Reply To: Harry Humpkin and the Exploding Pumpkin

I think we should all stop attacking Chris and concentrate on the real issue here. He didn’t say all the new routes at WCH are crap, he said that these new bolted lines are crap for WCH. My impression is that this is referring to the ethic of the crag as a whole rather than ripping on everyone that has put a line up recently. I’m of the opinion that at a place like WCH, bolting should be kept to an absolute minimum and I’m a little sad to see people whacking bolts in everywhere they think the gear is potentially a little thin or flaring (i.e. Dark Arts).

As far as Simons comment goes “it’s your rock, it’s your decision”, I fail to see how the opinions of two people plus a couple of locals is enough to warrant a retro bolt. It’s been shown in the previous comments of this thread that quite a number of people have lead the climb and are sad to the level of it brought down. If you really want to put a bolt in an existing line then why not put it up on this forum first and see the general consensus before getting the power drill out. Unfortunately in this case, regardless of climbing populations opinions, the bolting is already done.