[dwd]

There is the "Leave No Trace" principle where you do not leave anything behind.

This is why you see in trad climbing the lead will place cams and nuts, while the last in the group on that pitch retrieves them.

[ofrzeta]

Sure there's this principle but this just moves the need for justification. Humans leave their traces everywhere so why this principle for mountains? There are many traces that should be removed such as hydroelectric power stations, river straightening and so on. Is this whataboutism? I just think a few bolts in a mountain don't do much harm and as a casual observer of these mountains you won't even notice. Also I am very much for "leaving no traces" in the sense that everyone picks up their trash.

[chabes]

> Humans leave their traces everywhere so why this principle for mountains?

It’s called conservation. It is why we have these places to climb in the first place. These are protected wild places.

[ofrzeta]

I am all for free climbing. But I don't really like this perspective from a high horse. So it's fine for comparatively rich people to fly there by plane to free climb Cerro Torre?

[chabes]

My point is about letting wild places be wild, not about the environmental impact of climbing as a whole.

[dwd]

It's about leaving it in the state you would like to have found it. No rubbish, no abandoned equipment, no bouldering-style puzzles already solved because someone has stuck a bolt there.

I do wonder whether the boulderers find it annoying when a boulder is clearly already solved by the worn, chalk marked hand holds. Probably explains why many seek out new untouched sites to solve first.