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TR: Alive in a Bitter Sea (Katoomba Cliifs) 8-Dec-2016 At 8:47:23 PM simey

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On 7/12/2016 Macciza wrote:
>Better then it being low-jacked into some 'bland consumer classic clip-up'...
>And like most of Warwicks route it was probably inspected/rehearsed far
>less then most people imagine...

I doubt any route going up that wall is going to be a bland experience. And the fact that Warwick might not have inspected or rehearsed the route much doesn't remove the fact that he did inspect it from a rap rope. That alone is a huge advantage over anyone going ground-up (which is normally what you do when you go climbing).

>Any faffing/inspection/rehearsal is as much a reflection on the climber
>as it is the climb. Perhaps you would like to set us all straight by going
>ground up on it yourself?? I just reckon that if you complain about all
>that stuff but are unwilling to lead it in your preferred fashion then
>it detracts from your argument. And does it really matter how many people
>have climbed it??

The wall is really inspiring, but the route in its current fashion has never interested me. Your argument makes no sense that I should lead it ground-up. It sounds like a shithouse ground-up lead and that is my whole argument.

The fact that Warwick was lucky enough to live in era when he could rap an awesome wall directly below Katoomba and put up a mega route at a relatively modest grade of 25 means that to have created an unappealing route is a crime! The lack of attention it has received is testament to that. And it is not as though his lead was all that amazing. He wasn't onsighting into the unknown. It is a rap inspected and rehearsed, poorly equipped, run-out grade 25. There are no shortage of those routes from the 80s!

If I wanted to play the same game I could have got away with placing only three or four bolts on the second pitch of the Totem Pole. I had it all sussed on rap. I placed ten bolts because I was thinking more about the people climbing it after me. I wasn't interested in creating my own little ego trip. As it stands the climbing is great, the position is great, the route is onsightable and it still retains plenty of excitement. Having a few more bolts doesn't automatically turn a climb into a 'bland consumer classic clip-up'.

Warwick hasn't achieved one thing or another. He ultimately had to rap it and he ultimately had to place bolts. It is just a mess of a route up an awesome wall. The fact that a climber of Paul's calibre had to do that much fcuking around before he was even prepared to lead it is a joke.