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The Eyrie, Mt Boyce retrobolted! Badly... 20-Apr-2017 At 10:12:33 AM llewg

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Thought I’d add my two cents as one of the 80% who passively use this forum. And as I climbed The Eyrie for the first time just this weekend.

Absolutely stellar climb in a beautiful setting. Loved every minute of it. And not what I was expecting in a low graded climb.

I've only been leading trad for a few years (and have had two kids in between, so have not been out on the pointy end too often #tear). Though have more experience leading alpine routes.

Standing 10m or 15m above my last piece of gear, and on that first move out of the cave, I did find myself questioning the grade though. And regretting bringing a full rack up with me.

What made the climb for me though was the exposure. While it felt super run-out, I think this made it. I probably haven’t been around long (or climbing hard enough) to buy into the retro-bolt or not debate, and don’t feel strongly either way.

Having said this, I love the adventure of this kind of route and how it forces you to stay purely in the moment. I don’t think you’d get the same kind of mental challenge out of this route with bolts every few metres.

I have no idea how you would consult on it though. It’s a clusterf*ck of polarised opinions every time. So hats off to Tim for taking action, and then again for taking responsibility.

This is possibly opening another can of worms, but I think it’s relevant. In my pretty limited trad experience I don’t think that our grading system appropriately recognises the objective difficulties of trad routes. And possibly encourages too much comparison (eg a grade 12 sport = grade 12 on trad).

I know long runouts aren’t for everyone. And I think this would be a pretty hairy introduction to trad climbing if it was your first lead. The grade is deceptive in a way, by only recognising the climbing difficulty.

Maybe using an element of the alpine system (ie recognising exposure, pitches, ropework etc) would make a difference for those looking to transition across and fully appreciate what they’re getting into.

Don’t the Brits grade this way, adding an objective difficulty to the technical climbing grade?

So for example, you could add something like an a,b,c or -/+ to the 12 grade to identify things like exposure or protection.

Llew