Climbing ethics : repeating climbs

Can I be assigned to Rifle Patrol so I can stand in front of 80-ft of Meat and Cold Cuts and kick everyone off of those lines that have ever repeated them? Holy crap, you'd have an entire canyon of zombies walking around in circles in the parking lot wondering what to do next since their favorite warm-ups are off limits. If I could start writing tickets for anyone that parks their big a$$ sprinter van anywhere other than the campground, or the parking lot above the Arsenal I'd quit my day job and do it for free.

The only legit reason to not repeat a route is that you risk doing a unsend

Brother Numsie wrote: The only legit reason to not repeat a route is that you risk doing a unsend

Spot on!

dragons wrote:

I thought it might be a troll, but I couldn't tell. Hence the ask.

I looked at that thread. Person 1 did 21lsos on a gym route. Person 2 goes off on a tangent if not repeating routes outside. 

I don’t know anyone who goes out and dies 20+ laps on one route in a day, on a regular basis. It is just not a thing. Some people occasionally do things like birthday challenges, etc.  They are a minuscule fraction of all climbers, the rock wearing out from them is just ridiculous. 

There are, on the other hand, plenty of people who come to the crag, climb their warmup, often the only available warmup, and then put in 2-5 attempts on their project route, then repeat this routing for several days, sometimes quite a few days, spaced out over time, until they send the routes they are working on. Those people do, over time, accumulate many repeats on the routes. That is how any hard redpoint happens. That is not going to change. 

Rock gets polished, yes. It is a sad and unavoidable part of climbing. Popular routes get REALLY polished. Holds break. Routes get harder. 

Then they stop being popular, crowds go elsewhere, the polished rock can be left to weather in peace. Wipe dirt and sand off your shoes... don’t climb fragile soft sandstone after rain... otherwise, climb that route however many times you want. 

Lena chita wrote: 

I looked at that thread. Person 1 did 21lsos on a gym route. Person 2 goes off on a tangent if not repeating routes outside. 

Lena, Perhaps you had to be following the thread, but it appeared to me that the 20+ laps reference was regarding an outdoor route. The original comment said "my climbing mate and I took a guy out top roping for his second time (he came out with us a coupe, of weeks ago) and he was able to climb the grade 16 he’d been trying. As an indoor beginner top rope climber he was struggling to adapt to climbing outdoors. I was able to do five laps of the grade 21 I often do; far short of the 21 laps I did in March but at least I’m back on it".

That's a reference to climbing 21 laps on an outdoor route.

I don’t know anyone who goes out and dies 20+ laps on one route in a day, on a regular basis.

I do know someone who does this, although I'm really not sure how regular it is. I've certainly done 5-10 laps on a route just to get some "miles" in. Sometimes, that's what all I can do in the time available.

Anyways... so everyone thinks the original quote was a troll post?

dragons wrote: Anyways... so everyone thinks the original quote was a troll post?

No, I don't think that.

ralph stover/high rocks is practically in my back yard where i live now.... (not exactly but close)  i used to go there a lot because it was an easy day trip without much driving. in 1990 the rock there was slick as eel snot. now if you go there, its way slicker than eel snot, polished shiny and slippery as hell. so whats the diff if i did same climbs there 100 times over the years, and notice nothing, but go back now and its ridiculously polished, or i stopped climbing there and everyone else kept at it and polished it....its still been worn down. the miniscule amount of wear it gets from one person going up is undetectable. now thousands and thousands every year over 30 years, and you can tell. just climb what you want as much as you want in your preferred style and dont let anyone else dictate how or what you should be climbing..... it wont always be there. such as:

should i also be pissed at nature for it spitting the huge roof block with one of my favorite lines across it above tango off the wall and leaving it augered into the ground? (i admit it, i am)

This one is has been mounted more times than Madonna.
https://www.mountainproject.com/photo/106395031

Tradiban wrote:

This is a thing in Indian Creek, the cracks are wearing out.

just wait for the cracks to be reset...

I predict that Master Rock Texturer will be a job in high demand in the not too distant future.

Russ B wrote: This is not an ethic, it's just some young virtue signaling shitbag trying to express how #aware they are about their impact, without being aware that almost every piece of gear they own is made of petroleum.

Man, if 65 years old is young, I guess I'm a baby.

Tradiban wrote:

This is a thing in Indian Creek, the cracks are wearing out.

This is not a thing in IC

Chad Miller wrote:

This is not a thing in IC

Umm.  Yeah it is!  See photo I linked above.  Then look at other photos of that route including the one with the super rounded edge at the crack.  See here:

https://www.mountainproject.com/photo/115323483

Greg D wrote:

Umm.  Yeah it is!  See photo I linked above.  Then look at other photos of that route including the one with the super rounded edge at the crack.  See here:

https://www.mountainproject.com/photo/115323483

It’s not one that people follow …

Chad Miller wrote:

It’s not one that people follow …

Wearing cracks and widening cracks is something that people don’t follow?  

Do you mean “don’t give a shit”?  I’ll buy that. IC is so full of top rope gang bangs these days. 

Greg D wrote:

Wearing cracks and widening cracks is something that people don’t follow?  

Do you mean don’t give a shit?  I’ll buy that. IC is so full of top rope gang bangs these days. 

I mean people don’t do a route once then not repeat it in IC. 

I must be going to the wrong areas cuz I’ve not seen much top roping in IC. 

Russ B wrote: This is not an ethic, it's just some young virtue signaling shitbag trying to express how #aware they are about their impact, without being aware that almost every piece of gear they own is made of petroleum.

This is just some pretend made up shit that's never been a thing before. Look it up. PO - please stay off my routes I don't need them any slicker as I grow weak(er) and fat(er). Thank you. If I'm wrong and this is a real thing, please pass this on to Hans Florine so he can stop lapping the Nose.

Rob T wrote:

It is, but not for enough people. 

Edit to add, yes, you must, in my experience the lead to TR ratio there is about 1:4 over the last decade plus (generously, leaving out all the 1 leader 5 follower groups). 

Can you even top rope out there without leading the route first?  

Brian Vanderwende wrote:

Man, if 65 years old is young, I guess I'm a baby.

I noticed that after they linked that thread your were running your mouth in.

It doesn't make your shitty opinion any less cringy, nor does being 65 years of age man you're mentally mature enough to realize your don't have any right to be trying to dictate how much it's acceptable for someone else to do something. 

Russ B wrote:

I noticed that after they linked that thread your were running your mouth in.

It doesn't make your shitty opinion any less cringy, nor does being 65 years of age man you're mentally mature enough to realize your don't have any right to be trying to dictate how much it's acceptable for someone else to do something. 

So edgy... but you've got the wrong guy. Go climb something as much as you want. I couldn't care less.