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Trashing Tassie ... it's beyond salvation 22-Mar-2011 At 5:10:54 PM pharmamatt

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The Slippery slope argument!

On 22/03/2011 Tastrad wrote:
>Redemption means to rescue, deliver, save from sin or purchase something
>back. We are saving Ben Lomond from the likes of Doug Bruce and the insidious
>attitude towards climbing that he preaches. I once told Doug of a new route
>I did on Mt Blackwood, done onsight and ground up on a 90m face, with a
>12m runout on solid grade 22 climbing. Doug asked how I would react if
>someone put bolts in the runout section. Chop them of course, but Doug
>replied that I don't have the right to dictate to future ascensionists
>that it must be climbed in that bold style. He argued that by definition,
>a route is something well travelled - so in that sense the climb on Mt
>Blackwood is not a route, and will forever remain simply a testimony of
>my boldness and ego. The climb is useless because not everyone is up to
>leading 12m runouts on grade 22. Its this mentality which lead a local
>climber to bolt a gym hold to the cliff to create a route for everyone
>to enjoy (now free at 27), or to line an offwidth with bolts because not
>everyone owns a 5 camalot. Next he'll be calling Reinhold Messner an idiot
>because he climbed Everest solo without oxygen - he just wanted to do it
>in the best style possible. When consensus is not possible, sometimes you
>just have to act, so Doug Fife and I acted to remove the abseil bolts on
>the Ben and remove all ambiguity. If the bolts are reinstalled, with Doug's
>attitude the rot will set in and soon there will be rap stations all over
>the cliff, lower-offs after first pitches, and eventually bolted climbs.
>All we want is one last bastion of trad purity left in Tasmania - climb
>on natural gear and descend by the traditional way as well.