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Crag & Route Beta

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Topic Date User

Bushfires in the Bluies 22-Oct-2013 At 12:22:04 PM skegly

Message

On 22/10/2013 IdratherbeclimbingM9 wrote:
>On 22/10/2013 skegly wrote:
>>For interest of climbing safety.
>>What does a hot fire so to sandstone, granite and basalt.
>>Also what about bolts, loose rock etc.
>
>I have seen exfoliated granite after bushfires, where flakes etc expand
>in the heat and crack off.
Yea I guess since granite was formed by slow cooling it would cause cracks to form if hot enough and flakes to expnd off.
>
>>I guess that fire doesn't burn up a sizable cliff if thete is no vegetation
>but interested to know.
>>Cheers
>
>I used to think that too, but after observing the major fires at Mt Buffalo
>(2002, 2005) from a safe distance, I saw that the flames that started at
>the base of major clifflines easily rose up to three times the height of
>the cliff during flare-ups.
>I also heard of accounts by the pilots whose job it was to water bomb
>the flames to save the chalet etc, that they observed burning limbs as
>thick as your arm and as long as your body in those updrafts...
>
>I used to think that if I was caught on the Nth wall during a bushfire
>that I'd probably be OK if high enough. I now realise that I'd be toasted
>to a crisp in that situation if the bushfire is big enough.
You would not want to be in a hanging ledge at least.

I suppose basalt would be ok due to cooling rapidly in its formation. At least it doesn't crack in the fire for a hungi.

I am interested in what it would/is doing to blueies sand stone. Would it bake it hard and /or weaken it. Also when metal expands then shrink wouldn't that make a bolt loose or weak?