I find this topic quite fascinating, the heated discussion is exactly the point of Ethics, Spray, and Slander.
If you don’t wish to look at the dead bodies please don’t.
But I think the whole bolting issue goes deep into the heart of rock climbing and that’s why we go on and on and on and on………. because there is no right answer.
Some climbers still go for the “no bolt” at all style. This will work for tons of trad climbs; mountain climbs and is the ethic in some countries.
Great Britain is a good example, they have world class, destination climbs on 60-foot tall rocks. I don’t think they would have them if the “grit” was bolted up like “Holcomb Valley Pinnacles.”
In Italy, at the Val de Melo, they have crack climbs on solid granite, with bolts running next to em.
If you listen to California climbers, the world is supposed to end when that happens.
Jeff Lieberman just returned from a vacation in Mexico, the only gear he needed to take were “draws”.
If you look around the world the “first accent” ethics are different from place to place.
So now we have a fine climb, the voting is about 10 to 1 if it’s a good climb or not.
But what really amazes me is this; it’s not really about “the bolts” rather the method of placement……
The guys who did the climb should be commended because they honestly told the truth about what they had done, they hid nothing and they have nothing to hide.
In my book, that is the best you can do.
Only time will tell if the MSMR will become a classic, all this other crap will fade away.
Sorry to scratch "the scab" somemore, but I can't help myself....