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General Climbing Discussion

Topic Date User

Araps Rebolting 16-Jan-2006 At 1:49:29 PM Nottobetaken

Message

On 16/01/2006 kieranl wrote:
>Fixed gear that is known to be poor should be mentioned in the route description.
>Sure, the quality of fixed gear can deteriorate over time but in general
>people have a right to know whether the fixed piece beckoning them on is
>a haven or a trap. You shouldn't have to get yourself in deep before finding
>out.

I disagree. This relies far too much on the guidebook author to accurately describe each route. Given that the author is probably never going to climb every route at a place like the Mount, (though they've probably done a fair few anyway) - some of the descriptions will always be based on second-hand knowledge, previous guide descriptions, or even guess work.

Simey & Glenn’s selected guide for instance is a great guidebook, written by two guys that have had a long and close relationship with Arapiles. A lot of the descriptions are exactly what they say they are – but there’s also a lot of potentially dangerous routes that give no warning whatsoever. I remember on my first Arapiles trip doing Auto de Fe – first time I had used RPs so I got a bit gripped on the 2nd pitch – but pulled through it. Fair enough – the guide (albeit Louise’s at the time) and the reputation suggested that it could be a tad exciting. The next day I went out and launched up The British Beat. Nothing in the guide mentioning that this could be remotely high-pulse whatsoever (and there still isn’t) – but I found it way more out there than Auto.

In Simey’s guide nothing suggests that you might take a 10m crater into the slab if you choose to launch into the 2nd pitch of Tjuringa (and come off), or (like in Gordy’s 330 of the best guide) – that ‘a 20m groundfall is a distinct possibility’ on Breezin’.

Similarly – how many grade 20/21 leaders have unknowingly launched up the first pitch of Mental Debris onsight, Strangers Eliminate, or Rats Alley? Not exactly clip ups now - are they?…

In the end (given we don’t have anything else) it’s got to come down to the climber attempting the route – their own judgement, climbing skills, research and penchant for dribbling – in making the decision to do a particular climb. Those factors are the things that are going to direct how ‘deep’ you go – or not. Still – it would be nice to have a bit of warning sometimes! Bring in the ‘heart flutter’ icon ala RockFax – now there’s a sensible idea...