At the moment I am opening a lot of new routes near Veliko Tarnovo in Bulgaria.

Legally there is no problem for bolting or anything.

All routes can be done on trad and have been opened on trad. Though I am thinking about bolting it all ...

Most bulgarian climbers don't have the money to buy trad gear and due to that most only climb sport. Some are really magnificent routes, some are routes that don't even deserve a second ascent

Reason why i consider bolting is that it wouid be good for the local scene to get more climbs and more routes to climb...

What would you do?

We have a lot of sport crags in the mountains, and most are bolted. But sometimes a cliff has plenty of cracks, and the developer has specified the routes as trad. Over the years, folks have respected this. They still install bolted anchors, however, for safety.

But a more problematic issue is the amount of traffic. The more folks climb a route, the sooner you'll see an accident, and safety becomes a numbers game. So a really popular crag should be bolted, while on a less-climbed route, it's your choice.

Ethicswise I don't like bolting a route at all, i prefer keeping it unbolted.

Problem is that nobody has trad gear here and if i keep it a tradroute nobody will be able to climb it ... Just want to bolt it to give the locals the chance to climb it ...

Bumping!

So your going to add bolts to climbs?

Why don't you just donate a rack of hexes and stoppers to the locals?

Leave it alone. If people wish to climb, they'll find a means to grab some gear just as you have.

Guyzo lives !!!

They can always move to Belgium for awhile and have the government give them the gear, then return to their homes in Bulgaria

butitsadryheat wrote:They can always move to Belgium for awhile and have the government give them the gear, then return to their homes in Bulgaria

What!?!? The Belgian government gives away climbing gear????

Could you put in fixed pro like stoppers and hexes and have them not be taken? That was people could climb it without damaging rock by bolting.

All routes can be done on trad and have been opened on trad. Though I am thinking about bolting it all ...

It would be an act of extreme vandalism.

last route i did was a real beautifull crack with easy protection on friends...

Main problem is that people earn average around 200-300 dollar a month here so a friend is an extremely expensive piece of gear ...

Bolts I am going for glueing probably.

It wouldnt be the nicest thing to do to the rock but it gives the climbers that live here the opportunity to do more routes... They go out almost every weekend and are constantly climbing on a toprope because they dont have the gear to climb the possibilities you have here ...

1km long rock face with 100 routes and 80 meters high and so much unclimbed smaller stones in the area ... For people that want to climb new stuff this is a paradise ... Doing 2-3 routes a week on an average base at the moment included cleaning and taking garbage away on the crag ...

Would like to support the local climbing scene in a way they need because this really could become one of the main scenes, certainly one of the main scenes in eastern europe ...

EDIT:

Main question was: would you bolt if you knew it was the only way to get more traffic on a beautifull climb you did on trad and on trad nobody would climb it?

rankinesoccer wrote:Could you put in fixed pro like stoppers and hexes and have them not be taken? That was people could climb it without damaging rock by bolting.

Thats the same as bolting

Trinity rocks - 1km long 80 meters high





Though more or less hoping to go to vratsa where they have more routes soon
400 meter high rockwalls

twoshuzz wrote:Leave it alone. If people wish to climb, they'll find a means to grab some gear just as you have.

Guyzo lives !!!

I think this is pretty simplistic approach. It is easy to make such calls when coming from a country where disposable income is commonplace, and poverty means having just XBOX and no PS3. (Excuse my exaggeration here, just to make a point).

Here's my two cents:

I have some extended family in Bulgaria (hope to visit the country some day soon!) and I understand what OP means when he says they do not have the money.

None the less, I think even in this situation you should respect the ethics of the sport. If you know the people who have done the first ascents, I would advise you to have a chat with them - how would they personally feel about you bolting their route. I would assume you will find that at least some of them agree with your reasoning. Then select a few routes per grade, if possible, and bolt those.

In the long term, once a route is bolted, you can't really go back on that. So be careful, try not to bolt too many routes.