Sorry my thoughts are disjointed. Babies.
Bolt analysis. I’ll leave aside bolts/aider for now. And titanium.
Weight/packability.
15 Normal grade 8 bolts, and the mini folding drill, is 3.5lbs. From weight/packability standpoint, I don’t see how they don’t get a 5/5. If comparing to 2tc, fine make that 5/5, and bolts 4.8 on weight. Packability the same. You could conflate packability with deployment, but i'll separate below.
Time
Once you’ve drilled a hole in a hardwood a few times to practice, it’s pretty hard to take longer than a minute to drill, set bolt, advance linemans and step up. So for purely climbing time - if you're short, and go slow to avoid noise/sweating, and want to get to 20', you're talking 15-18 minutes. ON THE WAY UP. Climbing down, using proper technique, maintaining 3 points of contact at all times, I can't say I've ever taken longer than 1.5-2 minutes to reach the ground. Most climbs it is about a minute. Prepping to climb - wrap linemans around tree and start climbing- 0 minutes. Time to pack up and leave - shove bolts in pouch or pocket and walk away - 0 minutes. It's the TOTAL time of researching, purchasing, learning, storing at home, packing to head to the woods, carrying the stuff to the tree, deploying it to climb, climbing up, climbing down, packing up to leave, that bolts shine. But narrowing to just deploying to climb, climbing up and down, packing the method to leave, it's 22 minutes tops. I'm confident that this number is tops for everything except 2tc. And it still may be faster, I just haven't explored this climbing method in depth.
Safety
Again, I think we should avoid detail on this metric, because it will get people hurt and killed. But I would point to the anecdote i posited in the other thread you had going: How many people have we heard of recently climbing with a lineman's belt that were seriously (life altering long term impact) injured, or died? How many have we heard of that were seriously injured or died while tethered in? I'm not saying this to say climbing with a lineman's is safer. I'm saying that the math folks are doing to say that being tethered in is safe, is very likely quite wrong. For this reason I think you should leave this metric out. I'm bullish on this front - people will get hurt. When you decide to leave the ground, you take the largest increase in risk on board. Within the options we are all discussing, your odds of being seriously injured or dying do not change dramatically between methods. They all bring on HUGE INHERENT RISK. You (the collective you - all of us) are undervaluing this risk. Saying otherwise, unless you are qualified to assess risk, with specific regard to working at height, is not the right thing to do.
Cost
25 bolts and a mini folding handle drill is 120.00 max.
Noise
Bolts are hands down the quitest method to climb, and it's not close. Drilling is silent, setting a bolt is silent, stepping on a bolt is silent, removing a bolt is silent. packing and unpacking bolts is silent. If any of these are untrue, you're just doing it wrong. I see nothing gets a 5/5 here, but I can't see how any other method ties with bolts, because you are in so much control of the only source of noise - advancing your lineman's belt. I would put sticks here, if they're stealth stripped completely, you go slow, they never touch each other when deploying, and you don't drag the rope or strap across bark while tightening. But those are all big ifs. Again, rope climbing, and 2tc could be quiet, but technique AND execution matter. Bolts, all that matters is technique. If you do it right, it's quiet. Even if you aren't good at it.
Now let's add a couple categories:
Learning curve
If you can stir oatmeal, and you can plug in a phone charger, you can drill and install a bolt. If you can maintain minimum of 3 points of contact at all times, you can climb using bolts. I would imagine sticks and strap on steps are on par here. Big drop to other methods including stepps because of the knot, rope climbing because you should be taking classes taught by qualified people before doing it and purchasing equipment, 2tc seems to have a very steep curve, but admittedly ignorant to it. 5/5 for bolts and sticks.
Deployment/packup
walk up to tree, start climbing with bolts. Come down tree, shove in pocket or pouch and leave. No ropes or cords or straps to drag against bark, brush on ground, leaves, etc. Bolts are easily 5/5 and well above any other method for deployment time/effort/noise, and packing up. A lot of how much this matters is relative to how cold it is though - if you have to spend 10 minutes getting dressed and undressed to walk, packing up for 2-3 minutes isn't as big of a deal. But it is objectively easier and faster with bolts than anything else. Including 2tc because you don't have to get stuff wrapped around the tree, and adjusted.
Impact of age/weight/flexibility/dexterity/balance/motor skills/spatial reasoning and awareness
I would imagine bolts win here, but sticks and strap on steps could also tie. I think it depends on methods of deployment, size of tree, temperature, etc. Where it does not for bolts. Again - this could be conflated with learning curve. But I do think they are separate issues. You can learn all the techniques and methods with rope climbing and 2tc, and if you're not the appropriate combination of things above, you could be reliably bad at it. I'm confident in almost anyone 10 years or older to be able to master the technique of installing and climbing on bolts. I'm not advocating it, just highlighting the disparity in physical/mental tools required to use a method effectively.
Maintenance/Storage of the climbing method everywhere but the woods
This one is often overlooked or undervalued. But where you store things at home. Where or how you store them in your truck, on your atv, bicycle, etc on the way to and from the deer woods. Cleaning them. Checking them for signs of wear. Bolts are clear winner here to me. The only maintenance MIGHT be to put lubricant in the drill joint once a season if you care about it squeaking sometimes. And replacing or sharpening the bit. This can be moved to the cost category, and bolts can be 200.00 for lifetime instead of 120.
I'm sure I have more thoughts, but that's enough to get the ball rolling.
