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Crag & Route Beta

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

Topic Date User

Urgent: Sport climbs at Mt. Arapiles? 6-Jan-2008 At 9:53:16 PM dreamingof8a

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Okay, I should have shut up :-)

I definitely like trad climbing and will visit the Arapiles soon.
There are just some aspects I don't like: e.g. the fact that this trad-only thing makes it really hard for beginners to go climbing outdoors (in fact many climbers here in Melbourne I know need to find someone to put a top-rope up for them and that way they'll never lerarn to lead). Years ago I started climbing by leading at the rocks. In my opinion this is much easier if there are bolted routes in all grades.
Then it's much harder to become better if all you can do is trad since it's not very wise to climb near or even above your limit if there are no bolts ...
And last (at least for now): If it takes more time to put gear in during your onsight, not knowing the pieces you need, than actually climbing the 20m of rock, then that's not the point of rock climbing for me.

And @rod: Thanks for the advice, you're right. But still, I just somehow prefer falling off a route because the holds are too small or I get pumped because of the moves, but I don't like to run out of juice because I have to fiddle around wih gear (and then on top having to worry about the protection). So I'd probably be dreaming of leading these routes with bolts, not on trad gear. It just doesn't give me that much. Maybe I'm a chicken. Maybe I just don't want to hurt myself on a 20m climb which could be perfectly safe by putting some bolts up the wall, that no-one has to use if there is good trad gear availible. But the sport climbers can't choose, cos they need the bolts.

And I wouldn't call stuff like Tarn, Ceuse, Jonte (which has lots of trad actually) or the spanish areas "polished chossy jurassien limestone" :-)

Anyway, let's go climbing rather than argueing.

cu at the rocks