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Crag & Route Beta

Area	Location	Sub Location	Crag	Links
VIC Grampians	(General)	(General)	(General)	[ Grampians Guide \| Images ]

Topic Date User

Big Cave 22-Jun-2006 At 9:33:23 AM tmarsh

Message

Chain of Fools and Weaveworld went up in 1991. I rebolted them around 2003. Every single sling placed by the FA team was still on the route. In one spot, two more very dodgy slings had been added by subsequent parties. They were not to the standard of the originals. Half the slings from the two routes were worn to the point that the nylon sling cover and the sheath of the spectra cord within were worn through. In some cases the inner core was more then halfway worn through.

The original thread installations were very well thought out. The materials used were not cheap by any stretch of the imagination. Yet they had degraded to the point of being obviously unsafe. And still no-one replaced them.

Talking up sling placements on the basis that they are replaceable is just bullshit. Whilst it might be possible in theory, in practice it just doesn't happen. Instead what you have is ugly, unsafe tat flapping in the breeze.

On 21/06/2006 Paulie wrote:
>I personally prefer to see bomber slings like those in the Gallery replaced
>(regularly I hasten to add) than bolts added, IMO this adds to the character
>of the route.

It's funny how people like you Paulie write things like 'I personally prefer to see' slings replaced rather than writing 'I personally take an active role in maintaining routes in a manner that retains their character'. Everybody always expects someone else is going to lug the shit up the hill and do it for them. Until people put their money where their mouth is, I suspect we are better off with fixed gear that isn't quite so maintenance intensive.