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Sport Climbing to be Prohibited in Tasmanian WHA 22-Jan-2015 At 10:38:03 AM nmonteith

Message

On 21/01/2015 johny wrote:
>So climbs with bolts arent climbs?

I never said that. All I said was that climbs don't have to have bolts.

>Do you draw the line at anchors or any
>fixed gear on route or just "bolts"?

Anything that leaves a permanent scar - so by definition all bolts. Slings around bollards or in threads are ok as they are easily removed. Big ugly messes of faded white slings should be trimmed and replaced with something more color matched to the cliff. Pitons - a grey area. Why doesn't someone make stainless steel pitons? They always seem to rust out...

>This is also a nonsensical statement.
>You never place bolts or climb bolted routes? Right...

I'm not referring to banning all bolts everywhere. I'm referring to the location that this topic is about, the WHA area of Tasmania. It's an area that probably only has a handful of bolts right now, and most of those were placed using hand-drills.

>So you think its "nice" if there are areas free of bolts. Ok this is the
>first thing you said that makes any sense. I think its good that some areas
>are gear only. Almost always, bolted anchors are necessary or you just
>end up with a bunch of crap that people rap off of or force dangerous eroding
>decents.

I'm not sure that bolted anchors are 'almost always' 'necessary'. Most of the wilderness areas involve topping out and walking back down. I'd hate to see a bunch of rap bolts placed down something like Frenchmans Cap for example. I do think the 'erosion' reason for rap anchors is sometimes exaggerated and is more to do with convenience than environmental concerns. Descents in most of the WHA areas usually involve rock-hopping for miles.

>Also hand drilling a couple bolts while new routeing ground up
>is about as "trad" as you can get (trad climbing being a completely bullshit
>made-up term by the way) but this would apparently require the permission
>of some fat ass bureaucrat now. Glad you approve.

Hand-drilling certainly slows down the bolters! I used to place a lot of hand-drilled bolts in volcanics in Queensland as a young lad, it was bloody hard work and most of the routes I did in that era are now considered dangerous or have been retrobolted!

>You and Damo are just trying on your little "trad" hat. I hope you think
>it looks good on you for the moment.

Awesome! Me and Damo are best trad buddies now it appears!

>Have fun on your next sport climb.

I did. I bolted it yesterday!

In summary - I use bolts, I place bolts. I just don't think that somewhere like Frenchmans or Federation needs sport climbs.