Another thing. This consensus needs to be adopted and carried out by the local guide services and trickle down from there. As of now, it appears that they all do whatever they want with no regard to what others think about it. I am not saying that what they have done or will do is bad or good, but what they do is out of their own little tribes and followers.
Though many North Conway guides also serve as volunteers with MRS, and interact within the community in a variety of ways, linking bolt & anchor promulgation (as you describe) with the guide services and climbing schools is not quite the complete picture. Part of teaching climbing is exposing guests, students, and clients with the local perspective on things such as our bolting history and the strange evolution of anchors. Marc always used the traverse pitch on Thin Air as an analogue for the whole shebang, and he did so effectively and with candor.
When I was living and guiding in the Mt Washington Valley I frequently chopped superfluous and unnecessary tat/poot/bail slings, and updated "legit" tree-based rap station with dark cord or webbing and steel rings. Based on OM's description, the clean rap from the top of Diedre has been yanked (in my opinion the birch tree above the corner is NOT the way to go, btw).
I also fixed a stopper behind the tree on Airation to save that puny piece of flora from further abuse (is this still up there? I hope so... keeping that wee tree in good shape will mean that the spot won't sprout a 2-bolt anchor, as has been suggested elsewhere.Â
And, to be fair, I updated older/rattier bolt anchors with modern hardware, most recently (pre-chopping) changing the They Dies anchor from its prior vertical orientation to one horizontal, adding chain to the Birds Nest Anchor, etc.
What you describe, the "trickle-down," is exactly what myself and co-workers, friends, and climbing partners hoped would be implied. We were nervous, however, about making such a link explicit.
