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THE AUSTRALIAN RE, RETRO-BOLTING OPEN FORUM 9-Apr-2004 At 3:34:02 PM Estey

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I'm pretty sure your trolling Damien. Just in case your not here is a couple of points to ponder next time you are running it out on your intermediate 29.

Firstly the current ACT Granite Guide gives a pretty comprehensive history of John Smart's first accent of No Beans for Bonzo, and his initial reaction to the retrobolting. For all I know he has changed his views since. However I'm sure most of the people who have opened the guide would know who made the first accent.

Secondly justifying retrobolting solely because a route is unsafe is narrow minded. Other factors such as the style and history of the crag have to be considered. Also, with the obvious exception of places like Araps, sports crags tend to get much more traffic than more traditional climbing areas. This means there is a much bigger human impact in the form of tracks, litter, car parking etc which could threaten access. I'm not anti-bolting or anti sports climbing (far from it). I do however think climbers need to be more aware of their wider impacts.

Perhaps after consensus within the climbing community a retrobolt may be justified in some circumstances. Perhaps NBFB was a case in point ... I wouldn't know as I wasn't climbing in the ACT at the time. But just because a later day ascentionist finds something scary doesn't mean that a route needs a bolt added. Just because a climber may redpoint 28 it doesn't mean he or she should expect to be able to climb every 22 on the planet.

Sorry for the rant

Estey