Discussion: bolt placement

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chrisdavies	bolt placement Apr 15 2009, 6:54 PM EDT on some of the routes that i have repeated in the never never land area recently, i have noticed that some bolt placements are in areas of poor or hollow rock, when more solid rock is available very close by, the belay on pitch one of Tomb Raider is a good example, if you tap the rock around the bolts it sounds hollow, i appreciate some pieces of rock become more hollow with time and weather. when placeing bolts on slate, try and find the largest and most solid area of rock available. p.s. this is not ment as me having a go , but as a reminder to anybody who may be thinking of new routing on the slate, and is not aware of how brittle and hollow slate can be, hope this may be of use! Post reply Do you find this valuable? Keyword tags: None
binkybonk	1. RE: bolt placement Apr 17 2009, 12:00 PM EDT Agree totally and you are right about bolts becong loose over time. If everyone carried a spanner in their pack maybe it might make a difference... esp. with the large numbers of people now climbing in the quarries. Or, people should post a thread on this site and, if I get a chance, I'll try to perform some kind of schedule of repair and inspection. regards, Jim Kelly. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
jonnyr	2. RE: bolt placement Apr 23 2009, 8:20 AM EDT Jim, chris was talking about bolts being placed "in poor or hollow rock, when more solid rock is available very close by", as opposed to "bolts coming loose over time". Chris makes a good point i am sure you will agree. Without wanting to teach more experienced folk how to suck eggs; I find that giving the rock a tap with the hammer and listening to the noise it makes is a good way of helping determine the imediate rock quality before I drill: a dull, or hollow sound is not good but a nice 'dink' sound with the hammer literally bouncing off the rock is a good sign of solid slate. Try it out on your routes and see. That said, i agree with you Jim, a spanner is a good tool to have if you're climbing the bolted routes in the quarries, and people should always make their own assessment of each bolt they clip. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
dragondraig	3. RE: bolt placement Apr 27 2009, 6:14 AM EDT Yep all good points folks. If you suspect a dodgy bolt then if possible removing the hanger could be a good way to help solve the problem - could create more problems for others climbing but that could be better than having a bolt failure. When I have drilled I check for solidness of the slate like Johnyr says, but with heavy traffic that slate becomes brittle and hollow with heavy use, so we need to keep re-checking popular routes. I took a hanger off a route last week as the rock had cracked through the drill hole, making it very hazardous, and my intention is it re-drill on better rock. We need more spanners in the quarries ;o) Bryn Post reply Do you find this valuable?