While there will be some controversy about bolts being put on Everest, I think that often in the bolt vs trad argument people forget that the entire point of pro is to protect the climber and cams, nuts, pitons, ice screws and bolts are all part of a climber’s arsenal to safely get up a mountain. I’m from North Carolina where a strong trad ethic prevails but if bolts are required to make a route safe then they should be put up in a respectful manner. From what I have read the Yellow Band is not protectable by sane means and probably should have had been bolted many seasons ago.
I think Kenton Cool sums it up well below.
The band is made up of limestone, marble and calc-silicate and is very compact with just a few horizontal striations that offer almost zero options for anchoring fixed ropes. In the past, rope has been tied to existing old rope frozen in place with little or no idea what is securing the rope to the mountain.
It would be easy for the arm chair climber to say that if someone who attempts to climb Everest is not capable of climbing the Yellow Band without fixed rope then they shouldn’t be there in the first place, but then this is an argument all about commercialism rather than about placing some bolts…. In my mind the fixing of a number of bolts at this spot isn’t “murdering the impossible” but a sensible act that will without a doubt save lives of Sherpas, Western climbers and guides alike. -Kenton Cool Courtesy UK Climbing News
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