Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - General Discussion

General Climbing Discussion

Topic Date User

Carrot failure @ Muline 28-Nov-2013 At 5:11:00 PM sliamese

Message

>The carrots at Hillwood are not time bombs about to fail and hurt someone,
>and neither are the expansion bolts. They have passed the Subaru test,
>the crowbar/shifter test and the bash the shit out of it test.
>I think it should be approached on a bolt by bolt case - that if a suspect
>bolt is discovered, then replace it.

its strange then that it took me all of a few minutes to remove one of those carrots with a spanner to loosen it and a claw hammer behind the hanger once spinning. i am glad however that easy removal was part of the design of these bolts! ;)

as for the subaru test, you should get a 12mm dynabolt, put the nut on with only 2-2.5 turns so theres not enough thread in the nut, then floor it! also what do you tighten when the nut and hanger fall off into the undergrowth?

most of the carrots out there in the world are bomber, for now. when people are willing to replace them and remove doubt i think that shouldn't be discouraged! it WILL have to happen at some stage, naive to think bolts last forever. As long as they do a good job and don't change the character of classic routes! mostly though im really glad and appreciative of the efforts of the FA. i dont think anyone can slag off the people that have equipped routes that have been enjoyed for years and years, obviously the bolts worked as we all hang off them. its much easier to replace hardware than put up FA's, by a mile! i also think bolters need to acknowledge that the best possible installation isn't permanent, and now there are much better, stronger and more failsafe alternatives than were available in the 80's and 90's. it will be part of the evolution of a crag the anchors are replaced. a quick stroll through many euro crags shows how some fore-thought can avoid two or three scars at every bolt from the different generations of hardware used.