UKC

Horrible stories from San Vito / Sicily:

1) Severe injuries due to failure of an anchor that was placed in a loose block:

http://www.planetmountain.com/english/News/shownews1.lasso?keyid=42321

2) Story and background of a corrosion induced bolt failure, also at San Vito:

https://www.facebook.com/175960325791135/photos/pb.175960325791135.-2207520...

This link contains a statement from Michel Piola. His opinion is that the climate on Sicily resembles much the one at Thailand or Madagascar where as we all know, corrosion even of stainless steel bolts is a major issue. He even mentions the thought of shutting down all crags until things are sorted out.

In reply to Cellinski:

In Portugal we are also having major problems with corrosion, similar to what is happening in Sicily or Thailand. Some bolts, including top and abseil anchors have failed recently due to a combination of salinity, humidity and high temperatures. Fortunately, people have not been injured. We are now in the process of collecting funds and gathering people to substitute stainless steel bolts at our coastal crags by titanium bolts. This will be very expensive and will probably take years to substitute all bolts.

In reply to Cellinski:

From reading the above post & the first link, it appears that it was rock failure rather than anchor failure that led to Stefan Rass's terrible accident. I was witness to a similar "rock failure" at San Vito where an apparently solid hold came off injuring a bystander. I wonder if there have been other incidents like this at San Vito? My impression was that although a great destination for sport climbing, the rock is not quite as solid as some other sport venues I've been to (not that I do much sport). Maybe that's due to it being relatively "new" in terms of climbing.

Re the second point, I was under the impression that the newer bolts that are currently being placed in San Vito(e.g. by the Titt Brothers & their team) are using the same glue-in technology as used on the isle of Portland & should better resist the corrosion than the old style bolt that failed on Monte Monaco at San Vito due to corrosion.