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General Climbing Discussion

Topic Date User

Araps Rebolting 2-Jan-2006 At 1:51:09 PM Mike Graham

Message

On 31/12/2005 tmarsh wrote:

>
>There are a whole heap of routes I know I will never climb coz I simply
>don't have the bottle to do them. And the thing is, I wouldn't want to
>see those climbs retroed - doing so would destroy the very reason why I
>would aspire to climb them in the first place.

Tim,

Probably one of the best arguments on why you shouldn’t retrobolt I have ever seen. Well put!, I also have many aspirations.

I’m getting a horrid picture of these ring bolts next to cracks that once held a fixed peg. Technology has changed plenty since a lot of this “manky” stuff was put in and bolts maybe shouldn’t be the default answer for the replacement. It was you guys that came up those small “RP’s”. I even had to make a special trip to Melbourne to buy a few sets along with a couple jars of honey of course (does Rolland still keep bees?). We didn’t have “Aliens” or such back then either. I’d put money on the fact you could use them in place of any old fixed angle…Worst case you could reset the peg with a hammer. Don’t let the rust bother you, they looked rusty in the stores before they even found their home on some deserving route. Understand, if you think ring bolts won’t become the same dated article 20-30 years from now you need to broaden your vision. They will become even more of an eyesore to your kids or grandkids than pins are to you now.

If you don’t care what future generations will be left with, you need to reevaluate why you climb. Ask yourself when you put up that new route, can this be done in the best style of the day? You will only fool yourself if you charge ahead and grid bolt the route. The next evolution for climbing will be to remove bolts from routes returning them to respectable standards. An inevitable contrast to today’s adding of bolts, bringing a climb down to a mainstream playground. An embarrassing thought to have one’s first ascent done in better style, by someone else. In this wonderful world of change it is only a matter of time.

Mike Graham