UKC

I have recently been trying to get comfortable with leading some (easy) bolted multi-pitch climbs in Austria. Couple of things are making are giving me a bit of a headache.....  

1. Some climbs e.g. yesterday have only a single bolt at the belay station. Is it accepted practice to belay off a single bolt??

I looked through my guidebook, and depending on the climb, some are protected by only a single bolt at each belay station. I would probably be comfortable it it was a good belay stance, whereby the belayer is really tied is as a precaution, and the belay is only effectively protecting the climber until they reach the first bolt of the pitch. 

However, I would not be comfortable is it is a hanging belay, therefore taking the weight of both climbers during the changeover, and then subsequently protecting the second whilst the leader climbs. I am also not really comfortable abseiling off a single bolt, in case I need to retreat. 

2. The spacing between bolts, particularly in the lower grades i.e. V are very far apart e.g. sometimes 6-10 m. Even on easy climbs this is making me very uneasy, with the potential for a very long fall.

Are people placing additional gear in between bolts?? or just accepting that it's relatively easy so you shouldn't fall off?? 

I have a set of nuts, plus slings etc, but most of the climbs around this grade tend to be slabs with little opportunity for placing additional gear.   

Cheers

That's all just typical for "alpine bolted" routes. Just got to get used it.

Sounds pretty standard for Austrian "bolted" routes I've found here.

On the flipside, topos on places like bergsteigen will often show the data on the quality of the gear, if not the exact number of bolts per pitch.

I tend to carry about 5-6 nuts on the routes.

thanks for the replies. 

Pretty much as I’d expected then. just need to get my head around it then.

so in answer to my original question. Belaying off a single bolt is considered common practice/acceptable?

Im assuming that as the grades increase, the protection also increases a bit. 
 

Yes.

Maybe

Not sure if this is in Austria, but in Switzerland or Spain I have experienced finding "monster" bolts, which are much beefier than the standard ones you find on sport climbs.

Also in Frankejura I think every single route has a single bolt at the top of the route for lowering rather than two as in say Spain.

You don't hear about bolts breaking from someone projecting and falling too much. Just have to accept the reality I noticed as well that harder multipitch routes become much more bolted.

Having one bolt belays is NOT standard  on Austrian bolted multipitch sport. It is few equippers (namely Klaus Hoi) doing this, and they usually use stronger glue in material for this 

While in theory this should be safe, I can at least understand uneasyness. 

Thanks for the reply. 

I have done several others in the Steinplatte, Tenngebirge which had double bolts at each belay. 

This was on the Vierrinnenkopfe (Hochkonig), and if I look at my guidebook several other other of the easier marked routes with a single "X" at the belay (which I presume means a single bolt), whilst other, more difficult routes are marked with "XX" on the belay (which I presume means there will be a double bolt). Correct??

Yes I'd say so - the X to show number of bolts is pretty standard.  On Yosemite topos they have XXX where there's 3 bolts.....

The "Alpine" or "Adventure" bolting is just soemthing you have to get used to I reckon.  Found a bit of that on Finale multi pitches.... 

Re 2: to hit, or get anywhere near, guidebook times you will need to be climbing a grade where you are comfortable with bolts 6 m apart anyway. 

Which is why I always set off early and get back late.....

I'd be comfortable crossing the car park with bolts 6m apart