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Institutional Racism in American Climbing 2-Apr-2011 At 2:37:00 PM Ben_E

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On 2/04/2011 RNM wrote:
>It is completely retarded, and quite scary. Like so many things in the
>States, I think it comes down to "that is just the way we do it"... suggesting
>another possibilty usually results in a blank stare.

So nothing at all like the preponderance of manky and often badly placed carrots in some areas of Oz, then?

(Preemptive edit: Not arguing against the use of carrots or for the use of expansion bolts in soft stone here - just pointing out that every area has historic quirks that don't endear themselves to outsiders or make safety "sense" - the U.S. isn't unique there).

As far as the ground-up ethic goes, I don't want to defend the position of every bolt that has ever been placed on lead in the U.S.. It can also be taken a bit far (a la the recent witch hunt over Doug Robinson and Sean Jones' partially rap bolted climb on the back of Half Dome). That said, in my experience (all Californian, admittedly) most bolt placements did not seem to be worse than those I've come across here in Australia.

Also, where climbs were dangerously run out due to having been bolted on lead this was generally widely known and you knew to stay off the climb unless/until you could climb very comfortably at the grade. And there's no way the history of climbing in the U.S. would be as rich if rap bolting/pre-inspecting etc had been more prevalent.