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Topic Date User

TR - Mt Buffalo Southside Gorge FA 16-Apr-2018 At 10:06:48 PM One Day Hero

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On 16-Apr-2018 bigchris wrote:
>F**k yeah it was. Because I got to climb it.

But you got to climb it anyway on toprope. Why is it that we don't respect a toprope as a valid first ascent? Yet anyone can rap the same line, place enough bolts to almost be on toprope the whole way, and ta da......new route. Rock climbing cultural norms make no sense once you add a top down approach and power drills.

Looking more broadly at route development (not putting your new route in this basket, btw) I think that bolted routes which obviously have no market value are nothing more than environmental vandalism. Everyone with a drill should be asking themselves the honest question "will anyone come out here and repeat this thing?"

There's a bunch of things which I've toproped, thought were pretty cool, ummed and ahhed a bit, then decided not to bolt. The piffling number of repeats they'd attract doesn't justify the bolts. Now what do I do if someone with lower standards comes along and bolts the shit out of one of those?