Bult haters often act like anarchists

Neil Gresham, one of the leading UK trad and sport climbers of the last 20 years, has made the FA of Premonition 8b+ at Kilnsey. It starts at the previous mixed Deja Vu E5 (in between the trees in the picture by Neil) established by Ron Fawcett and was protected with three threads in the start. There are 32 routes on the crag out of which almost all are bolted. Having been given the OK from the FA, Neil replaced the threads with two bolts and also placed another bolt higher up, just to the side of the original line. For this Neil has been criticized by some, out of which the former UKC employee Mick Ryan was harshest, saying that he should chop the bolts. Neil called Mick asking for an explanation for his critical stand point, seeing as Mick himself did exactly the same thing on two routes 25 years ago, replacing threads with bolts. The only difference was that Mick had not been given an OK from the FA. Until now, there have been 304 posts in the UKC forum and Mick Ryan has been banned. 8a contacted Mick to get an opinion on why he was so critical towards Neil as he had done a worse thing 25 years ago. "Whether a bolt is placed, or taken out is always down to an individual action, an individual decision to act. Some may agree or disagree with the action. Some retrobolts stay in, some come out and that is decided by individuals. Anyone is free to do as they wish, just as Neil has done recently. He placed retrobolts. Some people disagree with that, some agree. He didn't ask the BMC for permission. When it comes to placing bolts or taking them out we only have our own authority. There is no-one telling you what to do, or not what to do.' Neil Gresham: 'The aim of the new bolts was to strike a compromise between the requirements of those climbing the original line and those wishing to climb the new Extension. These things are always difficult to resolve and it's impossible to please everyone. However, I firmly believe that the majority support this type of evolution. The way it's always been in the UK is that first ascentionists decide about any alterations to the fixed protection on a route, although in this case the critics have tried to claim otherwise simply because they disagree with what we've done.'