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General Climbing Discussion

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appalling and disgusting use of chalk 1-May-2007 At 6:48:22 PM TLockwood

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look at the gallery, or tannin, or any major line at arapiles, and most likely it is covered in chalk that will never be completely removed discolouring the rock, discolouring a lovely rock feature that wont be the same anymore. the majority of climbers i've seen dont clean the climb after chalking up all over it, and the cleaning of tannin has made little difference. seeing chalk lying around on the ground is just another form of litter, but rarely brought up as an issue, but i guess thats just a sign of how much chalk has become accepted in the climbing community. I also think its wasteful when i see climbers chalking up on climbs well below their limit, for instance, chalking up before starting up bard. It appals me that when beginners are welcomed to the sport asking what they need, i.e. harness, helmet, boots, etc, that chalkbag and chalk is included; they dont specifically need it, and they aren't given a chance to form their own opinion about using it or not, and without understanding the evolution of climbing, they believe that chalk was always accepted, when it was actually quite taboo when it first arrived in Australia.