In reply to Ian Parnell:
Dear Ian,
I would like to explain you why a (great) part of people in Italy...and all around the world...does not like what is happening in Patagonia...also if these people do not like spits/bolds and never liked the Compressor route.
In my opinion Compressor route should be chopped (stronger...had to be chopped!) by Maestri's contemporaries and not after more than 40 years by two young people (kids...if I read what they written as justification of their acts...).
I would have been one of the people that strongly criticized Maestri for his ascent in 1970...and one of the people that justified the bolt chopping of the route at THAT time...not now.
40 years are like a quarter of the whole history of climbing mountain...a 40 year old route is, also if strongly controversial and notorius as the Compressor route, an historical route...may be a good (the worse!) example of what not to do in mountain...
In my opinion erasing a route like that is simply trying to change the cursus of the history, negating its existence...and to negate history is never a good thing...is simply revisionism. we must rememeber always what our fathers did...good and bad things...
I don't like it.
cheers,
matteo.
p.s.
for fixing coordinates:
I consider the way a climbing more important that what I climb.
I climb ''by fair means''...no bolts, no bolted belays.
unlikely only in the alps (no time and no money for patagonia/himalaya...).
I consider that affirming ''by fair means'' after using 5 spits and several bolted belays is simply cheating.
you brits know this game (alpinism is a mere game...with all the respect for Mr.Hemingway) very well...the most important things are RULES.
and rules cannot be changed in function of our greater/lower capability.
rules must be fixed once and before playing...5 spits (+ belays) are not ''by fair means''...
Nevertheless I consider that this sharp and strict judgement must be applied to OUR climbing activity...0 bolt ok, 5 (or 360) bolts: bad!
...but not to a route that remained in place for 40 years and that WAS a (sad) element of climbing history...to judge firmly and to act had to be done a lot of time ago...now is too late for acting, we can simply judge.
so I do not support K&K action.
p.p.s.
I would like to honor Dolomites...directissimas and bolted routes were only a little parentesis in the glorious history of that mountain...usually known for their solid ethics!
during the 30s people like comici, tissi, vinatzer, detassis...pushed the limits of what was free-climbeable (reaching F6a and more with 4/10 pitons in 400/800m walls)...people like comici, cassin, carlesso explored the ''fair side'' of artificial (and free!) progression climbing walls that were considered unclimbable...
also during the ''directissima era'' people like the young messner, cozzolino...lately casarotto...imposed their perfect style climbing without bolts (as their fathers...) and mostly free impressive walls...these new better realizations ''imposed'' the new (old!) style...not unilateral acts of vandalisms!
(maestri too performed several of the most impressive free-climbing solos...)
in the late 70s and 80s the group of mariacher (rieser, iovane, pederiva, schistl...) pushed the limit of free-climbing in the big Dolomite walls with an ethics that is comparable to yours...no bolts and NO AID climbing...otherwise they bailed.
they tried the FA of ''the fish'' (1100m, F6c, C2...free at 7b+...no bolts, rare pitons...slab climbing!) not accepting aid climbing...they bailed several time (to hard and exposed at the time the F7b+ part)...sustr/koller accepted the compromise of using aid (hooks) the did the FA...
also during the last ''dull'' era...where few spits are considered acceptable for hard climbs in dolomite...the old maricher group (not him) has mainteined his perfect climbing style...I know that ''climbing reviews'' report only the last bolted realisations...but FA up to F8a on slabs have been performed on 800m high walls without any bold and without any aid climb (FA...on slab!!).
Dolomites has been the place where continental people develop their capability and skillness before exporting these in western alps and all around the world:
-cassin and gervasutti learned to climb there...and only after moved to western alps
-desmaison and couzy thought neccessary to spend part of their summer in Dolomites
-without any doubt the strongest continental rock climber of the 70s 80s 90s ''belong'' to dolomites