Rapelling vs lowering

[Anonymous]

The ethic (and practice) in the Mountain West of the US is to ALWAYS rappel off of a route unless you are projecting and leaving your own quickdraws at the anchor or you are the individual that equipped the route. I go to great lengths to rap even over-hanging, meandering routes in order to save rap rings and anchor hardware. Is the convention in Kalymnos to lower off the anchors rather than rappel or abseil?

[Anonymous]

from the climb kalymnos website:

Lowering and worn lower-offs:

In recent years, the permanent carabiners at the lower-offs of popular routes have shown clear signs of wear. Most climbers run their rope directly through the carabiners at lower-offs: the rope sliding through quickly wears out the metal and decreases the metal’s lifespan. A telling example is the fact that during the route maintenance in 2008 at sector Odyssey, the metal on some carabiners on heavily-used lower-offs had been worn down to half its original thickness. To extend the lifespan of permanent carabiners at Kalymnos crags, please climb responsibly: do not lower directly off the anchor’s carabiner, but place one of your quickdraws or carabiners in addition to the permanent carabiner to lower from. Please use the permanent carabiners at the lower-off only after your last go, when you are ready to strip the route. If you see other climbers lowering straight from the permanent carabiners, please alert them to this ‘excessive use’ problem in a friendly manner.

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