My hope in the argument is to appeal to a younger generation, and if anything I say loosens unexamined calcified positions, even for a moment, then there is little more I could ask for. And if not, then I will console myself with having tried.

But yes
in some ideal world it would be best to have a climb remain
what it was, especially if it's a route done by a true master,
such as Royal or Henry.

QuoIn looking over these different responses there clearly is a line of division between the old and new and the difference is so great that the new can't even imagine or don't want to consider the old orientation of "earning" a route by way of competence, risk management, and self mastery (containing fear). We can be sure the new orientation came out of gym climbing, where the point is to do moves. Why would one risk anything in a gym - or outdoors, for that matter? What has risk got to do with climbing, the physical movement? Why would anyone in their right mind want to risk anything when the obvious thing is to slug in a bolt. So easy, right?

The orientation in the past was that boldness and courage were virtues - and this tradition lives on in spades with all the high bouldering and soloing going on. But the old on-sight ethos, where risk management was a real factor, has largely been forgotten because no one or at least very few grew up with this mindset.

People grew up with grid bolted routes. Why should they be denied a fine experience and a fine route because some arrogant "daredevil" ran the rope?
They're berating the very things that used to energize the game for a majority of climbers.

Things change.

But I'd still hate to see the old testpieces bolted up. They don't take up that much real estate.

JL te Here

...the whole thing is a tempest in a tea pot compared to things that really matter in life. In that sense, I agree with you that it inconsequential. But some of us, even though we have in no sense been professional climbers or even dedicated dirtbags, have still spent a lot of our lives climbing; in my case next June will be my 55th anniversary. This has warped our perspective; we see things as important that are really of little consequence. In some ways it is an embarrassment to care so much about little pieces of metal in little holes while so many are oppressed, so many live in poverty, so many are starving, and our country appears to be wandering from the fundamental principles of political compromise that underpin democracy.

But there you have it. I care about the effin' bolts. Not Superpin so much at this point, but about the rest of what seems to be going on. Can anyone do anything about it? Maybe not. Will the controversy spill over to people in authority and cause access to be restricted? It seems possible; there are different models for what might happen, but in general sportsmen who have been incapable of restraining their impacts often end up having someone do it for them, and when that happens it is rarely pretty.