In reply to JDal:
In support John, some recent thoughts from another posting.....
I've been giving the top roping thing a bit of thought of late - it regularly crops up as a topic in Northumberland, 'The County', with folks asking for advice about where is suitable!
Top roping has generally remained a minority activity up here, probably because of the local, generally established view which has consistently frowned on it - based on 'ethics', the aim being to keep the adventure level high on what are essentially pretty short albeit hard (and some nasty) routes.
This view's been eroded to some extent by the practice of 'head pointing' and it's widespread acceptance further south of here, thankfully it didn't seem to gather too much steam up here.
The great bonus for us is that the 'ethical' stance has, almost as a side issue, protected many routes which wouldn't withstand repeated top rope ascents by aspirants peddling away at the crux. I think the issue for us up here is to make it very clear that engaging in top roping is a sure fire way to wreck many of our routes.
It's not just top roping which can have this impact, much more frequently mats can have the same effect, many folks now take a mat out to protect their ankles, understandable enough, but if the mat is used in lieu of a top rope it can have the same impact, facilitating/encouraging multiple attempts that often lead to nowhere. Both the climber and the route take a beating and no one wins. Mats are fine as a piece of pro, but after a couple of goes, if you can't get up, it's probably a good idea to move on........
Our crags a a varied mix of 'soft and hard'. The hard stuff is very robust, but even that can be fragile, and folks need to be increasingly aware of the impact they have on the rock, and given the increasing number of indoor facilities, top roping on a very finite resource seems a short sighted and selfish practice. Much of Bowden and some other crags, (most notably Corby's) are pretty beaten out now, if top roping did become more commonplace what could the crags be like in another 50 years?
I think the 'sustainability' issue easily trumps the 'ethical' issue, particularly up here. My personal view is that you are what you onsight, and that the ethics of keeping the adventure quotient high by not top roping routes is way more satisfying - but that's just a personal view, and if the rock was bullet proof and could take it, I couldn't care less about how some folks delude themselves
I've said before that in my view it's really important that the crag/route can win, success at any cost to the rock isn't acceptable. That said I think it's perfectly reasonable to abseil down our harder lines route and give them a sensitive cleaning if required. That inspection should be enough to tell anyone if they are in with a realistic chance, and the rock doesn't get hammered.
I haven't even mentioned climbing when stuffs wet, or the poor use of protection...
Regards,
Steve
Dan Varian and Ned Feehally have recently repeated the Andy Earl route of The Prow at Kyloe in the Woods, Northumberland.
