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Trad Climbing Club? 12-Apr-2013 At 8:54:23 AM technogeekery

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Ashfall - as pointed out, they already exist, at least in Vic (VCC) and Sydney (SRC). While not purely trad, they are rock climbing clubs rooted in a long-standing tradition of (by definition) trad climbing. They both offer much of what you are after - so even if you are based in Narrabri (I think thats right?) you might consider joining the SRC, and getting down to some of their meets. You'll find plenty of trad climbers there...

I think its a pity there is no national body for rock climbing in Aus. I'm a transplant from South Africa, where they have the Mountain Club of SA as a national body, and then very active local chapters in every province. The club has been around for maybe 100 years, and has considerable political & financial clout - resulting in them being able to do things like buying whole mountain areas to secure permanent access, sponsoring significant expeditions, lobbying politically for access, promotion of the sport etc. It also provides a central forum for thrashing out thorny issues such as the bolting wars - not to say that they don't have their own heated debates & issues, but it has resulted in a general consensus about bolting ethics, trad only areas etc.

Rather than supporting a trad-only club, I'd support further development of the existing clubs, and cooperation towards a national body or coalition of state-based clubs. Lets face it, for all the supposed differences between trad & spot climbers (how many climbers do you know that exclusively do one or the other?) to the rest of the world we are indistinguishable. I don't see any profit in further emphasising differences between types of climbers, but can see major benefits in acting together to promote shared aims.