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chipping in east st kilda

francesca

17-May-2003
5:47:39 PM

i went to boulder today at my local wall, the two railway bridges south of carlylse st in east st
kilda. there was an older guy there, i've seen him a couple of times, and cleaned up his bucket-
loads of chalk as well, and he said to me, "lucky you weren't here earlier when i was hammering
away" i was stunned, "you mean you chipped holds??!?!?!" yes, he replied, and gave reasons
like it was too hard, too big a reach, it was artificial bluestone anyway...

he chipped one hold a pincher with a pocket on one side that would just hold a the tip of my
thumb into a 2cm deep edge, and another narrow edge into something you could park a bus on.

he basically started on the left end of the northern side of the southern-most bridge and went
along chipping every hold down to his level - which is smaller than his shoe size. in all, he
mangled at least 6 holds and ruined a place where i pretty much learnt to climb.

so, what do you do? he was caught red-handed chipping and is completely unable to understand
why it is simple vandalism, and how his selfishness has ruined a great local wall for everyone
else who uses it...

nmonteith

18-May-2003
9:18:41 PM

What the???? - I use this area occaisonally. That is so wrong. That wall is hard - but certainly doable. Why????

Donut King

18-May-2003
9:29:07 PM

lack of education...the bloke thinks its too hard, need to make it easier, thinks no worries...and chips away..same mentality to chipping outdoors.
perhaps you should treat the same way as if someone was chipping away on the local rock at Araps..tell the locals..who then string him up by his nads...or educate teh dude to whats proper behavior

nikolisper

19-May-2003
10:37:54 AM

So what did you do ? Did you tell him off?? You should because as this guy gets older the holds over there will become Bigger...

nmonteith

19-May-2003
10:45:39 AM

I am defiantly going down there tonight and i will take some photos. A photo gallery of shame will be created!!

Dalai

19-May-2003
10:52:10 AM

Very disappointed actions displayed by the chipper.

Bringing the wall down to his ability rather than training and improving his ability to that required for this wall. There are enough easier walls in Melbourne if the climber doesn't have the patience to improve.

FrancesD, I hope you spelt out clearly that this person has ruined the wall for the other users.

francesca

19-May-2003
3:07:37 PM

yeah,i gave him a good yelling atperhaps not as forcefully as stringing him up and chipping some
holds in him - i'm pretty non-confrontational unfortunately... it really made me angry coz i've been
there on and off for two years, and when i first went there i could only do the side slabs... it's only
recently i've been able to do all the center walls, and that's after a lot of hours there, and this
dickhead comes along and after maybe three visits decides these walls are too hard... i told the
nieghbours to call the police if thy hear chipping - not sure what it's worth, but maybe a vandalism
charge...

i won't touch those chips now - which makes it considerably harder, and the chips make it
considerably easier... i thought about filling them in, or coating them with grease, but that just
would make it look bad, and only encourage a tit-for-tat response and then the whole wall would
be chipped... i''ll take some photos too

Dalai

19-May-2003
3:15:58 PM

If you see that person again, you can tell him his actions have angered Melbourne's climbers and won't be tolerated. If he doesn't believe you, give him the chockstone url and let him see for himself through our responses!

oweng

19-May-2003
3:45:41 PM

Are the chipped holds new holds chipped into formally blank bricks, or did he chip existing holds larger? The reason I ask this is because chipping entirely new holds seems to me a lesser offense, as it is still possible to do the entire original traverse without using the chipped holds. Enlarging the existing holds seems totally inexcusable for the reasons earlier posters have raised.

Another thing this raises is the dreaded access issue. The owner of the bridge may normally turn a blind eye to climbers, but if they became actually aware that climbers were damaging the structure (not that a few chips could do any serious damage) this sort of thing could lead to the banning of climbing there.

nmonteith

19-May-2003
4:05:18 PM

The area is the typical 'richmond bridge' bluestone wall. Lots of little holds created by the original quarrying process. It is the sort of wall which is a challenege to link together - at least grade 24 in my opinion. That was the beauty of it - it looked impossible but when you worked it you discover cool thumb catches and small crimps which keep you climbing. With big holds it will have lost its 'blankness' charm.

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