UKC

The wall I regularly visit is owned by a university climbing club, therefore has nobody taking care of it. There are some bolts up high (where most of the falls occur) that have become spinners and can neither be tightened nor removed. Any advise on how to check the safety of these bolts? or fix them?

In reply to duzinga: What is the reason they can't be tightened or removed?

In reply to duzinga: I read the title and thought you'd seen Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan with their harnesses on!

In reply to duzinga: .If they cant be tightened it means the t nut has come loose at the back, if its a ply wall all thats needed is to go behind and bash it back in and put a couple of small screws around the nut to stop it happening again, if its a glass wall, the fibre glass around the nut has not been stippled in correctly when it was built, the only option is to go behind with some plyers. hold the nut from the back whilst someone on the front turns the bolt, or smash the hold with a hammer to get rid of it, hold the nut from the front and hack saw it off then belt the rest of the bolt back with a drift.

In reply to duzinga: You need to speak to my partner, as he is an experienced climbing wall engineer, email [email protected]

thanks

In reply to duzinga: Thanks for all the information(and the useful contact!). It's a ply wall, so I'll go behind it to see if I can hammer the T-nut back in.
Cheers.

In reply to duzinga:

The holds will be attached to TNuts but the hangers will be attached with nuts and bolts. Should be able to tighten them with two big spanners but be sure you know what you are doing!

In reply to Steve Crowe: Well I'm not experienced with this stuff, but I will only act if I understand the consequences of what I am doing. The students using the wall have no-one to consult and have no worries about the state of the wall. They have been falling on these bolts with old ropes that are almost like static ropes now for a while, and the bolts are getting worse.

No worries though they all use gloves for belaying so it's all safe.

In reply to duzinga:

Protection bolts or hold bolts?

Someone is responsible for it, it may not be obvious who and they may not be taking much interest but there will be someone.

The protection bolts will be or at least should be periodically inspected. If they cannot be tightened or removed then something has gone pretty seriously wrong and I'd suggest they shouldn't be used until that has been investigated and fixed.

If you're on about holds then chances are the T-nut is spinning. You'll need access to the rear of the panel to remove it, replace it and secure the new one. Failing that I guess you could chop the hold off, push the bolt stub through then tape over the now defunct hole.

jk

In reply to jkarran: Sorry for not making that clear enough. The bolts in question are protection bolts. I have not been able to find anyone responsible for this, and I am afraid if I try hard enough the result might be a closed climbing wall for the students here. I don't want to be the gaijin who ruined all the fun, but I don't want people hurting themselves either.

In reply to duzinga:
Stuff that, id get it closed down until its fully checked over, a call to health and safety executive will soon sort out whose responsibility it is.
You seriously are putting everyones fun over everyones safety??? Honestly mate, do everyone a favour and report it before someone is injured or worse. 'If you think safety is expensive, try an accident...'

In reply to duzinga:the uni might decide that its the students fault when they break, which could be a bit of a problem for the club since students sports unions and uni climbing clubs never get on.

In reply to duzinga:

In that case, these bolts won't be connected just to the ply. There will be a primary structure immediately behind the ply which will, more than likely, have steel plates welded to it, through which the bolts pass.

You'll need to get behind the wall do determine the cause of the bolt rotation.

In reply to duzinga:

You should probably get the wall closed temporarily untill you find the cause of the rotating bolts.

In reply to duzinga: As bonesaw said, get I closed down and sorted. Having worked in the business for a while, spinning bolt hangers set alarm bells ringing. Could mean they are only in with t-nuts which could/will result in a major accident at some point. All bolt hangers should be fastened into the structural framework of the wall.
If you're scared of being the party pooper then just get in touch anonymously with the HSE.

In reply to duzinga:

You could let it be known that you're asking for the wall to be closed down out of concern for climber's safety, and you wouldn't seem a party pooper?

Not to anybody who has any sense anyway, don't worry about it. ()

Tim

In reply to duzinga:

I concur with the other guys on this thread. I run a commercial wall and a spinning bolt is most certainly synonomous with a problem. If hold spins it can cause a serious injury but if protection bolts are spinning, that in a nutshell means your protection point is not up to scratch and i would most certainly question not only the bolt in question but also every point on the wall. Imagine the scenario that a bolt fails that then means that the shock load on subsequent bolts is going to be huge and risks of decking i would say are high. Why risk it!!!
Another perspective is the people that climb it do so at their own risk, but the person that they fall on didnt ask for the inevitable critical injuries they will incur. Furthermore if there is no obvious 'responsible person' then the poor sap who will never walk again cant establish liability.

In reply to duzinga:

Hi Tuze

guess you ought to state this is not UK so HSE wont be able to help!

ice.solo (UKC user) may be able to help you as he's out your way somewhere and a guide and may have contacts

my view would be... how you feel if one failed and you had said nothing !

In reply to duzinga: Thanks for all the responses and suggestions everybody. Yes the climbing wall in question is in Japan, so HSE can not help (Hi Rob!).

I went down to the wall and talked to some of the guys, and they told me they checked behind the wall to see what's wrong with the bolts and they think it's safe to use these bolts. Here is what they found:

Just like Fraser said, there is a thick structure immediately behind the ply through which the bolts pass. From what I understand these "structures" are wooden blocks but I am not sure (communication problem!). The students I talked to tried tightening/loosening the bolts as a pair (one behind, the other in front of the wall) but they said it was stuck and seemed impossible to loosen/tighten. From their observation, the reason for the spinning bolts are a "slight damage" on the ply, which created a gap hence allowing the bolt to turn freely.

I hoped everybody would say that it'll be allright just let it be But, I can see that's not the case. I have a contact in Japan who runs a bouldering wall, I will get in touch with him about this issue.