16.03.2009 15:05
Etter NTKs uttalelse om etikk og bolting, har Robert Jasper kommet med følgende uttalelse:
Statement by Robert Jasper
I've travelled to Norway numerous times and climbed in different areas all over the country for several months in total. In most areas I came across bolted routes on ice and rock, for example in Sedesdal, Rjukan and Hemsedal and on some long multi-pitch routes. On some mixed climbs at Hemsedal I even came across artificially drilled hooks. For my ethical understanding it is a big difference to bolt a belay, a rappel, place a bolt for protection or to drill a hook placement to be able to get up! Furthermore, it seems strange to me that some Norwegian climbers who according to the Norwegian Alpine Club follow such a strict ethic, go to remote and sensitive areas like Antarctica or Baffin Island and bolt their belays and even drill hook placements.
Before travelling to Norway this time I contacted two local ice climbers to get more information, and nobody ever mentioned this guideline to me, not even during the many other occasions when I climbed in Norway. On this basis, and having found bolts and drilled hooks in Norway on routes which have been first ascended by Norwegian climbers I didn't assume that there was such a "strict ethical guideline", and I'm sorry about this!
Ethics have always been a very important matter for me and I always attempt to avoid bolting as far as possible. In any case Fossilmonster (on which in 1000m we placed 9 bolts for the belays, 5 on the pitches plus three pegs and an in-situ stopper) is a very dangerous route: climbing it without our bolts would seem irresponsible to us, but obviously everyone is free to climb the route without them. Regarding the climbing ethics, I feel everybody is responsible for them, but at the end of the day one must also adhere to them and not only talk or write about them. Ethics are not only for others but mainly for ourselves!
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