UKC

I am planning on nodding some sport climbing for the first time at tomorrow. M guidebook says that most of the routes are equipped with double bolt lower offs.

What exactly does this mean,vin the sense of what precisely will be there. Is it just two bolts next to each other ( in which case can I thread my rope through the bolts? Won't that damage it ? ), or is it two bolts with a chain ( to thread around? Or through the links?), or two bolts with metal loops ( presumably safe to thread the rope through ? )

In reply to Turbo tommy:

Sounds like you should have a read of this:-
https://www.thebmc.co.uk/how-to-lower-off-from-a-sport-climb

A double bolt loweroff is usually exactly what it says on the tin, 2 bolts that you lower off from. These come in various forms, some that you can thread you rope through both bolt eyes (normally bent wire glue in bolts) others that should have a chain or equivalent with a welded steel ring that you thread.

There are other types of loweroff, search for rams head loweroff for a bit of fun.

In reply to Turbo tommy:
or is it two bolts with a chain ( to thread around?

Probably a good idea at this point to highlight the general advice never to "thread around" (or clip into) any chain/slings/tat/whatever that you might find connecting two pieces of fixed gear, in such a way that the failure of either piece would simply lead to your attachment sliding off the end; unlikely, I grant you, with newish modern bolts - but the main point of having two is to guard against the failure of either one. The well-documented triple fatality that befell a party retreating of The Nose (about twenty years ago, I think) happened as a result of this error.

In reply to gethin_allen:

Right, so it could be either then. ThAt article goes over the stuff I've already read up on.

I was just worried that there might be a situation where I could actually lower off without leaving some of my gear, but it sounds like there is always a way to do it.

Thanks for the quick reply

In reply to Turbo tommy:

Occasionally you find a loweroff that is missing a mailon or a ring so you would have to leave something if you wanted to use both bolts so it's useful to keep a cheap old screwgate handy. You wouldn't really want to thread a bolt hanger as they can be sharp.

In reply to Turbo tommy:

Depends on what the guide writer is trying to convey, I write 2 bolt lower-off in route descriptions to tell people that when they get to two bolts that´s it (to differentiate from single bolt ones).