In reply to Mark Collins:
> I ended up getting the longest beta stick possible, to clip the first bolt on a route at kilnsey and even then I was having to fully extend it, causing it to flex some what and give the impression that I was attempting to land a big fish. I'm told that far away first bolts are to do with history but I don't really get it.
If you mean Directissima, I think it's also the start of a trad route, which traverse left before you reach the bolt.
> Makes me wonder what foreign visitors make of it.
There are plenty of dangerously high first bolts abroad.