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Grid bolting at Windjammer Pt Perp 8-Dec-2014 At 8:51:46 PM Wendy

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I did a couple of the new sport routes and they are actually fun climbing on good rock (for the Pt). Sure, they don't go to the top, but the face routes at the Pt already suffer from being reduced to a few big moves between pockets at the top making an otherwise good route rather frustrating, and it hardly makes a good route to go from grade 21 to a 3 move 28 or 30. Did they ruin my experience of Windjammer, Icebird, Grey Mist or Tenere? Not at all. I am of the understanding that those which were too close to existing routes had already been chopped. Ring bolts are great.
Carrots suck. Really, they do. I wish people would get over them. Ok, the rings stick out like dog's balls. But still, has anyone heard of paint? A bit of beige paint will dramatically reduce the visual impact. And yes, take a rack of cams and you could cut out a few bolts easily. Which leaves me in the middle ground that the routes are worthwhile, but the bolts need camouflaging and they could be chopped into perfectly safe mixed routes, à la Not All There but with real bolts.

It isn't really hard to work out that it is a crag where bolts shouldn't go next to good trad placements. But some of these issues aren't a recent phenomena - Turning the tide is a retro and Not All There doesn't go to the top either. So how holier than thou can you get?

And probably my main issue is totally selfish - I like a quiet crag. If you took away all the people sport climbing at Windjammer the other weekend, you'd be left with us and Damo and Sarah. Which would be really quite fine by me. Sport routes bring crowds. Crowds suck as much as carrots. But really, they were the ones missing out. 'Cause those cracks are the best routes at the crag :)