In reply to UKC Articles: There have been a few mentions recently of top-roping through the lower-off and I completely understand, and have witnessed, the way it causes damage.
If working a route on top-rope for a red-point then obviously you have the rope through your draws because you need them in for the red-point anyway. Also, if climbing with other regular climbers of a reasonable standard, when someone fancies a play on something too hard for them that someone else has just flashed then, again, there's no problem with top-roping through the draws and just pulling up on the rope or a handy clip if the crux proves too hard to free, and threading the lower-off when done.
But if climbing with relative newbies, or the gf*, or working with clients, the options are more of a problem because if you put the rope up through quickdraws for them then you have to go up again afterwards to get the draws back, either because you can't trust them to thread the lower-off safely, or because they can't haul themselves past the crux. Now if you're going to have loads of people on the route then that's not really an issue but if you're climbing with one other person then you end up doing every route twice whilst they do it once, so they spend a lot of time belaying and watching you climb, which is maybe somewhat at odds with the aim of the day. I will freely admit that a few years ago when I used to take clients on Portland I would use Triple Slabs and Fallen Slab for most of the session, top-roping off a sling and screwgate, and collecting the gear from above at the end, but often do Slings Shot as the last route of the day, for a bigger challenge, and top-rope my client(s) on that through the lower-off for the reason given above. And when I used to climb with my gf/wife I used draws for a couple of years and then started threading the staples because it gave me the willies watching her untie 20m up. Mostly this was psychological (I never had the same feeling if all the draws on the route were clipped because she'd led it, but the eggs are more visually in the one basket when the rope is freely flapping in the breeze) but sometimes she had a bit of a struggle if the staple eyes were really tight or she would look a bit shaky if she hadn't done it for a couple of months. In the end I concluded it reduced my stress levels considerably if I did the threading. I was aware of what I was doing to the lower-offs and made some (insufficient) contributions to the bolt fund. I know these probably don't match my personal impact on the Portland bolts and certainly don't reflect my appreciation of all the staples that have gone in to replace the original expansion bolts on routes that otherwise I couldn't have climbed, but I did think, at the time I was working, that I had covered the cost of the massive replacement belay on Slings Shot and the cost of the wear on other lower-offs when I threaded those for the missus, which eased my conscience a little.
Clearly, you can make the argument that sometimes doing what's right is not the same as doing what suits you best but I think, given the decisions I made with open eyes, getting everyone to top-rope through draws is always going to be a problem, and every team will always have to lower-off the staples once per route per session anyway, so the wear will never be eliminated. It's pretty clear to me that promotion of the bolt funds is the way forward. Of course, the availability of equipment is not the same as getting it onto a route but I think the more successful the fund is, maybe the more the chance of momentum developing and more people getting involved. Maybe not?
Anyway, giving it some thought has made me feel mildly guilty...
...about the amount of rambling I've just subjected you to. Cheers.
*the reference to gf here does not imply any unjustifiable, and possibly illegal, opinion regarding the climbing abilities of gfs in general, it reflects only the authors personal, and miserably limited, experience of gfs.
Over a year after the launch of UKBoltFund.org, Alan James looks at how the various bolt funds around the UK are doing in terms of money and volunteers.
