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General Climbing Discussion

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THE AUSTRALIAN RE, RETRO-BOLTING OPEN FORUM 27-Aug-2004 At 2:02:01 PM oweng

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Uoh, im under the gun....

If im doing a modern sports climb, it seems to have a lot of big fat ubolts, or lots of big shiny fixed hangers. On the black dolerite rock down here in Tassie, and with the current close spacing that is the fashion of the day, these rows of bolts can look unbeleivably ugly and obtrusive. Given this, I cant see that adding a lower-off adds greatly to this visual impact. I also think that if your going to the effort of putting up a sport route, you might as well make it safe. You could argue that deliberatly ommiting a bolt on a run-out but easier section, is the pro-active chopping of a retro-bolted run-out. But then where would you be? Potentially stuck with a headache me thinks.

So Hex, im stuck in a conundrum. I hate the appearance of a wall bristling with sports routes, but I like climbing those routes. If im going to the 'dark side' and climbign sport routes, its all about selfishness. I want a quick McDonalds like fix (complete with lower-offs), that will be imediatly satisfying, but ultimatly (for me) less memorable than a more commiting 'trad' climb.