Steve Crowe reports that climbers were seen blow-torching holds on Energy Vampire at Malham last weekend. Frequently practiced during the '80s, when no-one knew any better, blow torching limestone destroys the compostition of the rock and ultimately, the hold/route.
The hold will disintegrate - especially on limestone - the natural bonds holding the rock together will weaken.....apart from that the seapage will come back very fast and the hold will be moist. Seen it happen..... It's an incredibly selfish thing to do. Best to move onto something that is dry rather than obsess over something...... Mick R
Seems a bit of a stupid thing to do as even during the course of the day some pockets started to seep and got worse so you're not going to achieve much I wouldn't have thought i.e. if a hold is seeping it will continue to seep even after blow torching.
This is because Limestone (calcium carbonate) will thermally decompose (that is chemically breakdown when heated) creating calcium oxide (which will dissolve in water making calcium hydroxide - a strong alkali) and carbon dioxide (the gas). Obviously this means that the rock is permanently damaged. Just use an old rag - it may not get the hold as dry but at least at the and you'll still have a hold. BTW which route was suffering the blow torch treatment?
Andy -in short: it don't work and it f*cks the hold up. U Know - when you are young and obsessed (I've done it) This needs to be broadcast somewhere. Mick
Sitting on a belay ledge in the dolomites with Whillans he suddenly said that they used to heat stones when he was a kid to put in bed on cold nights. We decided to try it with stones on the ledge. They started spitting and smelt awful. This seems to confirm what was said earlier, we stopped doing it in case the fumes given off were noxious after the first two and shivered when the first ones cooled down.
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