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General Climbing Discussion

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Open Projects ?? 30-Sep-2003 At 4:02:56 PM Mike

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I'm hesitant to say anything here, since I know nothing of new routing beyond watching others prep and ascend theirs, but still finding this topic interesting, so... Can I ask is the route preparer likely to take offense if someone quietly took a quick run up their new line when no one was looking, purely for the pleasure of it, but never claimed the FA? Not that I've done that, at least, not to my knowledge, but my point is, if the route preparer is mainly concerned with the coverted FA, name in the guide, and all that, and the average punter simply wants to muck about on whatever line looks most accessible and fun, well do the two have to be mutually exclusive? I mean we're not talking the FA of Everest here. What if they simply didn't touch the last hold, but let their hand brush the air above it instead, would that satisfy ethics, and leave the FA unstolen?

As I understand it, a tagged (development in progress) route might be dangerous to climb (glue drying, bolts untested, loose rock, etc). When I see a tag the first thing I think about is steering well clear of it, not just to avoid any ethical dilema but also to avoid injury. Not that I'm likely to get up anything worth being anyones project anyway, so for me the point is basically moot.

Three cheers for all first ascensionists by the way. Much appreciate the resources contributed and the zeal required. According to thecrag.com we have nearly 10,000 routes established in Victoria. Even if heaps of these are not worth scaling, there should be plenty to keep us all busy well into the grave without fighting over new ones. I don't think I know anyone who would knowingly "steal" an FA. I mean why exactly? Would be a pretty hollow victory. But if the ancient tagged route is the only thing left at the crag that you haven't done, and you're just bored or something, well, no one is going to know if you don't send in an FA report, and it's not like the rock actually belongs to anyone one of us, so I guess I can't quite see the harm in a quiet, unclaimed pseudo-ascent.