UKC

Hi,
Sorry if this is not posted in the correct section - I hope someone will shift it if necessary!

We were at Kirrie Hill on Saturday & found a couple of loose bolts. I don't know if anyone in particular looks after this area, so thought I would post on here. We are not local otherwise we could have popped back.

The bolts found to be loose were:

1st bolt on La Plage & 2nd bolt on Sonsie Face.

In reply to Lunaeventer:

Tell Sheppy (on this site). He'll know.

In reply to Lunaeventer:

I was there on Saturday too and noticed loose hangers and seized clips at some lower offs.
Gorse bushes growing over the top and dense bramble and nettle vegetation at the bottom. Also a huge pile of litter and junk by a camp fire which we removed. Given that Kirrie is a very heavily used resource it would be good if more contributions to the bolt fund were made, if not, maybe no-one in particular looks after it now. Looks like a TLC work party is needed, rather than ad hoc DIY. I would be happy to labour for a session for the organisers, but The website Arbroathclimbing is down at present.

In reply to Lunaeventer:

Did any of yous who were there on Saturday leave behind a large bouldering type chalk bucket? We picked one up when leaving as we were the last to leave.. been meaning to post it in lost &found...

In reply to Inchewan:

I thought the nettle jump when getting lowered off was quite fun until I sat in a patch when belaying :/ !!!

In reply to Lunaeventer:

Bolted crags in the Uk are pretty much an open resource and as such its up to all users to carry out maintenance as required.
However... and I will stress the next bit, and that is to carry out maintenance "within their level of experience and capability".
I would expect the vast majority of users are safely capable of general tidying of the crag base, removing rubbish and cutting down over enthusiastic vegetation.
A smaller group should have the necessary skill to safely abseil to remove gorse etc encroaching on lower offs etc.
Finally a small handful are experienced and capable of safely dealing with insitu equipment replacement issues.
Please dont be afraid to get stuck in within your own level of capability.
On the issues raised....
"Loose bolts"are very uncommon. Loose hangers however are common.
The former require experienced equippers to tackle, the latter can be tackled by anyone with the suitable sized spanner.
17mm and 19mm spanners will tighten all the nuts at Kirrie Hill.

The issue of seized and defective lower offs will require either some money to be injected into a bolt fund or a donation of new kit from somewhere.
I would not advocate using any of the small lower off "quick links" presently in situ at Kirrie Hill.

In reply to Inchewan:

Funds are not the only problem, these crags rely on willing volunteers to maintain them, harder to find than money!

The is no one as such that 'looks after' these sport crags. Some crags may be kept up for a while by enthusiasts who put their own time and resources into these places. Otherwise it is up to the climbing community to do crag maintenance, replace bolts etc etc. If the climbers that use these crags don't do it, then no maintained crags, simple as as that.

Organising a crag clean up and maintenance day would be a great idea. I may be able to donate funds and be able to help with re-equipping. Let me know if something is organised. Cheers, Seb

In reply to sheppy:


Just to clarify, do you mean
- avoid buying the quick-links to re-equip the lower offs (in which case I would agree) or
- you wouldn't use the ones in place now (in which case I didn't think they looked that bad but you know better than I)

In reply to Jack B:

To be honest Jack I wouldnt use them at all.
Neither those insitu on the crag nor would I advocate placing any of this type in the future.
Some were thicker than others but the crag needs a proper survey and remedial work as required. (As do many Scottish venues alas)
Not sure how many of those originals are left at Kirrie but they are all heading on for 10yrs old.
I think many of my routes had double maillons on them rather than quick clips but would need to visit to check.