[shark]

Help support the BMC's rebolting of Horseshoe Quarry and become a Horseshoe Hero! Rewards for pledging range from Hero t-shirts to adopting routes, sculptures made from the old bolts and chains, or even masterclasses with 9b bolt-wad and BMC ambassador Steve McClure. Find out more.

Horseshoe Quarry – the well-known BMC-owned sport climbing venue in the Peak District – is getting a makeover this summer with the start of a rebolting project and we need your help!
PLEDGE: Become a Horseshoe Hero on Crowdfunder

With a high concentration of routes in the low to mid grades, Horseshoe is perennially popular and it’s only during the most torrential of downpours that you won’t see a few climbers’ cars in the car park. It attracts everyone from beginners making their first tentative steps onto an outdoor crag after learning to climb at an indoor wall, to hard yarding veterans going for another lap on one of the Main Wall classics.
 
The vast majority of routes in the quarry rely on bolts for protection and the existing bolts are widely varying in vintage and quality, as well as having some excessively high first clips. The aim of the project is to re-equip all sport routes on BMC land to make the crag as safe and amenable a place to climb as is reasonably possible for all experience levels.
 
High quality stainless steel glue in bolts will be used giving great strength and longevity and all lower offs will be standardised with a double bolt lower off featuring a maillon and ring on each bolt to allow straightforward threading of ropes, whilst being easily replaceable if the rings start to wear through in the future.

[Fiend]

Can I plenty to have Horseshoe filled in and Chee Tor thoroughly cleaned instead?

[petejh]

Crag clean-up, re-equipping and other previously volunteer work is now paid for. Matt you'll have to put out to tender the Chee Tor cleanup.. If it helps I have access to a power washer and know a Romanian with his own modern slave workforce, I'll do you a good price.

[SamT]

What Fiend said... 

Why do quality ( ) peak venues such as well.... every where else in the peak, have to rely on a (very few) self funding volunteers to get re-bolted to a decent standard, where's horseshoe, which has already had every square inch of choss bolted to death paid for by the BMC, gets further funding and a high profile advertising campaign.

 

[dave]

Keeps the punters off the decent crags, what's not to like?

[SamT]

edit - just seen other thread.

[Will Hunt]

What Fiend said... 

Why do quality ( ) peak venues such as well.... every where else in the peak, have to rely on a (very few) self funding volunteers to get re-bolted to a decent standard, where's horseshoe, which has already had every square inch of choss bolted to death paid for by the BMC, gets further funding and a high profile advertising campaign.

 

'Cos the BMC owns it and has a duty of care which is over and above that which your average Joe landowner has.

I guess the answer in future might be for the BMC to not buy crags where there is extensive use of fixed protection? But where does that leave us if a genuinely good sport crag comes up for sale and access is threatened by a potential buyer?

[danm]

'Cos the BMC owns it and has a duty of care which is over and above that which your average Joe landowner has.

I guess the answer in future might be for the BMC to not buy crags where there is extensive use of fixed protection? But where does that leave us if a genuinely good sport crag comes up for sale and access is threatened by a potential buyer?

Exactly, it's a double edged sword. The legal advice we received gave us little option.

For those who malign the crag, the proof is in the crowdfunding pudding, the dosh is literally pouring in. Despite a lot of choss, it also has many of the only worthwhile easier sport routes in the Peak and is a year round venue. If it isn't raining, there are generally a few teams there all year round, mid-week you name it.

As for the existing bolts, what's there is a mixed bag but a lot of it is total junk. The BMC has spent approximately zero fuck alls on the place previously. There are 6 re-bolted routes which were done a part of a pilot we paid for,  and some staples Gary put in which we paid for over a decade ago. Given the test results for new staples aren't great and Portland are now starting to get regular failures as theirs age, I'm happy with the decision to go for a clean sheet. The other option of testing everything and then replacing the failures would probably cost as much tbh anyway.

As an aside, the PBF were quite happy not to have to worry about Horseshoe (those I spoke to anyway), and my personal quest to help bolt funds around the country is undiminished.

[T_B]

'Cos the BMC owns it and has a duty of care which is over and above that which your average Joe landowner has.

I guess the answer in future might be for the BMC to not buy crags where there is extensive use of fixed protection? But where does that leave us if a genuinely good sport crag comes up for sale and access is threatened by a potential buyer?

Exactly, it's a double edged sword. The legal advice we received gave us little option.

Given your acceptance of duty-of-care, have you spoken to your insurers about reporting incidents which might later lead to a claim? I would recommend that you do. I don't know how you monitor this at an outdoor crag, but I would hate for someone to later bring a claim (false or otherwise) for e.g. brain injury and your insurers walk away as it wasn't reported at the time.

[shark]

There are 6 re-bolted routes which were done a part of a pilot we paid for,  and some staples Gary put in which we paid for over a decade ago. Given the test results for new staples aren't great and Portland are now starting to get regular failures as theirs age, I'm happy with the decision to go for a clean sheet.

Dan - will you be shutting the staple door after the horseshoe has been bolted?

[petejh]

'Cos the BMC owns it and has a duty of care which is over and above that which your average Joe landowner has.

I guess the answer in future might be for the BMC to not buy crags where there is extensive use of fixed protection? But where does that leave us if a genuinely good sport crag comes up for sale and access is threatened by a potential buyer?

Exactly, it's a double edged sword. The legal advice we received gave us little option.

For those who malign the crag, the proof is in the crowdfunding pudding, the dosh is literally pouring in. Despite a lot of choss, it also has many of the only worthwhile easier sport routes in the Peak and is a year round venue. If it isn't raining, there are generally a few teams there all year round, mid-week you name it.

As for the existing bolts, what's there is a mixed bag but a lot of it is total junk. The BMC has spent approximately zero fuck alls on the place previously. There are 6 re-bolted routes which were done a part of a pilot we paid for,  and some staples Gary put in which we paid for over a decade ago. Given the test results for new staples aren't great and Portland are now starting to get regular failures as theirs age, I'm happy with the decision to go for a clean sheet. The other option of testing everything and then replacing the failures would probably cost as much tbh anyway.

As an aside, the PBF were quite happy not to have to worry about Horseshoe (those I spoke to anyway), and my personal quest to help bolt funds around the country is undiminished.

Sorry Dan but nonsense. I'm amazed the BMC has chosen to do this - to cover their arses, while leaving every other route equipper past, present or future more open to concerns about liability as a result of the BMC's action!
The BMC have spent years fighting landowner anxieties about liabilty for fixed protection - repeatedly stating that there is no precedent for landowners to be concerned about, in regards to private individuals putting in bolted anchors on sport routes. 

The obvious potential here is this could lead to the result that landowners become more (not less) concerned about their liability for bolts on their land:
Landowner's lawyer: how can you show the bolts have been placed by a competent person? And what precedent is set by the national governing body / representative body for climbing in regards to bolts?
Well... they pay private companies to place bolts...

It's simply against the interests of those members of the BMC who appreciate the work of individual route/crag equippers, and a seemingly self-centered arse-covering exercise by the BMC. The potential implications this could bring should have been thought through more carefully.

[DAVETHOMAS90]

Yep. We were saying the same in the pub earlier. And what does it say about some valuable aspects of climbing? Assessment of risk etc. Decisions can always be defended on an intrinsic basis (surely you don't mean we should have dangerous sport routes Dave?) but that never takes into account the costs elsewhere. I quite like STP's post on UKC, where he argues for the BMC banning climbing at Horseshoe  . It's all a bit run out at Crookrise .. Slip n Slide is fine, but Slip n Slide n Bounce? 

[pigeon]

So, we did a quick vid with Niall to show a few of the weird and wonderful bolts that came out of Horseshoe.

Find it on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/BritishMountaineeringCouncil/

Or embedded at the bottom of this article:

https://www.thebmc.co.uk/horseshoe-heroes-crowdfunder

[pigeon]

Full report now on our site:

Five things we learned from rebolting Horseshoe

Plus: decommissioned routes list and info on crowdfunding and supporting your local bolt fund.

https://www.thebmc.co.uk/horseshoe-rebolting-round-up