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Accident at Arapiles: November 9th 25-Nov-2010 At 10:53:42 AM shiltz

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On 24/11/2010 Wendy wrote:
>Here we go again ... where does this assertion that bolts make climbing
>safer come from??? A bolt flew out of You're Terminated in the wind years
>ago. gfdonc posted about one unclipping itself. They can be in shitty
>places leaving you with bad falls, run outs, desperate clips and how the
>hell do bolts affect helmet wearing anyway?

I agree that bolts aren't always safe, can be poorly placed and hard to properly assess - I'm certainly not claiming they are perfect. You'd have to agree though that well placed bolts are very reliable. There are of course numerous mistakes that can be made clipping bolts but it is still simpler than learning to place good trad gear.
Anyway, here are a few more unfounded opinions to keep the debate rolling:
- I think "hard" climbers actually fall off a lot more often than beginner leaders.
- Despite this I think "hard" climbers are much less likely to be seriously injured in a fall because they understand gear placements (including bolts) and are often falling on steeper ground.
- I think beginner leaders are more likely to be injured in a fall due to poor gear placement, rope management and not considering what they might hit - ledges, chicken heads, etc.
- I don't think anyone could argue that a hard Arapiles face climb with shallow RP placements and long run-outs does not become a whole lot safer with a line of bolts up it and a stick clip ethic. Aside from the environmental objections to bolting most people also dislike the removal of risk where a trad ascent is possible and represents a greater mental challenge.

Since accident registers only track incidents where someone was seriously injured or killed I can't really back any of this up. It would be interesting to know how many falls are taken in an average weekend at Nowra and Arapiles and compare this against how many serious injuries occur.
Despite this, I enjoy climbing at Arapiles a lot more than Nowra and I am rarely fit enough to tackle anything harder than 24.