24 February 2019

Chopping bolts on chipped routes?

The Open Letter that was published on Rock & Ice where the headline said the chipping needs to stop did include this very provocative sentence. "We ask now that these crags of manufactured routes be removed from the walls and from guidebooks, to stop the encouragement and normalization of these practices." I do think this is totally wrong and I am sure there are many Ten Sleep Canyon climbers that agree with me. To spend hundred of hours rappelling down chopping bolts would just be crazy. If such chopping would be done it might spread around the world and create a massive conflict. One good solution, which 8a has used for like 15 years is that such routes can be marked as "Chipped" in the topo. Such message is good enough for making sure the chipping will stop. Further more, once the chipped routes go free, it could be reported like that with a new grade. It should be mentioned that the chipping stopped almost a year ago which just underlines how provocative the open letter was, asking for chopping bolts even if the problem has been solved.
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