Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - Trip Reports

Tells Us About Your Latest Trip!

Topic Date User

TR: Alive in a Bitter Sea (Katoomba Cliifs) 14-Dec-2016 At 11:08:14 AM simey

Message

On 14/12/2016 rowan wrote:
>...Climbing has no real rules. People can add bolts, people
>can chop bolts out. people can chip new holds or fill holds in. I think
>leaving routes of every style would be a good thing though.

Climbing does have self-imposed rules/ethics which most climbers respect to some degree. Most of those things you mentioned would incur the wrath of the climbing community because they do directly influence the experience of other climbers.

Warwick was pretty quick to remind me of another rule/ethic when I mentioned the idea of retro-bolting Alive in a Bitter Sea. And that is, you generally respect the way a route was established and you don't alter it down the track.

However I struggle with that one, particularly if someone plays the bold card on a new route in a dubious manner.

That is why I liked your line…
> I think the person who did the first ascent always deciding what happens to a piece of rock afterwards is a bit colonialist.

Anyway thanks for the recent input by yourself and Mikl. Good to read some other perspectives.