UKC

(From Ice-solos's comments - one thread leads to another)

I have used a pitony thing that I think dated from the 1920s. Can anyone better that?

In reply to MG: (and picking up on yet another thread) ... I recall abbing off an in-situ madonna on the Grepon, not sure of her vintage

In reply to MG:

When were the spikes placed on Pink Wall Traverse at Avon? Supposedly placed by workers in quarrying days, long ago, wish I knew when.

In reply to MG:
How about the wooden wedges around and about the place? I've seen quite a few of these about trying to think what the oldest one may be? This year I remember using one on Osiris at lewes castle but I doubt that was older than 1920's (don't have the guide book on me)

In reply to MG:
Some of the hand placed chock stones on grit must be pretty old. Probably some older than 1920's.

In reply to MG: The useful boulder above sunset slab is probably 200 million years old

In reply to abseil: Spikes on Pink Wall Traverse - probably 19th century.

In reply to MG:

Is the answer Dennis Gray?

In reply to MG:
I'm pretty sure the Matterhorn had a lot of in-situ gear by the 1890s, some of which is bound to be still in place.

In reply to MG: How old are the bits of iron work found in the slate quarries?

In reply to MG:
Some of the crack lines at Black rocks have chock stones which may be the original ones placed around 1900?
Rob

In reply to Andy Manthorpe:

I thought they might be... And thanks very much for your reply.

In reply to MG:
Does anyone know how old the spanner is at Running Hill Pits?

In reply to MG:

There's probably plenty of ~100 yr old stuff in Saxon sandstone; I have a mate who comes from around there, I'll ask him at the wall this evening if I remember

In reply to AlanLittle:

The oldest "Ringe" (of course they don't call them bolts, or use regular bolts as across the border in Czech sandstone, that would be too easy) must be around 100 years. However, they tend to come out eventually, often by erosion of the surrounding rock, and have to be replaced at regular intervals.

CB

In reply to cb294:

Yes, I suppose the main thing you need for an old relic surviving is a)climbing to have been taking place then and b) really heavy-duty bits of gear. Apparently the 'bolts' on Czech Sandstone(and German) had to be large enough for you to put your shoulder through, so that you could untie, feed the rope through, and then retie. That means they're pretty big and can survive pretty well. Climbing has also being going on for yonks too.

If you're talking about UK gear that was placed for the intention of recreational climbing, then I guess you'd have to go to the lakes?

In reply to Franco Cookson:


Depends a bit though. It isnt until the 1950s that you start to get gear that will still be surviving (pre 50s gear tends to be wooden wedges and hemp rope). Ethical concerns would also ensure cleanish crags. The oldest UK gear I can think of is the machine nut left at the top of wall buttress of presumably 1950s vintage.

In reply to MG:

I thought I'd heard stories of spikes being banged into sea cliffs to help people get to guls nests for the eggs. Not sure where I heard this or how old they might be.

In reply to the thread:

If the iron pipe at the belay of Jeffcoat's Buttress (Roaches) dates from the first ascent then it is 100 years old this year!

In reply to Franco Cookson:
>

1/7/1936, Munich Climb Tryfan. 2 pegs which Menlove Edwards then removed using a poker before leading the route.

In reply to MG:

kinda cheating, but i climbed huashan in central china (often seen in 'how crazy is this!! websites, been on here a few times), and some of the stuff up there is centuries old

In reply to CurlyStevo:

Osiris was climbed in 1967. Not 1920s old. Don't think people really started climbing much on the Gower till the 1950s (going by FA details).

In reply to MG: There is a massive builders rawplug on The Outpost at Bathampton Rocks,it was placed there by some delinquent local youths in the early sixties.

In reply to antoniusblock: I am ready to be corrected, but I don't think use of wooden wedges goes back that far. One of my acquisitions is a Comici peg on Il Salame placed on the first ascent which came out in my hand as I was freeing the etrier I'd just stood in!

In reply to MG:

There was an old piece of hemp dangling from the innards of Mackinder's Chimney on Mt Kenya when we did it; it's thought that it could well go back to M's first ascent in 1899.

In reply to MG: Some of the drilled threads at Swanage are probably a few hundred years old.

In reply to AlanLittle:

... nearly everything re-equipped since reunification, was the disappointing answer.

In reply to MG:

The bedouin have been climbing in the mountains of Wadi Rum for, I imagine, centuries, and there's plenty of jammed blocks, tree branches, teetery cairns and cut holds (are they in situ *gear*?) to assist.

In reply to MG:
A couple of years ago, in the Dolomites, I was abseiling the second Sella tower in that gully between the second and third tower and at some point there was an “anchor” with 2 or 3 pitons (cant’ recall)…one of them were not old, but two were really old and once I let myself go, put weight on the “anchor” and saw them moving in some sort of f**ked up synchronization, they looked like a thousand years old to me! So I guess age is somewhat relative