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The Irish Solution to The Ben Lomond Problem 13-Sep-2017 At 10:02:16 AM Wendy

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I must be a masochist ... but seriously, are you guys on the same drugs as the anti-same sex marriage crew? a perfectly rational bolted anchor or 2 at a crag does not lead to to instant mad bolting in the same way that same sex marriage doesn't lead to people marrying the harbour bridge, although to be perfectly honest, people can marry their toaster for all I care.

The tatt all over Ben Lomond is crap. the chain solution is still a ridiculous compromise. Just because it is theoretically removable doesn't mean that it's not still way more visual than a bolted anchor, it can't be placed in the most appropriate place for the job and in effect, it is going to just stay there in the same way a bolted anchor would.

Suggesting rapping in on a 70m rope on rope stretch is asking for someone to have an accident. Not to mention that people are approaching from the bottom because that's what the guidebook says. Hence that's what they will continue to do and continue to leave bits of tat because the top of the cliff is weetbix. For all the yadda yadda about the experience, I don't climb at Ben Lomond for the weetbix experience. I do it for the amazing crack beneath it. It's like Indian Creek. There is absolutely no loss for me rapping off after a pitch and a half when the rock turns to shit.

I could probably annoy a lot of people with explaining why I don't take a lot of English crags and ethics as an example. I don't think the rusty star pickets that serve as anchors at Pembroke are any improvement on a bolted anchor. They are ugly and crappy. But really, "tradition" has a lot of fixed gear and aiding. Have a read of Vanessa's article in VL about what "traditional" ascents left all over Ball's Pyramid. And if you are so keen on the adventure, doesn't having the escape route of a fixed line ruin that? Hell, I would prussic up the last pitch rather than climb that weetbix. Is it not visually invasive to have a fixed line running down the cliff as well?

Ben Lomond is hardly a last bastion of bolt free rock. Most of the rock around the country is in fact bolt free. You can go and have the full experience of adventure climbing on all sorts of little or untrafficed rock. Being a national park also has no relevance to provision of sensible anchors. National parks around the country are full of bolts. Climbing always has an impact on the environment and no crag is pristine, especially once information about it is in the public domain. You say no one is complaining about not having anchors. Well, they are by their actions. That's why the cliff is covered in tatt.

I am all for a couple of sensibly located bolt anchors. Slippery slopes are logical fallacies. You can use them to argue against anything. In actual fact, we set boundaries that prevent slides down slippery slopes all the time. Same sex marriage does not lead to child marriage because we can acknowledge that child marriage is a different and unacceptable issue. These arguments are just fear mongering.