UKC

Port de Sóller

Be warned, some bolt failures have been reported here.  A friend who lives on Ibiza has posted a FB link to a page, escalada en Mallorca which reports some bolt failures at the crag.  It's in Spanish and has a funky translation, but best to be aware.

Steve

Could you ask him to inform the UIAA using their report form? https://www.theuiaa.org/home/submit-examples-of-climbing-anchor-corrosion/ 

They are attempting to collate information and map failures which should help prevent this happening in the future.

We were in Mallorca in October and some of the bolts are in a horrible condition.  At Port de Soller the bolts seemed ok but there are fixed draws which have rusted shut which is a bit scary.  

At Alaro there are whole lines of rusted bolts.  They seemed to hold a big Spanish guy who was happy to wang off all day but they’re not exactly confidence inspiring.

Interesting - I remember a thread years ago about dodgy bolts in Mallorca. 2011 I think. Found it.

https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/destinations/mallorca_rusty_or_missing_bo...

At the time there were a few people pooh-poohing the concerns of a number of people on that thread. At the time I was not very experienced and hadn't climbed in many places outside the UK and wondered if I was just wrong. But since then I've climbed in a fair few other venues around Europe and Mallorca is still where I've seen the dodgiest bolts.

One of the problems with a place like  Port de Sóller is that climbing is only tolerated at best and probably not actually allowed if you ask the people who own the crag. To replace the bolts would almost certainly result in a ban being reinstated at the crag (which has had on and off bans for the last 25 years anyway) hence would be a waste of effort.

Considering that there are countless undeveloped bits of rock on the island that could give equally good climbing, I think it unlikely that crags like Port de Soller are ever going to get re-bolted. There are a number of other crags which drop into this category with Alaró being similar - no official access and big bolting efforts will never get permission from land owners. 

There are other crags where access isn't such a problem and the sea erosion is very bad like  Santanyi (Tijuana) where bolts are being replaced. We have been very happy to contribute financially to this rebolting effort although I realise that it is only scratching the surface of the job across the island.

The best thing to do is be aware of the problems and make your choices accordingly. 

Alan

Indeed, that's why I posted...

Steve

Just seen first hand a bolt fail at Alaro resulting in a local lad take a sixty footer and very luckily walk away.

The more worrying part is that he heard the bolt fall out behind him and then fell from the crux.

We were warned earlier in the week that this has happened elsewhere. It seems the problem is specific to a certain make of bolt which going by the last few days seem to be on a couple of crags we have visited.

The bolt hanger seems to be fine, It is the stud/nut that has failed but I could not speculate on failure mechanism.

I would be very wary climbing at Alaro certainly on the big routes to right of Buf.

We did note that Fraguel has seen some regearing using resin bolts.

Was that on To Pa Ti?

Rustiest bolts I saw whilst there were at La Crevata. It's right next to the coast so I suppose it can't be helped - they may still have been very solid depending on what bolt was used (it's just hard to tell!).

Also yes, rusty bolts at Alaro. There IS bolting going on at Alaro, new routes not in the guide book or ukc when I was there at December, and a guy with an SDS half way up the crag on the slabs right of Buf.

Claro de Luna (7c)

one way to make climbing safer is to make sure you contribute to local bolt funds- the easiest way to do this is by buying the local guidebook.

No point contributing to bolt funds if they are not fit for purpose. 

Some of the bolts that failed are 4 years old....

On Mallorca there isn't really a local bolt fund and the local guidebook is 12 years old if you can get it anywhere at all. I am not aware of a link between that guidebook and any bolt fund but there is no doubt that the author did do some bolting and may still do.

We (Rockfax) have made a couple of donations which were arranged with a local ex-pat climber to bolting projects at Santanyi and S'estret. If there were a local bolt fund then I'd love to set up a system similar to the one we have just established in El Chorro. A bit more info here - https://www.rockfax.com/news/2019/01/17/new-el-chorro-bolt-fund-up-and-runn...

Alan

So,bolt climbing can be trad climbing.

I backed off a route to the left of Buf at Alaro in October after inspecting the first bolt. As much as I wanted to try the route, bolts just looked awful.

Hob nops (7a)

I seem to remember talk of a local bolt fund via Facebook which was to be organised by these guys:

https://fbmweb.com/

May be worth looking into, although I fully understand the precarious access and permission difficulties on the island which have precluded re-equipping.

Its a shame to hear about these bolt failures.  Especially since it sounds like some of them are relatively new bolts. That’s just crazy; fingers crossed this can be analysed more closely.

I thought the problem would have been down to the accumulation of rusty bolts around many of the popular crags about the island. Indeed it seems like the brown stuff spreads ever more widely every time I go back...

That said, there are still loads of excellent crags where old bolts are few and far between, Caimari/Les Perxes, Calvia, Cas Catala, Sestret and much of Sa Gubia to name a few. To anyone thinking of heading to mallorca I’d say don’t be put off, the variety of venues is fantastic, just do some research via UKC when choosing crags. 

Some of the sketchiest climbing I've done was bolt protected and modestly graded........ Rusting rawl drive ins with tinplate hangers on very long runouts - you can probably guess where!

PS. You are on the money regarding style........

Steve

Faders was bought by Fixe in 2009 so probably nearly 10 yrs old, however I can't see the date stamp on this one from the image.

A photo of just the hanger doesn't tell you that much, what about the actual bolt itself? The bolt could be anything! That said, the rusty residue left on the hanger suggests that the bolt or at least the nut may not be the same grade of material, which might be part of the problem.