[luckyjez]

James Turnbull and Dave Brown cleaned and led Golden Mile at Chee Tor last night. It's now chalked and the nettles at the base have been flattened.

[T_B]

Don't suppose they commented about the condition of the thread?

[luckyjez]

They replaced it - sorry, should have mentioned that. It is slightly longer than the old one apparently.

[luckyjez]

Correction to my last post due to me not listening properly to James. The thread has NOT been replaced as they didn't have any spare tat with then at the time. They backed it up with an additional sling when they were cleaning it and then removed that when seconding. They said the original thread looks 'ok'.

[Hydraulic Man]

Honeymoon Blues has had a total dust down with the lower thread replaced and a new thread cleaned out of a muddy pocket below the 33 year old peg as a back up for the final moves.

Final holds also cleaned off of various bits of mud etc.

Route is in good nick and totally climbable with a few wires required for the start.

First ascentionist was ok with the placing of the back up thread.   

[Kingy]

Easy Rider on the Cornice cleaned. Good route to try if you have done Jug Jockey (seems harder?) Care needed on the slightly flexing flake in the break after leaving JJ - feels like it might bust off although has been reinforced with a lot of sika, you have been warned! The last bit is OK now its been dusted down but was filthy earlier

[petejh]

Just a thought but this thread is almost all about a limited area - Peak/Yorkshire. The thread could and should be a more representative resource than just these areas. I know there's nothing stopping anyone from anywhere posting about their cleaning/re-equipping handiwork but still, the peak-centric focus is off-putting to outsiders - I've hardly ever bothered to mention the hundreds of re-equipped/cleaned routes that I know about in n.wales because it feels like there's no expectation from forum users to see anything other than Cheedale routes on here, and I get the impression it'd just get overlooked. It'd be valuable for all activists to document their work here, so how about renaming and splitting the thread to cover re-equipped/cleaned routes in a few of the major regions such as Yorkshire, Peak, N.Wales, Lakes, Scotland, South Wales, South West?

[205Chris]

Makes sense, though a retrospective splitting of the thread into component areas would be a massive job. Maybe better to lock this one and start with new area-specific ones. Anyone else have thoughts on that?

I don't know about splitting the re-equipping bits and pieces but certainly anything that was cleaned more than 6-12 months ago will almost certainly need cleaning again.

Having threads split by area would seem logical.

[Bonjoy]

Easy Rider on the Cornice cleaned. Good route to try if you have done Jug Jockey (seems harder?) Care needed on the slightly flexing flake in the break after leaving JJ - feels like it might bust off although has been reinforced with a lot of sika, you have been warned! The last bit is OK now its been dusted down but was filthy earlier

Have to say I thought this was an awful route when I went on it shortly after the fa. Sharp, dangerous (the block needs pinning not a shoddy glue job) and blatantly manufactured. To some extent you can't avoid manufacturing on loose peak lime where gluing is needed, but it's just a waste of rock when it's done badly and the created moves are horrible. Treated with care the line should have been a safe decent 8, instead the fa opted for a lazy quick and dirty throw away 7c+.

[abarro81]

IIRC Mark went on it a couple of years ago and decided it was too dangerous for anyone passing g below to be worth going on.. If anything falls off that roof on a busy weekend it will land straight on a walker's head.

[Three Nine]

Its really dangerous - I had one cleaning go and binned it; this is primed to kill some walker. Its directly above the path, and there are some big blocks waiting to come off. A good candidate for de-gearing. Lots of other routes to do.

[TobyD]

Its directly above the path, and there are some big blocks waiting to come off. A good candidate for de-gearing.

Sounds sensible, apart from preserving the lives of innocent bystanders, (or belayers) better to preserve access than have sh*t routes on loose rock at a sport crag.

[Hoseyb]

Abbed and weeded Hamadryad in Twll Mawr today, from top to below the crux p2
(the bits that mattered basically only a 100m ab rope)).
Safe passage past the brambles and gorse should now be possible.
Shunted my way back up, classic Joe Brown E3, never ridiculous or deadly, but never a path.


Hosey

[Kingy]

Cleaned Twisted 8a at Malham. Probably hadn't had an ascent for years, was filthy up there. All dry, clean and chalked now. Props to Ally Smith for rebolting this

[duncan]

The following Francis Haden and Gordon Jenkin routes at Brean have been re-equped with Titanium glue-ins by their first ascentionists.

Do You Get Vouchers With This (tbc)
Brean Dream
Kraken
Bikini Atoll
A Heavy Read

On Distant Voices I replaced the 8mm caving bolt with a 14mm x 110mm Titanium glue-in, which should be more confidence-inducing. I re-excavated the friend placement on the upper slab but did not replace the fixed thread. This could be removed and threaded on lead if you so desire. The peg on the lower wall is decaying but can be backed-up.

The route as it now stands is a trad. adventure with some excitement on the upper slab but enough reliable gear to keep you off the deck. E3 6a and recommended if you like that sort of thing.

[petejh]

Interesting choice of bolt - how much do the titaniums cost?

[duncan]

The bolts are Titan climbing eternas glued with Hilti RE500. The choice was Francis', informed by his experiences in Thailand, Vietnam and Hong Kong.

I understand many people think an appropriate grade stainless steel is more than adequate but his view is in a warm marine environment (Brean!) Titanium is the best long-term option.

[Johnny Brown]

On Distant Voices I replaced the 8mm caving bolt with a 14mm x 110mm Titanium glue-in, which should be more confidence-inducing.

I don't know enough about the venue or the route to pass comment, but (!) I can think of places where if this is considered a like-for-like replacement, we're going to see routes changing character. A tricky one for sure though, it wouldn't make much sense to replace one dodgy bolt with another either.

[danm]

If you look at the closet equivalents bolt wise, prices for glue-ins are roughly:

316 grade stainless steel €4
1.4462 duplex stainless steel €9
Titanium €9

The failure mode of concern is SCC (stress corrosion cracking), made infamous by the collapse of swimming pool roofs. It requires humidity, chloride ions, heat and stress to drive it. The 2 more expensive materials are resistant to this, the commonly used 316 isn't. SCC is quite complex, and isn't fully understood. Until fairly recently, it was not considered a problem at temperatures below 40C, now there is less certainty. We do know that areas in the UK with large numbers of 316 bolts in a marine location (Portland, Upper Pen Trywn) have an excellent safety record, but it makes sense to be cautious and if you can use one of the resistant materials for marine environments. The Titan ones look pretty good, glad to see them getting used in the UK.

[Bonjoy]

Re-cleaned the John Allen E3 6b Parallel Universe at Rivelin the other day. This goes up the front of the buttress between Only Here for the Smear and Moontan buttresses. It gets a poor write up in the guide, presumably only on the basis that it hasn’t been clean any time since the FA. It’s actually really nice and is a good airy 6C highball with a couple of pads. Worth doing before it retreats under the moss again for another 30 years, if you’re into this sort of thing.

[kc]

The bolts are Titan climbing eternas glued with Hilti RE500. The choice was Francis', informed by his experiences in Thailand, Vietnam and Hong Kong.

Not the best choice of glue though especially with British temperatures. Strong as houses but it's a bit too runny and slow setting for climbing bolts.
It was designed for use in construction when fixing re-bar and such like into deep holes. That's why it's very runny and slow setting so it will penetrate into great depths.
The responsible bolters amongst us will want to check that the resin has gone off before pulling the ropes not wait an hour or more. It may take 48h for it fully cure!
I like to work with a thick glue to patch up with. RE 500 is bubble gum red, looks fab on white Limestone.

[petejh]

RE 500 is bubble gum red, looks fab on white Limestone.

I'm so sad I could probably answer a pub quiz question about which routes on pen trwyn/LPT have red resin (presumably re500) #uselessknowledgeretained.

[duncan]

On Distant Voices I replaced the 8mm caving bolt with a 14mm x 110mm Titanium glue-in, which should be more confidence-inducing.

I don't know enough about the venue or the route to pass comment, but (!) I can think of places where if this is considered a like-for-like replacement, we're going to see routes changing character. A tricky one for sure though, it wouldn't make much sense to replace one dodgy bolt with another either.

It will be a different character from when I lead it 10 years ago when I thought fluffing the top of the slab could well deposit me on the shingle 25m below. I imagine the first ascentionist was pretty confident in his bolt though and my aim was to return the route to its original excitement level using fixed gear with a sensible lifespan. Even with the new bolt some metres below, tip-toeing up the sandy breccia will remain an authentic Brean trad. experience.

Not the best choice of glue though especially with British temperatures. Strong as houses but it's a bit too runny and slow setting for climbing bolts.
It was designed for use in construction when fixing re-bar and such like into deep holes. That's why it's very runny and slow setting so it will penetrate into great depths.
The responsible bolters amongst us will want to check that the resin has gone off before pulling the ropes not wait an hour or more. It may take 48h for it fully cure!
I like to work with a thick glue to patch up with. RE 500 is bubble gum red, looks fab on white Limestone.

I understand your concern regarding bolting practices. Regrettable incidents in the UK demonstrate that even the very experienced can make mistakes. The approach was very thorough and systematic, as you would expect from a mining engineer. We were the last to leave and the 'before' and 'after' test samples were curing nicely at 5.30pm as it was getting dark. Francis and Gordon returned the following morning, in the rain, to check their handiwork.

Temperatures were not quite Krabi at Christmas but considerably balmier than Derbyshire. It was sunny and warm enough to sit in a t-shirt at the bottom of the crag most of the day, too hot for harder climbing. I can see that pink bubblegum is not ideal on Peak limestone but it's not a bad match on Brean which is variously ochre, red and brown.

A couple of further points:

Add Tide Rising and Leaving Hanoi to the list.

The slightly wobbly Eco glue-in (4th bolt) on Brean Dream was pull-tested and gave out at 30kn. Not bad for 19 years old.

[mark20]

Re-cleaned the John Allen E3 6b Parallel Universe at Rivelin the other day. This goes up the front of the buttress between Only Here for the Smear and Moontan buttresses. It gets a poor write up in the guide, presumably only on the basis that it hasn’t been clean any time since the FA. It’s actually really nice and is a good airy 6C highball with a couple of pads. Worth doing before it retreats under the moss again for another 30 years, if you’re into this sort of thing.

Nice one Jon, I thought this was pretty good. Nice highball circuit at Rivelin actually. Money For Old Rope, just to the left, looks like it would be a good highball too, but had to run away from the rain before we could try it. Might try next weekend.

[Bonjoy]

Yeah, I really rate Rivelin for highballing. Loads of things to go at affordable grades, some desperates and mostly only needing two or three pads.