so im still confused what the issue is here... is it the pulling the rope through when someone is climbing the route, or is it the lowering after the top roper has climbed the route?(which is what lead climbers do, apart from the "elite" few it seems who who do it the proper way)
99% of lead climbers i have seen lower of through the rings at places like Shipley! (including this Sheriff guy.)
come on really... do sport climbers (where this ring issue occurs) actually take up the extra weight of an ATC to abseil down?? hell no!