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Naming rights on FAs (aka The Law of Ming) 10-Jul-2006 At 12:30:18 PM Nottobetaken

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In the case of the two (worthless) examples in South Australia...

On 10/07/2006 nmonteith wrote:
>If the first ascent never actually led the route clean, they still:
>a) Found the line
they're both just below a well-trodden hiking track and pretty obvious
>b) research (in guidebooks and in person) to see if the line had been
>done previously
big deal!
>c) cleaned the line
ditto...
>d) bolted the line (most sport routes costs $60+ to bolt)
neither route has any bolts - or any trad placements for that matter
>e) spend considerable time trying the line
...on a toprope
>The person who then waltzes along and does the free ascent route second
>shot has invested a tiny fraction of the work done by the original person! This seems grossly unfair
>to me.
Not applicable in this case - as they are trad routes requiring minimal (if any) cleaning - however, looking at it from a broader perspective (say for instance - an actual bolted line) then I can see your point - but still disagree. The eventual freeing of a line should dictate who gets the credentials to name and grade a route. If not - then it's too easy to just go out, bolt and then aid your way up something and call it a first ascent. What about the time and effort involved (not to mention the training) in trying to free the aided section? Take for instance (for one example) Pegasus down on Lower Taipan. When Andy Pollit freed the majority of it back in the early '90's - he re-named it 'Sheffield Steal' and graded it 31 M-something-or-other... Come the day when a stronger climber turns up and frees the entire route, do you think it should remain labelled as 'Pegasus', 'Sheffield Steal' - or become something else? The original aiders probably spent a whole day drilling holes into the rock simply to say they 'got up it' - Andy probably spent a couple of weeks (if not months) work trying to free what he did - and the eventual ascentionist will probably spend a lot longer than that.