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Topic Date User

Ozymandias trip report (on Supertopo)... 30-Mar-2017 At 8:55:10 PM IdratherbeclimbingM9

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On 28/03/2017 deuce4 wrote:
>(snip) new bolts are certainly not necessary at this point, but might be in future.
>
Fair enough as I am not against one for one replacements.

As far as the Gledhill traverse manky bolts are concerned, when I first did the route many years ago I considered them a crap-shoot then! So much so, that I only used them as progression pieces and clipped my rope (as protection) to the first good gear I could get beyond them! I have since continued to use that tactic on subsequent ascents.

On 27/03/2017 simey wrote:
>As for the other comments on Ozy. I actually felt like it could do with
>a bit of a fix-up. Clipping some of the old bolts and pegs (many of which
>are almost 50 years old) feels like pot luck.

... and sometimes so do the small RP's, and in more recent times cam-hooks, but that is the nature of aid climbing is it not?

>If one of those pieces blows then it might turn what is a straightforward piece of aiding into something seriously more difficult. I think the route already has got a tad harder
>in the 25 years since I last did it (I didn't need cam hooks last time).

This is also within the nature of aid climbing, as routes can become harder, or easier, with technology changes in gear and also with the popularity of the route sometimes causing changes to crucial features.

In this respect the fact it was originally given M4 (5??) and has 'settled' to M3, yet only gets C3 from our distinguished deuce4 would also seem an anomaly, as in my experience thin clean-aid is definitely harder to achieve than simply thugging up a pitch on pitons.
>
>I also felt the original route heading up the nice corner one pitch above
>Big Grassy might be better served by having its belay station a bit lower
>as opposed to the totally hanging belay in the corner.
>
I agree that belays are often better served if there are any natural features that lend themselves to being utilised for comfort instead of totally free hanging.
The belay that you used for your bivy was possibly a latter one that was installed for the free version, and as such was located using different criteria?

>Also, adding some belay bolts on the final ledge just below the last pitch
>of Ozy Direct/Lord Gumtree would seem logical as well. Clipping those bolts
>15m away along that ledge seemed ridiculous.

The bolts located at the base of the pseudo chimney (cave!), located just below the Wilkinson ledge (and well below base of final pitch of LG), are a latter addition. Many parties haul from Gledhill Bivy belay to them instead of to those on the headwall above The Fang...

The bolts located 15 m (?, I'd reckon less), along the Wilkinson ledge are also a latter addition and went in to serve a route originally known as 'A5 sportclimb', aka the final pitch of Strange Ritual, as put up by Steffan Eberhardt (sp?).
Ironically those same bolts actually serve hauling on Ozy Direct much better than those located at the base of that small final chimney mentioned above, as long as you manage to get your haul rope up the 'outside' of that chimney, as it's a straight shot down to Gledhill bivy from there; and also a fairly direct shot to the headwall belay if that was used. It all comes back to the length of haul-rope used, with 60m ropes being adequate for headwall to Wilko ledge...