Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - General Discussion

General Climbing Discussion

Topic Date User

Araps Rebolting 31-Dec-2005 At 10:52:38 AM tmarsh

Message

On 30/12/2005 Stuck in UK wrote:
>What the hell is the relevance of this? I don't think anyone on here is
>knocking Neil's re-bolting (I certainly wouldn't), Jonesey simply stated
>that routes should not be altered/retro-bolted without a little thought
>and consultation, particularly at a generally 'trad' crag like Arapiles.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but aren't we debating the replacement of shitty fixed gear on a route that comtains only fixed gear? Mind Arthritis is to all intents and purposes a sport route. 3 bolts and 2 pins. Or am I mistaken on this?

I would be very suprised if Chris Shepherd placed pins in this route to add danger or to preserve boldness. I would imagine the decision to place them had far more to do with expediency and speed of equipping the route. Expediency - and its allies of cheapness, lack of foresight, and ignorance - are not good reasons, in my view, for granting heritage states to fixed protection on a climb.

But then again, my view has always been that all fixed protection is regrettable and is axiomatically damaging to the environment. If you are going to damage the environment at all, then at least make sure that the fixed gear you place is durable and safe. Blobs of rusty shit stuck to cliffs fulfill none of the purposes that fixed gear should fulfill.

To venerate it on the basis that it was placed umpteen years ago back when men were 'ard is nonsense: what is our manky crap now was their state of the art then. People used the gear that was available and cheap in order to make a route that did not rely on natural gear. There is different and in many cases better gear available today.