In reply to Mike Goldthorp:
> Many people now just use climbing walls as an alternative to the gym, and might never lay fingers to rock.
In the 1980s, a good mate, the late Ian Vincent, went to Holland for a comp. Despite being good enough to get 5th place at a world championship, on this occasion, he had an off-day. So, with time on his hands, he had a wander around the local climbing walls. I think he found several that were very good indeed. I asked him what kind of people were going there. He reckoned the biggest grouping was teenage girls, out with their mates, just doing their own thing, seemingly no notion of climbing in any larger (e.g. outdoors) context - which is fine.
> Conservation of crags is also very important, but a seperate issue from the inclusion of indoor competition sport climbing.
Agreed - but the problem is... climbing and money. In the early 90s, suits would creep round places like The Foundry, looking for the next quick buck. Luckily it didn't happen. Maybe they f*cked off elsewhere. Today, old mates run walls and do nicely out of it. Good on 'em. But what they don't want is...
...the crags to get a makeover. Here, on Portland, folk come straight from walls (in the US, it's 'climbing gyms' - uugh!) wanting the outdoors to be like the indoors err... outdoors. And that's kind of OK on Portland. But it's not OK in lots of other places. And I worry that, after the Dawn Wall (and a 50% increase in numbers?), the sons of those suits (still suits!) will return, wanting to sanitise climbing... 'cos, hey, that's where the big bucks are. Sanitisation rules (well it keeps your punters alive).
I hope I'm wrong. One good thing is - I usually am!
Mick