In reply to onlytovey: I think you may of missed the point..so I'll try and elaborate and qualify..
I repeat.
Saying yeah, its cool, climb away, it does no damage, when this only applies to sheer faces (even I'm not convinced by this), and not routes that are on terraced/broken faces, which probably makes up a bulk of the routes in, say, North Wales, THEN for NS to publish selective passages that effectively pronounces climbers are not environmentally deleterious in any way, is a tad irresponsible.
OK, lets say at this point sheer faces are not affected. The reason Im not 100% convinced on that, is, say, look at the unclimbed areas on merseyside sandstone, its obvious to a blind man more F+F exists than on established routes. For example, I can say for a fact rarer types of caloplaca sp on non-climbed areas exist as opposed to established routes. Granted, this anecdotal. So, I guess, taking local conditions into consideration is more the way to go, as opposed to stating a global statement saying all is ok, is irresponsible. Essentially biodiversity isnt uniformal, if you know what I mean.
These leaves terraced ground; this is where the logic kicks in; taking a reductionist view point, why is walking on scree/talus frowned upon?
Because is disturbs post glacial F+F. Fact.
Bringing that up a notch, why wouldnt one climb the broken cliffs above fynnon llant (spelling)? Again, rare fragile alpine plant communities.
Then bring that up to the more broken cliff environment with routes on..a logical progression.
Anyway, if you want to believe you cause no damage when you're out, this naive fool is saying I think you are wrong, I am willing to accept the burden of responsibility and continue to monitor myself as opposed to venture into the wilds with a clear conscience, because someone said somewhere its OK; personally I dont think that the research in the long run wont stand up to scrutiny, unless local conditions are taken into consideration.
But this is only a viewpoint, you understand, not a tethering post for you to throw your abuse from.