Goulara: A Bolting Controversy

Lol.

I'm unsure of the correlation between abysmally low hematocrit levels and logical thought process, but I'm going to disagree with Steve and say that playing Chinese Checkers with existing bolted lines is not really a viable solution. Although....Steve and I climbed at a newer (I'll leave it unnamed) Santa Barbara climbing area a couple years ago that was so poorly executed we both agreed that the the best option was to strip the entire cliff of hardware and start from scratch if we ever came back, so maybe he's on to something.

I'll bow out of this with the following (not great, but decent) analogy: Goulara is a climb with fixed protection (bolts). Imagine if the line of fixed protection (the bolts) was a line of natural protection. Everyone would be going ape-shit about placing bolts an arms length away from a natural pro line and likely the bolts would be gone already. That wall should be left as it was with Goulara and its toprope variations.

Well, it's your call. My opinion used to count for something around here but it's always yours to take or leave.

Matthew, have you considered just adding your photos at the end of this post? In the meantime the Goulara page is very comment heavy and it appears that your having a one sided conversation with yourself..just a thought.

I purpose a new line on this wall. Actually it will be a link up, you start on goulara, then traverse all the way around the corner place pro in choss, then come back onto economique clip a bolt, then down climb to the start of the new 12a thing, then climb up and back around the corner on to the old monstrosity thing, then come back up Economique, finally finishing up goulara. I'm calling it Over Handed Poop Smears in Your Underpants 5.12c R/X, trad/sport. Visionary new line and I want the FA!!!

So I recently asked for the opinions of locals on a new route and was met with the same lack of reply. The stated reason was that no one remembered the routes in question. The comment I received was " these climbs were put up by a long gone generation and no existing style rules or regulations prevent the climb. Is this maybe the case for your issue?

There is no more issue. "Someone" has since decided to take it into their own hands and removed all the bolts from this climb. It no longer exists so... discourse didn't really matter in this case because people do what they want to around here....which is kind of nice in a way. It's better than people talking shit on the internet but not doing anything about it in real life.