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General Climbing Discussion

Topic Date User

Removing bolts to create trad paradise 9-May-2007 At 5:50:53 PM garbie

Message

On 9/05/2007 nmonteith wrote:
>I have been swayed towards the 'leave it be' attitude - with a preference
>for NO rebolting, or anchor
>additions. Let the old bolts rust, and leave it to the next generation
>to suck it up and climb the routes
>without them.

Its a great thread, with elements of Trad v Sport and "do you put up routes for yourself or for others" debates. I was also thinking the "let it be" way is best, with the crag eventually losing fixed gear to the forces of nature.

But in the meantime? How do you make a decision about whether a rusty bolt or peg is going to hold a fall? Placements at least you can gauge the shape/quality of the rock & make you own decision about whether to keep going, but nothing short of an engineering test of fixed gear is going to tell you what forces it will withstand. So clipping or rapping off that gear will become a bit of a lottery in 10 or 20 years. In one way I like the uncertainty, but in another way, it seems crazy. Maybe best to take it out? Or replace it?