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Crag & Route Beta

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Topic Date User

Old chipped/chopped bolt ladder at Dec Crag 18-Sep-2014 At 9:53:46 PM kieranl

Message

On 18/09/2014 Dave J wrote:

>Kieran Id be curious to hear more about the line to the left. What was
>done and undone.
>
>were chips filled in or just bolts removed? i had assumed that the cement
>was an ugly attempt to fill in chipped holds rather than cement that was
>used to reattach a flake. were there pockets drilled as well on that one?
>
>
The chopped line just had the bolts chopped and concreted flake removed. Would have been better if I'd pulled the bolts rather than chopping them.
The route had a chequered past (hesitate to call it history).
Started in the early 70s as a bolt-ladder part-way up the wall. I think this was by the same guy who put up the Cassandra bolt-ladder. But that was just before my time. I must ask Noddy about it.
I think this was also the scene of the "powder-puff" hoax in the late 70s or early 80s. If memory serves me correctly a bolt-head and hanger were glued to the wall past the top of the old bolt ladder and the rumour was put about that it was climbed and called Powder Puff. Then again I may have that wrong. Hero might remember.
Then in the mid-eighties it began to be worked (post-edit old bolt-ladder was removed and rebolted). The guy who was working it was apparently getting the moves but couldn't string it together and his time in Australia was running out. Then the dodgy flake he was using for a good handhold shake-out departed company from the wall. This was no surprise, the wonder was that it hadn't pulled off the first time it was touched. Suddenly the route was done, he was gone, there was the flake attached with a big lump of concrete and a row of chipped holds.
I rapped it and inspected it then chopped the bolts. I didn't fill in any holds so how it is is how it was, apart from the concreted flake. I think Hero took a photo of the event but I've never seen one.