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Another poll on Arapiles bouldering 4-Apr-2008 At 12:35:47 PM dr_fil_good

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Furthermore, one thing I've learnt in climbing is that sometimes an aesthetic line isn't always safe for everyone - I remember my early days of climbing, getting to Hollow Mountain and seeing Daniel O Tiger and wanting to jump on it because it was aesthetic and I didn't know the grade of the route. If it wasn't for my mate pointing out that it was waaaay too hard for me, I probably would have had two broken legs that day.

Even in recent times I've been in a situation like that, I was in Joshua Tree, my crack climbing skills are horrible and without the few locals who were willing to divulge grades to me I would have taken this beautiful aesthetic line I saw that turned out to be a 5.12b, a grade that I can only barely climb on a face, let alone a crack - once again, if it wasn't for those top peeps, I would have been very injured and would have missed out on the most amazing climbing in Bishop and Yosemite that followed my JT visit.

This brings me back to making the experience as safe and fun as possible for our foreign visitors.

Having a grade and a general description helps keep our sport safe, and in turn keeps the officials from closing down all the areas because of people getting out of their depth and having accidents.