this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2023
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Question for people who do climb. Does the Trad climbing method do any harm to the rock face when being placed/removed repeatedly? Curious if there would be any benefit to the permanent method.
In terms of real harm to the rock, both permanent anchors and removable protection don't do much damage. It's mostly the aesthetics of permanent anchors being kind of ugly.
What is more damaging is the increased traffic to an area once it is bolted. Having to bring your own gear, and take it down afterwards becomes a barrier to entry that keeps wilderness low traffic. If you bolt a wilderness area, you can do things like make it permit only, but at the same time climbers are often known to just not get permits and climb anyways :). Then there is also the question of who's job it becomes to inspect and maintain the bolts. Ultimately, bolts only make sense in areas that are already high traffic, where park rangers are highly involved and safety is a real concern. In my mind, the only reason to bolt wilderness is to turn it into non-wilderness. That's maybe too pessimistic of an outlook, but it's the only way I can read this.