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General Climbing Discussion

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Araps Rebolting 13-Jan-2006 At 12:17:59 PM tmarsh

Message

On 13/01/2006 uwhp510 wrote:
>On 13/01/2006 nmonteith wrote:
>>On 13/01/2006 uwhp510 wrote:
>>>Sure its not clean climbing, but it
>>>is more clean that a bolt.
>>
>>You obviously havn't climbed pin scar routes in the USA then!
>
>When one pin stays in I mean. I am comparing ONE in situ pin, with ONE
>in situ bolt, not twenty thousand pins bashed in and out of the same crack,
>which is not at all what we are talking about here.

This doesn't make sense, Nick. If a pin stays in the rock, it's fixed gear. If it's fixed, on what possible view of things could it be cleaner than a bolt? A well placed stainless bolt will be stronger, more durable, more resistant to the elements and require less maintenance over the years than a piton.

It's pointless to argue that a piton has the potential to be more easily and cleanly removed than a bolt. It's not only false, but if you never intend to remove something (it's fixed, remember) then what's the point arguing about the merits of its removal.

Climbing is here to stay. It's high time that people putting up routes do so with a view to how the fixed gear they put in is going to hold up in the long run. Every time fixed gear is replaced, be it pins or bolts, there is the potential for both damage to the rock and controversy. Better to avoid it by doing the job right in the first place.

tim

ps: I'm amazed that the placement of loweroffs on Kachoong has caused the stir it has. There are other far more significant examples of loweroffs radically changing the character of routes ar Araps that seem to go unnoticed. Go figure.