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General Climbing Discussion

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Fixed gear guidelines in the Grampians 24-May-2018 At 12:19:01 PM Dave_S

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On 24-May-2018 One Day Hero wrote:
>
>That's straight out, ya goose! The only load they ever see in that direction
>is the 0.5kN of some numpty aiding without slings.

Well, except for that Kangaroo Point groundfall that ajfclark linked on the previous page, where a bolt plate rotated into an upside-down position and then failed at what probably wouldn't have been more than perhaps 4kN.

I've also seen them rotate around the bolt and then come off, much to the horror of the leader who was several meters above the bolt at the time (though thin carabiners would have been a factor there), and have personally deformed bolt plates with fall factors as low as 0.3-0.4.

I don't think that they should ever be placed unless there is a very strong need to hide fixed protection from non-climbers, or unless there is already very strong ethic of using them in place at a specific crag. (Buffalo where visible to tourists, and Point Perp belay anchors come to mind as prime examples.)