Are you okay...I mean I hope you are not just blowing some random figure out your ass.
Where else would I get a number like that? Where would anyone get a number like that? There are no numbers like that. You can only estimate numbers like that, which is what I did. You think it's wildly off? I don't. On any given day, I'm guessing of the percentage of folks who own a harness and have been climbing in the last year, only 15-20% are prepared to lead trad. That if gyms and sport routes weren't available there would be an overnight collapse in the number of climbers.
It goes hand-in-hand with the fact that most are only looking for risk-averse entertainment; climbing which requires them to personally assume risk is not on their radar. The problem with this new majority is the amount of rock that needs to be bolted to support them outside of gyms. My sole concern is insuring Beacon is not thrown under that particular train even if every other rock in a 100 mile radius of PDX is...
EVERY OTHER RANDOM NUMBER you have pulled out of your ass (anyone remember the "Thousands of gym climbers are dying every day!!" shocker) has been demonstrably wrong. Why is this one any different Joe?