In reply to Morgan Woods:
> climbing the auto-belay (and routes) with a rope tied to his back and his shiny new rack hanging from his harness....
> you could just use a weight belt.
Was he also picking out quickdraws at every bolt hanger, sorting through his rack for an appropriate bit of gear, spending some time faffing around pretending to place it, and so on?
To be honest he can do whatever he damn well pleases, and if you don't like it, you can sneer on RT about it as much as you like. But if you didn't bother asking him whay he was doing it, then your sneering may be even more pointless.
He might be trying to find out whether he can climb at the top end of his grade with the additional weight of a rope and a harness.
In which case, sneer all you like, he wins...
||-)