If it is a trad cliff I will do the FA ground up but I will fix it if nessicary. If the bolts are not in the right places due to whatever reasons I will fix or add bolts to my own route.
If "necesary" could it be different in trad and in sport? Down east, canon: run it out up left across a clean slab (5.10R).
There is an evolution between static rope where the belay most run, the use of fall factor to know how long the belay most run, the kermantel rope where we have to know how to fall safely and the distance of travel, The use of piton, hard to drive in and necessitated a planification of the route to use just the necessary to come back in the valley, The use of stopper and cam to replace piton.
The next part of the evolution is where the trad climber made a mistake. When bolt appears, bolt was consider as the last option. The classification of A-5 can't be done in first free ascent because there is nothing. Trad climber allow the use of bolt on that situation. Considering bolting as cheating was a good reason to laught at those scary people who, when they pe in there short in trad, use bolt. It is a mistake of trad climber because that part of the evolution of climbing make a clear distinction about two ethics. Those people who like hard, fluid move at hard level was not necessary scare people. There was very good climber, like P. Edlinger, who can teach technique to trad climber and bring a new ethic with is own evolution to climbing. Bouldering, with V-0 to V-9, is also and other ethic. But the climber don't try to appropriate the cliff like sport do: insulting and intimidating people.
So, trad climber have to be good in many skill, like an house boulder and a driver of a manual car. They use bolt in the last necessity. A route like down east is a chalenge where we don't have to change the route, but change the climber: When I will be ready, I will do it...and if it is never, I won't did it.
I can understand that, for a sport climber, 5.10 b is just a formality. You climb 5.12, so there is no chalenge to climb a 5.10...put a bolt (like in crack in the wood) and any stupid climber will be able to do it. But training technique far way from a route is not in the ethic of sport, doing a perfect hard move with style is more important. Sport climber work a route, not the technique. Down east is just a step to the success) (I am sorry, even if I try to find what you like in sport, I don't, so I think that I am not very motivating for sport climber)
To place the bolt, you insult us, said that it is dangerous, etc. You never talk about two ethics and the training that trad climber must do to do the route. Go to the top, fix a rope, try it many times, do it. We have a route like down east in Quebec. I said that I will never climb it. I did it two times actually and two variations...And, when I made it, I was very proud because it was the result of a long training, of a work on myself and an honest evaluation of my skill as a climber.
