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New bolt on Blimp - Bundaleer 11-May-2018 At 10:49:23 AM Access T CliffCare

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Great conversation and good to see that it hasn’t sunk to a personal slanging match :-) (as yet). I’m not going to comment much on the specifics of the original posting but would just like to add some food for thought after following this thread. I think these conversations should, and will be happening a bit more in the future. And maybe a separate conversation to be started on this site could be good?A couple of things:

In more recent times the opinion of quite a few in PV (especially in the parks we climb) is that the amount of metal going into cliffs, both newly developed and old, seems to be relentless and that in fact, there is little self regulation going on. And that this can’t continue. Another concern coupled with this is what is seen as, for lack of better words, ‘unsustainable bolting’. As in, the kind of bolts used often don’t allow for easy removal when they need to be replaced. Or lack of experience in removing them. Or hack jobs.

I understand that these comments are probably what you would expect from a land manager so maybe no surprise. And within those comments, you can allow for a lack of a complete understanding of climbing, putting up routes and all the vagaries that go with it. But they are coming up more and the amount of climbers heading to the parks is growing. And a huge amount of these climb predominantly sport. Kind of goes hand in hand I suppose. I also know these comments are often echoed by climbers themselves. I do believe that there is some self regulation going on, but let’s face it -it’s still a very subjective view though. And that tends to get watered down as more and more people climb. Finite rock - infinite climbers. Older developers still developing and newer ones wanting to. I know this is a complex conversation and no easy solution. There are definitely avenues that can be investigated though, that aren’t just about dealing with metal after the fact.

Anyway, something else to add into the thought process seeing as it as taken off into a bigger picture tangent.

Cheers