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Tiger Wall - Dribble Bolting? 12-Aug-2009 At 7:52:12 AM robertsonja

Message

On 11/08/2009 simey wrote:
>On 11/08/2009 robertsonja wrote:
>>What are the bolts for?
>Many of the protection placments in your photo are of dubious quality.
>Given that the belay is at the end of a 50m pitch on a grade 11 route,
>there is a good chance that prospective leaders will a) have limited gear
>left to rig an anchor b) have limited experience at linking heaps of dubious
>placements to create a bombproof anchor.

If I am placing protection for an anchor, I'll be the judge to the quality of the placement not somebody else months later looking at a 3cm x 3cm photo. So we should bolt all belay stations just in case leaders have limited gear or have limited experience or to increase safety and efficiency - I don't think so!

>>What consultation process did person(s) who placed the two bolts go through?
>I consulted with every person who had repeated the route in the last 30
>years... namely myself (and the different partners who accompanied me).

So again, Simon, you've bolted another anchor station on a trad climb just because you have 30 years experience - that doesn't make sense. That is like saying you have been running commercial trips at Arapiles for x number of years so you have more say or rights than others. No you don't.

>>Is this another example of a degraded trad climb?
>No, this is an example of a route that never had a clear route description,
>was covered in lichen and moss on the first two pitches, had dangerous,
>loose blocks on the upper pitches and was given zero stars. It took a few
>days of faffing around with climbing and cleaning it, but the end result
>is a vastly improved trad climb.
>
So if the route description not clear, or covered in lichen and doesn't have stars that gives you the right to bolt it? I don't think so. So if there are loose blocks on the pitch you should bolt the belay station? I don't think so. Bolting a belay station on a trad climb where there is adequate protection does not improve it, eg first belay station on Touchstone. Another example of where you have gone trigger happy.

Can you please remove these bolts (and the ones on Touchstone)?