UKC

It is with great regret that i must inform of the broken foothold on Wings of Unreason E4 6a at the Roaches. I was on an on-sight attempt on Sun 17th Feb having made the rock over and was stood around trying to fit a poor hex around the undercut. The foot hold broke and i fell unhurt.

Upon inspection the hold was visibly damaged, the overall size of the hold marginally smaller and uglier. The pieces that came off were shattered and crumbled easily; the rock is very soft.

I had another go, sending the route. The rock over move is no harder than before, I just hate to have damaged a classic route. With the rock being so soft i can only imagine more damage occurring with time but hopefully it will last.

So in all, i am sorry for breaking the hold, i was just unfortunate to be the culprit.

Alex.

In reply to AlexanderRyanBanks: ou haven't been climbing at Catcliffe this weekend too have you?

Fair play for coming on here and letting people know before the bloodbath. Does what is left look stable, or is it likely to crumble further.

I was really looking forward to trying this. E4 is generally out of my league, but Wings Of Unreason looks right up my alley if I can get over the lower bulge.

In reply to AlexanderRyanBanks: While we're at it, I was on Elegy at the Roaches yesterday and fell off the top move. Stopped a foot above the deck but unfortunately my cam fractured off about a square inch of the last placement. The climbing's pretty much unaffected, as there's still plenty of flake left, and what's left looks more solid and unlikely to fracture further, but it does make it harder to place the last piece of gear - not to mention uglier. Sorry everyone...

In reply to tcn_2002:

Bloody that's a long way, must have been seriously scary!

In reply to AlexanderRyanBanks:
Have either of you been to Cratcliffe / Robin Hoods Stride recently?

In reply to AlexanderRyanBanks:

Thanks for info and your honesty.

In reply to Ramblin dave:

I think you missed the boat on that joke.

In reply to jonny2vests:
D'oh.

In reply to Mike_Gannon:

That damage actually happened several weeks ago and was first reported on the 29th January 2013.

See http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?n=536650

The rock is really soft in that area, the foothold has sharper edges where the roundness broke off so yes, unfortunately, i believe there will be further damage. However it did put up with 3 ascents yesterday without anything more so who knows.

Aha Ramblin dave, funny guy! I wouldn't think of doing that kind of damage on purpose. As for chalk use, it has it's use, but i do feel guilty for painting Chalkstorm in the white stuff after getting nervous and reaching for the 'grade boosting' powder.

In reply to AlexanderRyanBanks:


Nothing wrong with that, as long as you finished the route? (har har)

In reply to Ian Patterson: Just a bit scary! My mate got it on video too, I'm never going to live it down...

In reply to tcn_2002:

Upload it, so we can see

In reply to talon_guy: Will do! It's quite entertaining, you can smell the fear.

In reply to AlexanderRyanBanks:
Did you chip a new foothold out?

In reply to AlexanderRyanBanks:

Judging by at least one of the mishaps reported on here maybe it really is time that an official Grit bolt fund was set up to make sure no further damage occurs?

(It's ok...I am already miles away, running for cover!)

)

In reply to tcn_2002:

video's up of my lob, along with some footage of my partners climbing much harder things without any of the fuss. Makes me look like a right prat... http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/oxford-west-greenland-expedition/x/237459...

In reply to tcn_2002:

That's a great video! Really enjoyed watching that

In reply to tcn_2002:

Nice vid.