Rock climbing careers

Question
Can you make a career out of bolting?

Answer
Hi Elsje.  I'm not sure how it is in South Africa, but in the US, almost all climbing areas are on public, government owned land and they will not pay a person to bolt a route.  There are a couple of reasons that I can think of for this.  First, there are many people who would gladly do it for free for the opportunity to climb the route.  Second, there are some people in the US who don't like rock climbing because they think climbers degrade the environment, and consider bolts to be ugly.  As a result, our government would be very unlikely to take one side or another.

I'm sure there is some privately owned land suitable for climbing, but I don't think there would be enough owners with the desire to outsource the bolting to make a carrier out of it.

Also, in the US, climbing is not a main stream sport, so even the professional climbers don't make much money.  

Hope that helps.  Thanks for the question,

Nick