UKC

has anyone ever managed to break a hold indoors?

i dont just mean making it spin around the bolt, but a part of it actually breaking off?

this happened to a mate of mine recently and left him feeling like a tool as we joked that the wall would have to implement a weight limit, but bizarely, he's not that heavy... there were several other climbers there that day who must have been heavier that him

it made him climb pretty gingerly for the rest of the day though

In reply to Afro:

yes i have - several times infact mainly cos am fat git! also from experience of own bouldering wall seems to hppen much more when holds over tightened

In reply to Afro:
I've had one spin on me but never broken it off. The only circumstances in which I could imagine myself doing so would be if I took a substantial fall and blindly grabbed the hold on the way down, probably buggering my fingers up in the process too!

In reply to Afro:



I've split a wee crimp and slashed my finger on the remaining bolt. This resulted in my only hold failure related fall (indoors or out)

In reply to monkey man:

when route setting you can split them by over tightening - an engineer on here can tell us about stress and pressure, and they can break in use but as said usually if over tightened

havent broken one in use yet but have when placing them.

In reply to lithos: I've split a small foothold. I doubt I'm strong enough to do the same to a handhold.

In reply to Afro:

At a tooling comp in Aviemore I managed to explode a hold at the 2nd clip, luckily I was being well belayed by my daughter so only my pride was hurt!

In reply to monkey man:

when i do a traverse on the bouldering wall at huddersfield thats one move that makes the wall do a horrid noise like its under a great strain.

If the bouldering wall ever breaks I think it will be my fault - less pies, more running ayuplass!

In reply to Afro: Some of those Entreprises holds that are bolted on but have a screw to stop them rotating seem to snap off quite a bit where the screwhole is. Not done one myself, but seen plenty broken (with a nasty, sharp edge).

In reply to Afro:
I've broken a few, but I'm fairly heavy and very unsubtle.

In reply to Afro: Bouldering at Redhill the other day I hung off a hold and part of the board on the ceiling it was attached to began to move and creak at the corner. I let go quite quickly. Breaking a hold is one thing, pulling down part of a bouldering route is something else. Definately should start eating less!

In reply to Afro:

Small foothold on a ..7a(?) traverse (which I didnt do!)

In reply to Afro:

Many times, both climbing and setting.


I weigh less than 10st, weight is not a problem. Holds will break typically around the bolt hold if: 1) they are old, and have been placed/removed quite a lot (i.e. resetting); 2) they've been overtightened during routesetting. I used to do this more with bigger asymmetric holds, since they need a bit more torque to stop them from spinning; 3) using the wrong type of bolt. Some holds have chamfered bolt holes, and using a square bolt will weaken them.

In summary, it's really not your mate's fault at all. It happens.


Probably good for his technique then

In reply to cybergibbons:

shouldn't they be binned then?

In reply to Afro: yup mate of mine whilst doing dyno practice onto it..

In reply to Afro: Yea I broke a hold at the Leeds clbiming wall whilst dynoing of a big jug. Flew back about 2 meters and looked like I had been kicked in the stomach in a sort of kung fu with wires style movie.

Plus someone had a big fall at the wall that day and an ambulance came, so everyone thought the big crack of a breaking hold was another person taking a fall.

In reply to Afro:

I did once on some beefy sit-start in the mezz at the castle..it snapped right off. Cue much hilarity!

In reply to Wilbur:

No more pies for you mate

In reply to Niall:

it was the hold i tell you!

In reply to Wilbur:

Suuuuuuuuuuuure it was, porky :-P

Iv just finished referbing an indoor wall and have used polyurethane holds from slap holds, which flex under presure rather than breaking like the resin ones. i havnt managed to break any as yet no matter how much i crank em! good stuff.

In reply to timmy a:

that wasnt suppose to be a plug by the way!

In reply to Afro: i have broken a foot hold. it was a tiny little thing that exploded under my foot when i twisted round on it. and my mate actually pulled a hold, bolt and t-nut off in a bouldering room. and the other day i broke a rung off the campus ladder in gloucester. not a bad list!

In reply to Afro: Aye, i've done it twice on crimps and they exploded on me, much to the amusement of my mates!

In reply to Afro:

Saw a guy break a big lump of resin off the top of one of the moulded walls at Plas Power last year... cue much hilarity. Again.

In reply to shingsowa: Its all fun and games until it happens outdoors! haha.

In reply to Afro:

I was once leading a traverse along the side of an overhang, at the Edge. A very small foothold on the lip literally exploded as I put my weight on it! Very exciting!

J

In reply to orge:
"Exploded"?? What are you packing in your climbing shoes?

Seriously, how would a resin hold "explode" if you put pressure on it? I could understand it cracking or shattering, but exploding?

Are you not exaggerating a little for the means of a decent anecdote...

In reply to Afro: not me personally but when i was at the wall once a guy came in with his army cadet troop and we showed them this fun overhang that we used to do when we first went there and the leader guy decided to ahv a go and was egged on by the cadets and he fell off in a reli uncontrolled way from near the top wich is near a middle wall, lucky the route is on the arete which is by the edge of this wall and he hit a hold with his foot and it snapped off!!

I thought it was quite amusing after extablishing he was ok

In reply to garythomas:

is that all they are :o

im scared now

In reply to LiamDobson:

no they're not.

In reply to Afro: i snapped a screw-on pocket once. Only had two out of three screws in so just deformed enough away from the wall to snap. Not my fault!

In reply to Afro:

yup

In reply to telemarker: think of it as practice for outdoors