UKC

indoor routes with bolts only for using own quickdraws

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 NigelHurst 22 Mar 2017
Whilst admittedly I have only been to 5 indoor walls, only one has had bolted routes without quickdraws so you can use your own to practice clipping onto and removing from bolts as you would on an outdoor sport route. That was in Alter Rock in Derby.

Being pretty new to climbing (6 months) and not been outdoors yet due to having started in October I found it really useful being able to practice using my own quickdraws rather than just clipping in rope to in-situ draws.

I just wonder why it's not been common to the other walls I've climbed. Is it a safety issue?, a climber issue that people just don't want it? - I found it really useful and actually enjoyed the process of unclipping from harness, clipping into bolt, then clipping rope, and the reverse - a more whole experience.
 jkarran 22 Mar 2017
In reply to davnig:

Fixed draws can't be dropped on people and once you've clipped a few bolts it's not a big part of the climbing experience and you need less kit to get started. Most walls had bare bolts back in the day.
jk
 Lord_ash2000 22 Mar 2017
In reply to davnig:

Seems its come full circle, most walls used you require you to have your own draws back in the day, it was a right pain and the idea of fully equipped walls seemed great. Now they have become so common you've got people wanting the opposite so they can get the experiences of clipping the bolt.

Don't worry, the novelty will soon wear off and you'll be glad of nice pre-equipped walls.
 stp 22 Mar 2017
In reply to davnig:

A second reason is the length of time it takes to strip the draws after every ascent. At peak times when a wall is busy it adds maybe 50% more time to the ascent of a route that could have been used by another party climbing it.

A third reason is that on steep routes you take a swing outwards when you unclip from the last bolt - a potentially massive swing - a bad idea in at busy wall.

A fourth reason is that if you want to redpoint something and leave your draws in other people are forced to use them too. Who's responsible should one fail? What if you're ready to go back on your project but someone is slowly dogging their way up it? You''ll then have no draws to use on another route.

A fifth reason is that some climbers only climb indoors and won't have their own set of draws. This means the wall has just lost potential customers.

For all these reasons I'm actually surprised any walls still don't have all draws in place.
 johncook 22 Mar 2017
In reply to davnig:

Maybe it's because Alter can save a few quid by not installing fixed draws. I used to climb there but not any more. There are so many better places within easy reach!
 spenser 22 Mar 2017
In reply to johncook:
This is my view on it as well, Alter Rock were involved with the climbing wall at the University of Derby and they didn't bother buying any big holds for it when it first opened, fat lot of good that is for the average users of that wall!
Post edited at 12:07
OP NigelHurst 22 Mar 2017
In reply to davnig:

thanks, they all make sense and yes, I may well get fed up of the clipping eventually but still a novelty now.
DragonsDoExist 29 Mar 2017
In reply to davnig:

They have a few routes like this at the Kendal wall. Annoying if you forget to take draws with you. But not too annoying as there's other routes to do.
 climbwhenready 29 Mar 2017
In reply to davnig:

The Reach in London has bolts on quite a few of the top rope routes... good because you can tuck the TR out of the way and lead it on your own draws
In reply to davnig:

Forget bare bolts. Inverness sports centre wall has the option of indoor routes with leader placed trad protection.
OP NigelHurst 29 Mar 2017
In reply to Ron Rees Davies:
Brilliant sounds great to me, for practice
 duchessofmalfi 29 Mar 2017

There is a wall in Scotland somewhere nearish the Carngorms that has QDs, bolted routes without QDs and routes requiring trad gear. It's in a sporthall - can't really remember much else except the novelty of placing gear indoors!
 routrax 29 Mar 2017
In reply to duchessofmalfi:

Xc in Hemel Hempstead has a route you can use trad gear on, but you have to also clip the insitu draws too.
 d_b 30 Mar 2017
In reply to davnig:

I haven't seen a wall doing that since the 90s

In a similar vein, The Edge in Sheffield used to have a slab set up for leading with trad gear. IIRC it had some sort of bolt on holds/gear placements that would take nuts and cams. I have never seen that anywhere else.
 Jim Lancs 30 Mar 2017
Kendal has a lot of routes where you use your own quickdraws as well as (at least) 1 route for trad placed protection.

OP NigelHurst 30 Mar 2017
In reply to Jim Lancs:

I'm doing a week's course based out of kendal start of may, I'll pop in to have a look, it looks an impressive climbing centre anyway
Andrew Kin 30 Mar 2017
In reply to davnig:

We use Kendal wall and Sands Centre. Kendal wall is where we purchased our quickdraws as my daughter wanted to do a particular climb, realised it had no in site quickdraws so we went and purchased a set. Up she went and loved it.

They have been quite a welcome addition as the sands centre, other than the auto belays, it has no draws in place. Been placing quick draws and leading since she was 6yrs old

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