Bolt Blog

Cumbria Bolt Fund Update Dan Robinson

Wed, 19 May 2010 11:55:34 +0100

Current Completed Work
Thanks to 2 weekends then followup work there are now a number of lines completely re bolted at St Bees Head and Mill Side with also a new Abseil Station at Sargentman Crag Slabs.

Equipment
The Cumbria Bolt fund now owns 3 complete sets of kit to go out bolting. Once the oder comes through from Lyon Equipment (some of the kit they are even giving us) we will have 3 sets to access the rock. This will increase safety and save you all getting your personal kit trashed. Oh and there are a few seats on order to increase comfort too!

New Bolts
We have won £1500 in the BMC's bolt fund bid, the bolts are on order and will be with us hopefully by next week. Ill get the bolts for St Bees over to the team as soon as I can once they get here, how are you doing for resin St Bees Team?
There is also an order for chain, d rings, more bolts, resin etc that will be with us next week.

Core Drilling Bit
The new core drilling bits are on there way from America so we should have a set ready for replacing those crucial bolts where there is nowhere where the bolt can go except the original hole. Thrang is high on the list for the first place to use the bit!

Cathedral
I am in the process of righting the risk assessments, plans of work and procedures for the National Trust. They require it for one reason or another! Once this has been approved we can get down there and make a start. We are looking to bolt the top of the crag in the process as part of the agreement, this will reduce the wear on the trees at the top and also be useful for groups.

Humphrey Head
James Bumbey is on the case with agreeing access with the land owners. Once he has made contact and an agreement is in place then Peter Latimer will jump on the case with the RSPB and Natural England. The desire is to have access in place for when the bird ban is lifted.

Scout Scar
James Bumbey working on access. No bolting just yet.

Ropes Access Training
As we are working at height we should be adopting the methods used by industrial ropes access workers. Some training has been given on sight during bolt workshops however to cover this issue in detail and ensure we are all working safely Alex Showell has offered to run some access training for Active Bolters. Alex and I will run the event at NARC in Kendal and will be teaching people how to rig and work off 2 ropes and what to do when it all goes wrong. If you are interested in this then please get in touch. Date to be arranged.

Methods of Work
Due to the lack of rain the dust is staying on the crags and not being washed away, I have bought a hand brush for each set of kit to help with keeping people on the crag after a bolting session.

Church Beck
The Church Beck user group have decided that there is a need to bolt church beck for the use of groups after a crucial belay disappeared. They have asked if it is possible for CBF to do the work. We have agreed with the proviso of a heathy donation to the fund.

Future Bolting Date in S Lakes
I will be back at Mill Side on Sunday 23rd May. Let me know if you can make it. I hope to be able to bolt the rest of the crag and clean up leaving the place totally finished apart from the extra chain that needs to go in when it arrives.

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Bolt Lower Off Replaced

Tue, 11 May 2010 00:27:31 +0100

Alan and I headed up to Sargent Crag Slabs with the Bolt Fund kit to replace the lower off.
The walking decent off the cliff is a SSSI and is not recommended due to the erosion it has created in the past, The BMC local area group made a decision that the dangerous peg abseil station should be replaced with a bolt lower off at the left hand side of the climbs.
Bolt lower offs on mountain rock is a very controversial subject and each decision is talked about and argued at length before a conclusion is made.
In the past there has been an anonymous resistance to the thoughts of the people at these meetings and the bolts have been removed.
Due to the dangerous state of the pegs it is felt that an abseil station is the only safe way forward for this location.
Our methods where quite traditional, we climbed 5 great routes there today – Terminator 2 HVS 5a, Lakeland Cragsman HVS 5a, Aspasia E2 5b, Endurance HVS 5a and Quicksilver E1 5b. The bolting kit was carried on my back seconding Al up Endurance then an eco friendly resin chain and ring lower off was placed in the holes that where there originally.
I hope that this is third time lucky and the lower off is left for the use of everyone.

10 people trained this weekend

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 09:39:29 +0100

Well thanks to all those of you who could make it on the weekend.

St Bees
There where 9 locals who turned up and learnt what to do with the kit and 2 from Kendal who came across with me for the day.
Thanks to the runners for keeping the batteries charged, the crag saw 7 lines all drilled and ready for glueing up and many of them glued.
3 lines are completely safe now with the rest on the way.

I have left one set of Bolt Fund kit with the team over there so they can pop along and work away at it.

Ill let you all know when the next time I can get over there is.

Mill Side
We hit Mill Side under full steam, Alex Showell and Alex Willey are resident experts who turned up and Ian an engineer caver and climber had the perfect CV to learn in record time.
We headed back there on the monday night with Tom from Kendal wall and completed 7 lines to the ground.
Another visit or 2 and we should have all the rust removed the crag totally competed.

Kit
I spent Monday am trawling the shops in Kendal and purchased some more kit, we now have 3 complete set of bolting kit one on the west and 2 in Kendal.

I have a bid in with Lyon Equipment, I have asked for 3 sets of access kit so we can work safely on these crags, Beal may give us some rope and Lyon are going to see what they can fire our way and what we may have to pay for. I will feel happier when our team are accessing the cliffs in comfort using industrial seats and 2 lines.

Anyone thinking we should not be - you try hanging in a harness for 8 hours.

Rope Access Training
With Alex Showell as an IRATA trainer and myself as an MIC we would like to put on a training session for all bolters at kendal wall. We will briefly cover the all the basic techniques needed for safe access and then move to rescue training so that everyone is equipped with the skills just incase one of us needs help mid rope.

Future Dates
The Kendal Mill Side Crew will be back there whilst I am in Spain next week then I am intending to go back on the 10th May to finnish the crag.

Alex and I will come up with a date that is workable for the rope access training and invite you all along.

If the West Side could sort them selves out with communications and just keep me up to date with progress and keep posting me the resin tips and route names that are complete ill keep the site up to date.

BMC Bolts
We have won £1500 worth of Equipment.

I am splitting this between St Bees and Humphrey Head.

Thanks BMC

The order should be with us soon.

Bolt Products
Some of the bolts at the top of crags are OK and just need linking to one new bolt, I am purchasing a bunch of chain and maillons for this purpose. I will also be getting a selection of longer and medium bolts for the limestone so that if we have to drill into suspect rock then we can place an extra long bolt, or if the rock is uneven we can place an extra wide eye so the crab lies flat one the rock.

Interview with BBC Radio Cumbria

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 23:58:42 +0100

As you know I head up the voluntary role of Cumbria Bolt Fund Chair, the equipment & bolts are funded by the Fell and Rock Climbing Club, BMC, Lyon Equipment, and other various clubs and private donations.
Tonight, Alex from High Line Vision and myself headed up to Mill Side with Martin, BBC Radio Cumbria's reporter, to talk about the work of the Cumbria Bolt Fund.
If you see this in time listen to the interview on the 22nd April between 7 and 9 in the morning.
If you miss it go to the website and use the listen again feature.
Martin was keen to get up to the action and see what we do first hand.
Click Here for the Interview

Bolt fund access equipment

Mon, 5 Apr 2010 13:43:31 +0100

Accessing crags to re-equip them needs to be done safely. I have donated rigging ropes to the fund but will be purchasing some specialist kit for people to use during bolting so they do not get resin all over their own shinny kit.