neaten up my job. My friend was quite upset I hadn't told him I was going to do it. "Dr" Julian Saunders (not a real doctor) was even more upset with me though. He sent me a text saying "That is the most derisive and self righteous act I have seen. Pathetic." I sent back a series of texts just inciting Julian as the childish antagonist I am. I tried to call my friend that was upset but failed to get in contact with him.

A couple of days later I bumped into him out there. He was still somewhat upset. He made me a cup of coffee and we had a chat about the situation calmly at the base. There had been some confusion about which routes I had said would go on gear and not having climbed much trad in the area he didn't think the gear I thought was bomber was any good. We cleared the air and now I think we are friends again. If I had my time again I would have spoken to him beforehand. Purely out of respect for him as a person and I don't take any pleasure in upsetting him.I tried the route on gear but fell off and dogged my way up. All the gear was good. Amazing for the blue mountains some of it. I still haven't returned and climbed the route cleanly on gear.

I lost all respect for "Dr" Julian Saunders in this event and decided I didn't overly want to have anything to do with him anymore. So I chose to be civil but nothing further.
I was happy with where the situation stood now and so was my friend. Today I found that "Dr" Julian Saunders has rebolted the crack. He took the line ever so slightly different but its pretty much the same. Bolts next to bomber placements the whole way

I am taken aback. I am curious as to the general community outlook on trad lines now. There is, what I see for me, 2 issues with this scenario.The main issue being that a trad climb that can be fully climbed on trad gear has had a power drill taken to it and reduced the challenge that could be taken from this naturally occurring feature. At grade 25 there are very few trad lines of this difficulty found in the Blue mountains. For me having bolts as an escape route and a feature of the line reduce its quality as a trad line. To say to just clim around the bolts for me is the same as chipping new holds on a route and saying just don't use those chipped holds if you want to climb it the hard way.

The second lesser issue is that I found this area and this climb. Had I put bolts in it myself, it would be considered my route even if I hadn't got round to trying it yet. But wishing for it to stay a trad line has meant that it is an open line. I think it is then unfair for some one to drill it down to their level and then claim it as their own.

Is trad climbing considered a waste of time that should be bolted out of existence and is it first in best dressed. If the bolters find the line first do they just get to bolt the trad away?
If you miss out on climbing a trad line cleanly is it acceptable for someone to come in and bolt it first and make it a sport route before you get back to it or indeed get a chance to try it?

"Dr" Rowan Druce