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General Climbing Discussion

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Retro bolting an accident waitng to happen. 18-Mar-2004 At 11:38:43 PM Rock Weasel

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Recently whilst up at Araps I trudged up to the base of Rat's Alley Wall to have a go at Rat's Alley (30m, grade 19). I looked up to see a bolt some four/five metres off the ground, which ordinarily is acceptable. But in this case, it is extremely hazardous. If you fall from below that bolt (the only bit of gear at the start that I could discern) you don't hit the ledge from which you departed, but you fall a further five or so metres down the gully you scrambled up to get to the base of the climb. As you can imagine, the potential for a ten metre ground-fall is something of an incentive to climb something else.
Regardless of the grade of the climb, the potential for that kind of ground-fall is unacceptable. The VCC bolting policy states that bolting should be employed to prevent serious injury or a ground-fall, and I think that this climb is a case in point. A bracket has been affixed to the bolt, which is usually done when it is considered a difficult or vital clip.
Actually, I think that it would be best if I performed the task of retro bolting this abomination myself...I think I'm going to Araps again soon.