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Crag & Route Beta

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VIC Grampians	(General)	(General)	(General)	[ Grampians Guide \| Images ]

Topic Date User

Black Range cease bolting request 27-Oct-2017 At 9:48:32 AM JamesMc

Message

I don't have a problem with not bolting near aboriginal art sites but this is actually a request that ALL new route development in the WHOLE Black Range cease.

What is rock climbing? It's the same as walking but with more up than along, and you have to use your hands more. It is not a fundamentally different activity like driving a car is different from reading a book.

What is climbing a new route? It's climbing a bit of rock that you're not aware of other people having climbed before. Kind of like walking somewhere your not aware of people walking before.

What is developing new routes? It's climbing new routes and telling people about them. It might also mean clearing away loose rock to make them safer or something like that, but that's not a defining characteristic. Last time I climbed in the Black Range, a few of us walked into a cliff I'd spotted from a 'plane on the way to Adelaide, we climbed about five routes, walked back down a gully about five times, then drove to Nati for dinner. Got around to writing the routes up a year later. That's all new routing really is.

Suggesting that we shouldn't develop new routes in the range because someone has bolted indiscreetly is like suggesting that nobody should walk in the range because someone did something inappropriate.

It is overreach and should not be supported.

JamesMc