UKC

What would you do if you came across a bolt like this?

Scotlands sport routes have undergone a rennaisance in past years due to publicity and better guidebook coverage. Many of them, however are in harsh corrosive environments, or just plain old, and are in dire need of re-equipping. Several local activists have been quietly putting in the hours and personal cash to upgrade the fixed gear on these old routes before a nasty accident happens. The photo shows an example of a bolt with differential corrosion at Arisaig - who knows whats left inside the rock? Indeed bolt failures have already occurred at Boltsheaugh in 2013.

The 7a Max fund was set up in 2012 to assist the replacment of deteriorating in-situ gear with long lasting stainless steel products. 10% of the proceeds of our book have gone into the fund, which has already helped re-equip Balgone Heughs and crags on the North West coast.

We are just about to distribute funds for this year, but given the amount of re-equipping activity we have heard of, what we have is going to be a drop in the ocean. The BMC bolt fund does not cover Scotland, making your support all the more important. Therefore we are asking for contributions of any size to to the fund to make our sport climbs better. If you enjoy Scotlands sport climbing, please consider the work that goes into them, and perhaps think of a donation as an investment in your own safety!

Donations can be made via our website using Paypal - http://www.7amax.co.uk
You can also find application forms there if you feel that the fund would help your own efforts.

Thank you for the support, Seb and Topher.

In reply to Dr Toph:

Have just read via the UK bolt fund site that the SMC does not administer money for rebolting. Were any proceeds from their relatively new sport guidebook put towards re-equipping existing routes covered in the guide? Does anyone know, purely out of interest?

Andy Nisbet?

Cheers
Craig

In reply to Lamb:



All the proceeds from the SMC sport guide (not that anything is actually made on climbing guides) goes to the Scottish Mountaineering Trust, which is an official charity giving money to varying charitable causes, like the MCofS, footpath work, club huts (but must be open to all mountaineers) etc. A bolt fund might just be acceptable to the Inland Revenue but would be complex to administer in an acceptable way. So it was discussed and decided against. There is always the worry about liability, more of a worry to a big organisation which wouldn't get legal aid and could be bankrupted, as compared to a small organisation, but that was a lesser worry.

In reply to Andy Nisbet:

Thanks for the reply Andy, appreciated and interesting to know!

Cheers
Craig

This is great. Is there any particular way to donate funds to a particular crag? Via here or other methods? For example, for various reasons a few of us climb at Kirriemuir only. There are just a few scary lower-offs at that place that are loose (bolts) or otherwise requiring attention, and at various times several folk have mentioned that they wouldn't mind contributing to make them safer. I haven't been there for a while, but assume that this is still the case. Most of us don't have the resources or skills to address the issues ourselves, but most people wouldn't mind chipping in to help make the place safe. It would be good to know ways of addressing these sorts of problems.

In reply to BruceM:


Contact Neil Shepherd (is he on UKC as Sheppy?). He used to run a bolt fund for Angus and may still do. Tell him about the problems at Kirrie. He might be able to sort, with your contribution and from the fund.

In reply to Andy Nisbet:

That's me Andy.
I haven't been to Kirrie for a couple of years but I can imagine some of the lower offs are deteriorating and in need of enhancement.
Loose bolts are likely to just need tightening as most are expansions (non stainless but Kirries dry climate makes that not such a big issue)
Unfortunately on a personal scale the 7A max and SMC sport guides pretty much dried up the trickle of local funding we got from the topos we sold.
Though I do occasionally get funds out of the blue just from people at the crags and I am still replacing and improving gear at my own expense both in terms of money and free time.
In fact just replaced the lower off and last bolt on the LH 7a/7a+ at Myopics on Saturday.
I have got an application ready to send in to 7a Max but couldn't find an address to send it to and am still waiting for a reply to my query.

In reply to sheppy:

Sorry Neil,
We are having some problems with the contact form on the website at the mo.
Send us a mail to sport@7amax.co.uk
Hope we can help
Topher

In reply to sheppy:

Hi Neil,

Do you have details for contributing to an 'Angus bolt fund'?

I'm particularly keen on seeing some work done at Kirrie as I climb there a lot, but would prefer someone who knows what they're doing to carry it out.

David

In reply to DundeeDave:

Oi, get yer own thread!


It is important that work is done by experienced bolters, especially in weird rock like conglomerate. That is why we use an application system to make sure the money is going only to those who are going to do a good, safe job.

In reply to Dr Toph:



I spoke to a friend who tried to get funding help last year, he didn't get a reply.

Has your website been fixed now?

Would be good to see Arisaig tarted up.

In reply to Colin Moody:




That's a shame. We have now sorted out our email system , but I don't think anything came through last year for the fund. I will look into it. We also have a Facebook page that some folk use to get in touch.

As you say it would be great to see Arisaig sorted out. The fund would be perfect for this. I think realistically this year's fund will only stretch to the applications we have already. I will speak to Toph when we sort out this allocation and see when Arisaig could be funded.

I will get in touch when I know more and would be happy to help with any installations if needed.

Cheers, Seb

PS to everyone else,

There are folk willing to do the hard work of the installations, all we need are donations to make it happen. Stainless steel fixings are needed but are not cheap. Arisaig needs a fair bit of work and equipment, it would be great to see this lovely crag sorted out soon!

In reply to sebrider:

Thanks for the reply.

In reply to Dr Toph


I totally agree. If you have followed Stevie Haston's blog at all he has found that all the stainless bolts on the Mediterranean island he lives on are having to be changed to titanium. The life expectancy of bolts is very short next to sea air/spray, your photo being testament to that. The problem is they're more expensive but cheaper in the long run.

In reply to Dr Toph:

Out of interest, how much does it cost to bolt a route? (per bolt, lower off)

In reply to Steve Perry:

Arisaig bolts are not stainless so rusted very quickly.

In reply to Colin Moody: Yes they're obviously just mild steel bolts at Arisaig (I've climbed there lots Colin) but I know there can be problems with the life span of stainless ones over a period on coastal cliffs as opposed to inland crags where they are fine.

In reply to Donald82:


Assuming 8 bolts and loweroff, about £70 for a pitch of stainless the way I do it. Around £4.50 per placement. So £2k ish to do all of Arisaig stainless. Goodness knows the cost of titanium!

There are different ratings of stainless. Would A4 stainless not last a resonable time on a seacliff?

In reply to sebrider:

Quite pricey! I'll be sure to donate something.

In reply to Donald82:

Thanks Donald, its pricey indeed, and all the more suprising when you realise the bolters are mostly just footing the bill themselves. That seems fair if they are developing a new crag (their choice), but when it comes to re-equipping areas before an accident happens, it must be tempting to just let somebody else deal with (and pay for) it. Thats why we think its such an important thing to have a bolt-fund available to those who have the skills to do the work - they shouldnt need to carry the costs too!

In reply to sebrider: You'd be better messaging Steve Haston about sea cliff bolts and stainless v titanium, he is well clued up on it all. I believe he had a bolting specialist travel out to where he lives.

In reply to Dr Toph: Needle sports doing a good deal on lower offs- see

http://www.needlesports.com/33150/products/fixe-ss-1-2-traditional-anchor.a...