Route reading and onsight ethics

If you do some route reading before you go for an onsight, your chances for success will improve. Start by looking for places where you can rest. Then try to identify the cruxes. Often they begin like 50 cm above a clip. Look for different solutions that could be used. It is valuable if you can do the route reading together with a friend, just like in the world cup, although your friend will not try to onsight it. Explain and share your thinking and solutions.

When it comes to safety, it is quite normal to have the first or even second quickdraw pre-clipped. Possibly a friend could help you out with this. Alternatively, you could use a clip stick or just grab the first quickdraw to reach the second bolt. Once you start climbing, most top climbers think it is ok to down climb once if you mess up. When it comes to belaying a friend a route you also would like to try to onsight, it is in the grey zone, as also safety is jeopardized. Any belayer that learns from belaying, even if always looking down and never looking at the climber, could later not claim to onsight it. It should be mentioned that onsight ethics were much stricter in the early days of sport climbing as you were supposed to place all quickdraws on lead. Anybody using the ethics of today, as above, would be laughed at.