Dr_Flash_Amazing

Ahhh ... your motivation for traveling to Leavenworth becomes clear ... or perhaps more of a malty, amber hue.

The real question we should all be pondering is: Is Beta a wave, or a particle?

You've sort of come up with this on your own. It's doubtful anyone sport climbs for the experiencing of fitting draw to bolt or rope to draw, which is typically a trivial act, although it can also be rather desperate from an insecure stance. While part of the climb IS typically figuring out how you're going to clip at least a couple of the bolts, in DFA's experience this is a secondary element, if it even enters the equation. As stated before, the satisfaction of leading IS part of the equation, hence the prevalence of bolts vs. toprope anchors.

Bourgeois pig! Drink PBR tall cans or fuck off!

Back off, homo.

Whereas DFA, and probably some other folks out there, finds climbing somewhat scary, and is comforted by the availability of bomber gear at regular intervals, facilitating what would be, for this Doctor, nigh on impossible without the help of Rawl, Fixe, Metolius, Petzl, Hilti, Bosch, et. al.

You are way off route assuming that there is but one reason for bolting routes or climbing sport routes. Just as trad climbing isn't just about placing nuts or torquing your fingers into jams, bolted route climbing is about many things ... experiencing the unique movement of climbing; pushing your physical and mental limit in an arena that allows you to fuck up without splat-risk while still employing the traditional ascent mode of climbing, i.e. leading, and to gain the attendant satisfaction afforded by success in that mode. You're equally off-route assuming that this is based in machismo (seen many machismo-motivated women climbers out there, wiseass?). You're free to TR any line you want; you're probably not going to bump into any of the bolts as you climb. Those of us who enjoy the sport gestalt will do so as well. Sport climbing has evolved into what it has evolved into and is enjoyed by many because it is fun and rewarding and safe and a lot of other things to different people. The fact that it came into being and continues to be so widely enjoyed is testament to the fact that it is far more than the smattering of idiotic and insulting facets that you insist on reducing it to for the sake of this argument. You're obviously not interested in actually hearing what makes bolted routes appealing; you're interested in beating people over the head with your smugly superior opinion. Why even pretend to be discussing the issue? If you wanna beat people over the head, cut to the chase and call them morons, insult their chosen means of recreation, and threaten to chop their bolts like all the other holier-than-thou bolt-haters littering the history of sport climbing like so many turds in the yard.

"Do you feel alright? (Oi, oi, oi!) Someone's gonna die tonight! (Oi, oi, oi!) Do you feel alright? (Oi, oi, oi!) The boys are out tonight!"

Are you sure the answer is ' ? Maybe he's missing a "we" or a "they"?

The threat of logging air time in exchange for sequence-botching adds to the experience, for starters. i.e. preservation of an integral part of the original (pre-sport) climbing experience. While we're addressing hyperbole, maybe you could drop the silly and condescending reference to bolted sport routes as "bolt ladders." After all, DFA was barely able to get the draws up on his last proj with a long stick -- some of the bolts on the "ladders" are far apart!

Shit, why pound pins or trundle loose rock to get to good pro or stain big walls with piss from long ascents when you could just TR them with 6000' static lines anchored to organic, sustainably harvested, tree-farmed birch hexes placed lovingly in Mother Nature's own secret granite slots? i.e. shut up and climb, nitpicker.

That's .12c, you mutant.

It's also important to consider that most sports climbers stick to sport areas and short (i.e. single pitch) routes. Even though this El Gigante rig is a sport line in the sense that it's fully bolted, it's still a wall route, and is quite committing relative to the usual sport experience, which would be a natural crowd deterrent.

Just a few letters into the AAJ piece raised the question for DFA: Does the appearance of bolted (rap or otherwise, by whatever means) lines on big walls or in alpine settings automatically mean the end of development in other styles? And can these types of routes coexist with traditional & traditionally established routes?

Reckon you oughta drop back to punt, then, son.

Hey, shit you, dicko.

Go piss up a Blue Water Dominator, mudflap.

YOU'RE TOO FAT TO SEND! YOU'RE TOO FAT TO SEND! YOU'RE TOO FAT TO SEND! etc., etc.

Shut up, BITCH! Them baseball nubbins gets greazy in the sun, like hushpuppies in Criscofatz.

Psh. That rope totally suxx then.

Checked the weather lately, fellas?

"the RZA, the GZA, the Ol' Dirty Bizza ... "

Reinhold Messner?

All joking aside, this is very well put. Is it, though? Yeah, safety is important, but isn't it kind of shortsighted and/or condescending to suggest that one cannot learn to be safe AND to climb in a generally legit style? Are safety and mode of ascent mutually exclusive considerations? Focusing solely on one aspect of one's chosen style of climbing, at any level, is going to be pretty limiting. Balance, friends; the middle ground.

Weak. Clip the chains from the holds or don't claim the send. Simple as that.