A very cunning and naughty acronym has crept into climbing jargon:  IP.  I first came across it this year at RocknRoll crag when attempting some new routes and more particularly after I actually cleaned and bolted a new route. There was no physical evidence of anyone actually having climbed the route and my climbing partner noted the faint chalked IP on the rock.  In fact the route was unclimable till I cleaned grass out of critical holds.

This follows on when a climber bolted a trad route of mine called Slobber at Montagu and it was published in the Montagu route book as a project!!!! 

Really? 

The climber in question then tried to tell me that the route he bolted was different to the original route.  Considering that this particular route is the only natural line on that face and that there was a bolted lower off in situ, this was, to say the least, disingenuous.  

Debates over how long a route can be a closed project has raged for years but in those cases, the protaganist has invariably curated the route to some extent such as bolting it and attempting it and putting in lower offs (as on Slobber).

Writing IP at the base of a route that you have not bolted or cleaned does not in my view justify reserving it as a project.  There must be some evidence of effort expended on it which is more than just going down a bit of rock on a rope.  Clean it or at least leave a lower off to mark the route.

Since I bolted it the route in question it has been climbed by others and published and named by others which in effect means they or he or she lays claim to it.  It remains to be seen if the new "Owner" or owners replace the bolts I placed.   As anyone who bolts routes knows, the cost and time and effort of bolting a route is huge. 

I have done  by far the most of the onsight leads of the more than 500 pitches of new routing at Yellowwood as well as the thousands of pitches and routes around South Africa.  Every single person who has had anything to do with a pitch or route is credited and also has some say regarding the naming of the route.  

So that is my ethic...