Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - General Discussion

General Climbing Discussion

Topic Date User

Proof loading bolts 28-Jul-2009 At 9:53:32 PM contactgav

Message

Jim,
Again i suggest you read the thread properly and entirely.
We are not doing this to establish a australian or world standard.

The reasons as stated in the first post for this testing come from;
1: Devising a method to check that the bolts i place are safe for public use. This is a bit more reliable than the often practiced method of gluing two bits of rock together and giving them a hit or kick to see if they hold together

2: To check any bolts i come across that may have some safety concerns.

the 6kN load will identify any obviously poor bolts, which i would replace with a glued in U bolt.

At the end of the day, people will climb routes with good and bad bolts. Whether there is a standard for this or not, will not deter people from their love of climbing.

As a person who enjoys putting up routes i want to do what i can to make sure that all routes i establish don't have bolts that may easily fail. By applying a 6kN axial load means, “I tried to remove these bolts, and they held a load of 6kN without movement”.

we all know there are risks with climbing and i think/hope by doing this testing on my bolts that other climbers will be grateful that i care as much about their well being as my own.
if people don't wish to climb my routes because i have pull tested them, they have that choice. there are plenty of other routes to climb in this world.

So please stop the implied thought that we are trying to establish some standard.

as long as there is rock, people will climb. Whether there is a standard for anchors or not climbing will survive.