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Bolted route near the Mt Hay/Butterbox canyon exit 13-Jan-2014 At 3:01:17 PM sbm

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The canyoners have noticed this…quoting from Tim Volmer on OzCanyons:

> G'day folks,

>Last Thursday I did Butterbox Canyon, exiting by the common route (the easy climb from the exposed ledge after the small cave).

>About 10 - 15m back along the ledge from the usual route, a bit before the low overhang you scramble under, I noticed a line of bolts going up an alternate climb. For some reason I forgot to take a photo, but from what I could see it followed a finger-width crack up. The climb looked slightly harder than the usual route, and didn't show much sign of wear. I assume from the top of the little pitch I could see you would then head right and join the top of the usual climb out.

>Has anyone else noticed these new bolts? Does anyone know what the reason is for them? It seems like completely pointless duplication -- two climbing exits less than 15 metres apart. I also worry that it'll confuse some less experienced people exiting the canyon, especially as at a quick glance it was a harder grade than the usual climb.

> This is one of the cultural elements from rock climbers in the canyoning community that worries me. As it is the usual climb had extra bolts added a few years back, but to have new climbs breeding on a canyon exit makes you wonder when it will end. This culture of bolting every bit of rock in sight is going to leave the Blue Mountains as more steel than sandstone in a few decades time! Not to mention the impact of having lots of bolts -- of vastly differing quality -- left behind in our canyoning areas as potential risks to the unsuspecting…"

Anyone know anything about this. I remember it's pretty steep and exposed before the cave, so it sounds like "real" climb. Not going to argue the merits of it, but it's not a secret spot so a bit rude not to publish IMO.

Canyoning has generally been much more ethical than climbing in the Blueys, pretty strict no bolt stance and even no guidebooks stance, but a few retrobolts have been appearing in canyons the last few years. All for very good reasons I'm sure, and all done anonymously...Perhaps Tim (aka FatCanyoner) is right to worry. I suspect the reason most of these haven't been chopped is that most hardcore canyoners don't own the required toolkit.