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Chockstone Forum - Crag & Route Beta

Crag & Route Beta

Area	Location	Sub Location	Crag	Links
VIC Grampians	Halls Gap	The Watchtower	(General)	[ Watchtower Guide \| Images ]

Topic Date User

Watchtower new bolted line. 5-Mar-2014 At 9:05:09 PM krumpit

Message

I am by no means trying to make this a personal attack on anyones ethics, but I think that as a user group of these areas, we need to seriously consider the impacts we are having....when choosing to bolt, make sure it is worth it...is the route able to be protected naturally and is the route good enough that it might be worth the hardware...personally i also think about how obvious this would be to the general public (proximity to walking tracks or sites of significance)...
If it doesnt tick the boxes, it just shouldnt be done...
There are more and more of these routes popping up in the Gramps...while some tick the boxes, others are just seem to be an exercise in ego stroking for FA's and making "your mark" on an area....
I have worked for parks vic, I have been a guide and I have heard all the opinions around this stuff from within climbing communities and from outside. Sadly, poor judgement could cost us all in the long run.
This is not some obscure gully either...this is a trade area and has been for almost as long as it has been climbed...this means that thousands of kids and teachers each year visit. They have no understanding of climbing and those people that choose to do it...but minimal impact principles and the "sense of adventure" are eroded when the cliff is glittering with the shine bolts...