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Fully sick bolt wars at Araps 9-May-2016 At 10:38:09 PM Macciza

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Yeah Simey I have gone ground up on a number of occasions, unfortunately this couldn't be one of them for various reasons ... In the end it was due to rapping it that the idea of climbing it on gear became at all feasible. Suggesting from the ground to green point the route with no idea of the terrain at all would seem crazy, and if you headed up with a standard Blueies rack you'd be stuffed.

If it were a grade or two below my limit I may have approached it differently, or if there were more inspiring gear easily visible, or higher on the route, or less danger etc. then yeah it might have been different. But instead I cheated a bit, because I didn't want to risk hurting myself whilst sorting it out, and so the same as a sport climber at their limit might clip a dogging bolt to work the crux I did the same thing only the best gear available for me was att the anchors.

In the end I lead it first shot of the day placing the gear on lead and facing whatever the consequences may have been should I have fallen, Yes I had convinced myself the small gear available in the top half would hold a fall, but I also knew that the good small gear in the middle was probably too low .... Yes I knew the moves but also knew I could fall off in a number of spots, and that just because you've done it twice in a row on toprope practice placing gear doesn't mean the third will be successful....

The style that was improved upon is that a mixed climb is now a pure trad route, rather then it ended up as a sanitised sport route through retro bolting. The artificial aids needed in 1984 are redundant and I note in the route description after mentioning my preinspection and rehearsal it is now available to others to improve on that style. When I first approached it I did not know that it went on gear but now future ascentionists can approach it armed with that knowledge and go ground up ...

When are you up next? Obviously I expect that you will be prepared to have a ground up hack at it, after all if you're really going to make a statement you should be prepared to back it up. There's even some which I have no idea of and don't know if they'll go on gear that you can try ground up as well...