[Adam Lincoln]

Hope y’all didn’t have projects at Oliana. Sounds like some pretty bad fires have damaged first layer of rock. Draws and ropes burnt, and all trees in front and behind are now gone.

Sad times

[Wood FT]

Wow, looks really really bad

https://instagram.com/stories/svanabjarnason/2864132090541933266?utm_source=ig_story_item_share&igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Place is going to look like a massive Hueco boulder at this rate.

[spidermonkey09]

Fuck! That looks dreadful. Only plus side is the frst 40 feet of rock was quite shit anyway, but hopefully the damage won't have extended too high up the cliff.

[jwi]

All routes from Michi and to the left are destroyed, but the routes from Mind control and to the right are more or less intact. (With reservation for my bad Spanish.) Source: Patxi Usobiaga's insta. Direct link: https://www.instagram.com/p/CfEOs7EjwPd/

[Adam Lincoln]

China crisis lost as we know it also.

Pachimama etc have lost big patches of rock.

I think when people take a closer look more routes will be damaged.

[jwi]

Are you there? Svana Bjarnason and Patxi Usobiaga seem to describe almost two different events...

[spidermonkey09]

I've read multiple conflicting things today. I do think that it's fairly likely that a lot of routes will have sustained some level of damage but I hope I'm wrong.

RIP unnamed 7a on the left, that was a great route!

[Adam Lincoln]

Are you there? Svana Bjarnason and Patxi Usobiaga seem to describe almost two different events...

Did you read Svana B’s new story on insta and read it. And also Dans. I also spoke to someone else whos been up for a look.

[Adam Lincoln]

Are you there? Svana Bjarnason and Patxi Usobiaga seem to describe almost two different events...

If you want i can send you screenshots from Svana where she states China crisis is damaged and also the big flake on pachimmama.

Unless of course you dont believe them either?

[Wood FT]

RIP unnamed 7a on the left, that was a great route!

such a good route!

[JamieG]

Out of interest, what happens to the rock after fire damage. I’d assume it becomes brittle. Will it clean up over time? Or are we talking ruined forever (or at 100s/1000s of years?). Presumably it’s not good for the bolts either.

[remus]

Out of interest, what happens to the rock after fire damage. I’d assume it becomes brittle. Will it clean up over time? Or are we talking ruined forever (or at 100s/1000s of years?). Presumably it’s not good for the bolts either.

Just going off a few bits of fire damaged rock I've climbed on, the outer layer becomes brittle and tends to flake off. It's usually fairly superficial (in terms of the amount of rock that comes off, obviously any hold loss is not superficial from a climber's perspective). It'll be interesting to see how Oliana cleans up given the scale of the fire, especially the stuff that has been heavily affected (i.e. left of Mishi), you could imagine the stress in the rock caused by the rapid heating could go deeper given the scale of the fire.

[jwi]

Are you there? Svana Bjarnason and Patxi Usobiaga seem to describe almost two different events...

If you want i can send you screenshots from Svana where she states China crisis is damaged and also the big flake on pachimmama.

Unless of course you dont believe them either?

But... China Crisis is to the left of Mishi??? So totally destroyed as per what Patxi said.

[SA Chris]

Out of interest, what happens to the rock after fire damage. I’d assume it becomes brittle. Will it clean up over time? Or are we talking ruined forever (or at 100s/1000s of years?). Presumably it’s not good for the bolts either.

As said rapid expansion under heat followed by rapid contraction will cause anything exposed to become brittle and / or break off. I expect things like small holds to be especially vulnerable.

[spidermonkey09]

But... China Crisis is to the left of Mishi??? So totally destroyed as per what Patxi said.

He's got you there Lincoln! 

I don't think anyone seriously thinks the routes on the middle and right of the crag will be completely unaffected, they'll lose holds etc, but climbs lose holds anyway. Maybe Oliana mk.2 will create some even harder routes to be reclimbed.

[owensum]

Burned rock loses its patina and its holds. What's left is usually sandy blank rock. The sandiness can be stabilized but the holds, which form from weathering mostly, are usually hard to find.

[JamieG]

Thanks for all the answers. Essentially probably pretty knackered for a long, long time.

[Adam Lincoln]

Are you there? Svana Bjarnason and Patxi Usobiaga seem to describe almost two different events...

If you want i can send you screenshots from Svana where she states China crisis is damaged and also the big flake on pachimmama.

Unless of course you dont believe them either?

But... China Crisis is to the left of Mishi??? So totally destroyed as per what Patxi said.

I know…? Whats your point?

[rosmat]

The spray tan is making you grumpy

[andy_e]

Burned rock loses its patina and its holds. What's left is usually sandy blank rock. The sandiness can be stabilized but the holds, which form from weathering mostly, are usually hard to find.

Sandy rock tends to only occur behind a patina formed on sandstone. Limestone forms a different weathered surface. The result of fire will largely be stress fracturing, leaving the outer few tens of cms prone to breaking. There may also be some interesting geochemical effects where groundwater is present, as well as the potential for recrystallisation on the very surface due to the intense heat. I would imagine the fire-affected routes to become more blocky.

[remus]

Update https://fanatic-climbing.com/oliana-6-mois-apres-lincendie-oliana-6-months-after-wildfire/

Sounds like a lot of routes are still climbable, plus or minus a few holds. Some things are completely changed though (Mishi, T1 Full Equip, Crimptonite and China Crisis).

[Steve Crowe]

However it also sounds dangerous climbing there during or just after rain with a high risk of rock fall.

There’s also still a lot of reequipping still to do and they are continuing to crowd source funding. Any donations or support will be appreciated.

[remus]

However it also sounds dangerous climbing there during or just after rain with a high risk of rock fall.

There’s also still a lot of reequipping still to do and they are continuing to crowd source funding. Any donations or support will be appreciated.

Yes, very true. On re-reading my previous post makes it sound like it's pretty much good to go, but in reality it seems there's a lot of cleaning and re-equipping that needs to happen first.

[jwi]

I find it distasteful to ask for money for putting in fixed draws. Sorry.

[remus]

I find it distasteful to ask for money for putting in fixed draws. Sorry.

Maybe I was misinterpreting the tone, but the whole bit about asking for money seemed a bit off to me. Oliana is obviously a very good crag, but it's also a pretty hard crag. There's plenty of other places where money + effort could be spent rebolting things that would benefit a much wider audience (the mild steel equipment in many costa blanca crags, for example).