UKC

So the wife and I tracked down Azerbaijan's only bolted climbing routes this weekend, a mere 4 hour drive up into the mountains from from Baku. Six really nice routes of about 15 metres, installed in April this year by some Turkish guys prior to a competition. The bolts were Italian (Kong), but several were only finger tight so I took a spanner up to tighten as I led. I imagine no-one has climbed on them since the competition except us.

The anchor points at the top of each route comprised two big bolts connected by a loop of thick static line (12mm?). No biner, ring, chain or other metalwork. As newbie sport climbers who've only climbed in Spain and Italy we're used to luxuries such as chains, rings, and welded biners to thread through when cleaning a route.

I guess we should have abseiled off the rope anchor, but given that we are much more used to lowering off than abseiling, plus the very remote location, lack of medical facilities in country, no mobile phone signal, no mountain rescue (a few shepherds?), and being a bit scared, in the end we decided to do what we are good at and thread through the static rope loop itself and then lower off very, very slowly (1 minute to descend 15 m!), so as to minimise friction / heat build up in the static rope. I also oriented the humungous knot in the static rope loop so that the climbing rope passed over it, again to miminimise heat build up.

From the top of an adjacent route I inspected the loop we had just lowered off from and it looked totally fine - not even a mark where the climbing rope had passed.

Am I right in thinking that in that situation abseiling is definitely, absolutely the way to do it? If so, I guess we'll have practice cleaning and abseiling off the bannister on the staircase at home before we go again!

(I imagine lots of hairy chested trad climbers are snorting with derision on reading this - please bear with us, we are but two beginner sport climbers in a far away land)

Cheers
Steve

In reply to Baku Steve:

Many times I am amazed at the things people on here find to be paranoid about, but in this case you're spot on and absolutely right to be very concerned indeed. Rope can melt extremely easily in this kind of situation so your choice to lower incredibly slowly, combined with the thickness of the rope loop, doubtless saved you from a broken back or worse.
If ever you're in the same situation again, with the same knowledge, you would be well advised to leave a karabiner behind rather than take the risk again.
However, a little extra knowledge can go a long way. Abseiling is a basic skill and easy to learn. If you don't have a belay/abseil device that can take double ropes, use a large screwgate and Italian Hitch.
Another suggestion would be to source a supply of good quality Maillon Rapides (screw-up chain links) and to keep one on your harness at all times for situations like this.
Glad you got away with it this time.

In reply to john arran:

Thanks John

We can both abseil OK, but we are far more used to cleaning and being lowered (say thirty times clean & lower vs one or two times clean & abseil).

We will brush up on our abseiling and also invest in some cheap "disposable" screwgate biners so that we have those two options available in future.

Cheers
Steve

In reply to Baku Steve:

Did both the bolts have sharp hangers then? No maillons or owt? The only time I've seen rope joining bolts the situation has been that you lower off one of the bolt / maillons and the rope backs this up to the other bolt.

If not, in the situation you describe, ab off instead. Or take some maillons with you to leave up there.

In reply to Baku Steve:

Hi Steve, you mention the top bolts were 'big', were they of a different sort to the rest, perhaps forged with smooth eyes? Could you perhaps have lowered off one, backed up by the other?

Either way, lowering off the rope is the wrong option I'm afraid. Your care in going very slowly and the burly rope has probably saved you from a nasty avoidable accident. Lowering off ropes and slings should be avoided at all cost. I'd suggest you either leave a krab/maillon in the lower bolt. Or brush up on your abseil skills, there's no downside to improving your knowledge/skills.

Live and learn eh, at least you were wary and got away with it
jk

In reply to jkarran & quadmyre:

The bolts at the top were the normal shape, i.e. the same as those on the route itself for the QDs. I only noticed they were bigger because the spanner I was using to tighten the QD bolts was too small to tighten them.

No, there were no maillons or rings, the super thick static rope was passed directly through the bolts.

Thanks for the advice all. Lesson learned!

Steve

In reply to Baku Steve:


F*** me. I reckon you are pretty lucky to be alive. If you are in a far away place and worried about your safety, why didn't you just leave a krab behind?

For the record, it is pretty easy to cut rope with rope through friction (although 12mm static is always going to be pretty resilient). Abseiling would be fine though, but I agree that it's a little bit more hassle to sort out.

Glad you got away with it this time though. I'd go out and buy a few cheap maillions for next time you go out. As you say, you live and learn. I've managed to do some daft things in my time - such as being at the top of the sport climb, untying my knot with one hand, holding the chains with the other and then realising I haven't actually clipped myself in!

In reply to Baku Steve: Some guys at a local crag to me not so long ago tried lowering off a sling. I believe he got a couple of metres before it melted through and he fell the height of the cliff fortunately ONLY breaking his back badly and not actually dying. So would agree with every one else - don't ever do that again as you might not be so lucky. Also I wouldn't trust that static rope loop now that you have lowered off it and they should probably be cut off and binned to be on the safe side.

In reply to Baku Steve:

Another thought just occurred to me:

Next time I will be sure to carefully inspect the entire length of the ropes at the top. It's possible that others may also make the same mistake that we did and lower off the ropes directly, but with more speed, partially severing the static rope.

Gulp.

Steve

In reply to TobyA:

I hear you Toby, thanks for the advice.

In reply to Baku Steve:

It sounds like the lower-offs need re-rigging (especially if you and others have lowered direct off the cord). Might be worth contacting other local crag users/equippers and getting this co-ordinated?

In reply to Jamie Bankhead:

Good idea Jamie, I'll contact the folks (The "Azerbaijan Air & Extreme Sports Federation", no less!) who bolted the route to let them know and discuss.

In reply to Baku Steve:

Lowering off through a rope loop is an absolute no-no, slowly or otherwise. You are lucky! Incidentally I thought static rope had lower melting point than dynamic rope.

In your situation I would have either threaded the rope loop and abseil, or threaded the lower of the bolts (if the eye was big enough) and abseiled.

It would have been worth sorting something out at the first anchor rather than pressing on!

Chris