Let's talk a little bit about "Projects"! Projects, are routes that someone is working on that has never been climbed and they keep climbing the route till they get to the top! It's hard to keep something like that a secret or it's not a project anymore, it's a community climb. The biggest giveaway is, of coarse, someone seeing you on it and they see that you didn't get to the top, or your not there and they see chalk on it, automatically it's up for grabs. Which, the rock is not ours to begin with, but we are talking about the first ascent of a route! Now, we can easily say that the route is up for grabs and in a way that's right. But, I think it's more on the respect thing than anything else and nobody wants a climb that they've been working on so long, to be stripped away from them. There's always someone that can walk up and do the route from the ground up without blinking, and it really sucks to have a problem taken away from you that you've worked so hard to do. So, is there no respect any more, as climbers today let's please respect a route that you might think is a project a person has worked so hard to do, respect the climb and move on, as most climbers would do!!  One way to show it's a project is to red-flag the first anchor, and date it, name and all!

Is a red flag a universal sign for an open project?

It means it is someones ongoing project that their still working, in other words " please stay off till I finish this route"

A red flag on the first anchor means its a closed route, if you please

RockRat2008 posted the following on Friday 22nd February 2008 Brad, I like the idea of a red flag and understand your frustration on setting a route and losing a FA, but unless it is flagged how can you know it is a project? If I'm out climbing and see someone on a route I have no way of knowing if they are just climbing or setting a route unless it is flagged, and I'll usually go check out a route if I see someone else on it. Looking to see how it climbs, etc, and if it looks interesting I'll jump on it. That all leads up to say, I think most climbers have a great deal of respect and aren't out grabbing routes other people are trying to set if they know it is a new route being worked. Mike

I agree with you RockRat, and i'll save my opinions about this "supermember". True sportsmanship "usually" prevails in climbing, but we're human, enough said on that. I'll just say that maybe we should get a fund together and get rent a cops to guard our prospects, i thought that sounded...you fill in the blanks. This is why I don't post very often.