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.

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ofrzeta 13 hours ago | parent [-]

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.

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chabes 2 hours ago | parent [-]

> 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 40 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		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?