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Crag & Route Beta

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Shackles and the sheriff of Shipley 20-Apr-2011 At 10:21:40 PM Linze

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Last Sunday, after a night of little sleep and plenty of whisky, I’m down at Shipley belaying my partner and enjoying the sun in the half waken state that I’m in. But then.... I’m jolted back to full consciousness when the acrid stench of stale smokers breath hits me hard, i turn to see the Sheriff of Shipley staring at me, only centre meters from face. My mind starts racing, i think, “what have I done wrong...the sheriff would never walk all the way across the crag like this unless I had done something serious, like done a route in a manner contrary to the first ascensionist, or made a joke about one of those endangered Shipley plants that have luckily been saved by the installation of highly sympathetic giant logs that are bolted to wall”... then the Sheriff demands “use yr own quick draws when yr toproppin”....

I didn’t know what he was talking about at first, partly because I hadn’t put the rope up and partly because the Sheriff, while vigilant with his actions, was pretty short with his words. I soon realised he didn’t want us to top rope off the shackles on the anchor (bc the 40something kg climber was going to cause excessive wear...of course.).

After giving this some thought, I want to know if this is really an issue for people. In principle, I agree that a reasonable amount of care should go into looking after fixed gear, and I usually wouldn’t set up a top rope through fixed anchors. Having said that, the climber wasn’t all that experienced, so i probably would. I think that this is a common occurrence for this particular route (Jack High), seeing as it is one of the easier routes at the crag, and I don’t really ever want the most inexperienced climbers to have to grapple with the complexities of threading when they have probably just been spanked by the route. I would prefer those climbers just to enjoy their rare day out even if it wears out the anchor 6 months earlier (wouldn’t most of the damage be done on decent anyway?).

Later in the day I noticed that the sheriff was trying to ruin someone else’s day by barking the same orders. If this is really a problem, then why on earth are there shackles up there are all, millions of inexperienced climbers are going to top rope this route, so why not accommodate this????. I will happily donate some old locking biners and then people can happily wear the s$5t out of them by top roping day and night... after which I will happily put up some more... after which i am sure someone else will have some they can donate...

So, I do actually want to find out: is top roping through these anchors really an issue for people??????? If it is i will go and put some biners up there......

Victorian bolts never even know if they will survive the day, NSW bolts are a protected species....