Bolters Beware!
All the protected birds in Yorkshire are watched very closely (25/7) during the nesting season. No drilling should take place on crags while protected birds are nesting. Disturbance is a criminal offence.
The current phase of bolt replacement in Yorkshire is already supported by the following:
Allcord
Berghaus
DMM
Five Ten
Inglesports
Lyon
Mad Rock
North Face
Prana
Ramsbottom kitchen (Dave Peace)
Rockfax
Rockworks
Scarpa
Wild Country
Yorkshire Mountaineering Club
also a generous donation has been made by the
Alan Bennett Memorial Fund
on condition that the fund was NOT to be used for retrobolting of existing traditional routes.
Numerous individual donations have already been made to:
The Yorkshire Bolt Fund care of:
Dave Musgrove, 11 Wynmore Avenue, Leeds LS16 9DD
There was an informal meeting in the Listers at Malham which drew up the following guidelines for the proposed bolt replacement scheme
RE
EQUIPMENT YORKSHIRE LIMESTONE
1.
The initiative is the continuation of the replacement of bolts/belays on
existing routes on Yorkshire Limestone.
2. A stainless steel only policy is to be implemented, using through bolts
or preferably resin anchors.
3. A complete job is necessary replacing all bolts on route AND a two bolt
belay.
4. Where resin anchors are used a tag should be left on the first bolt
until they are properly set.
5. NO RETRO BOLTING. Bolts should be replaced like for like. If a route has
a run out e.g. Biological Need, so be it. This is the character of the route the
way the first ascentionist intended it to be and so it should remain. However
bolts should not be difficult to clip and if this means lowering the replacement
a few inches this should be considered. Great care is needed when putting a bolt
in to get it in solid rock, not to obscure holds when the quick draw is on,
making it ok to clip etc. There is a definite art to this when hanging over
Malham on an ab rope! There are hundreds of routes with the bolts in the wrong
places; ideally bolts should be placed with an on sight flash in mind.
6. Threads in sport routes e.g. New Dawn should be replaced with bolts.
7. Some routes fall in to a grey area e.g. Cave Route
Right Hand. These are in the minority and should be left alone. Other oddities
such as half bolted routes e.g. Tremelo are probably candidates for re equipment
and complete bolting as they can be considered sport routes. In these rare cases
the first ascentionist should always be consulted first, presuming they are
still alive!
8. Remove all old ironmongery with minimal impact to the rock.
9. Choose your time to drill carefully. No weekend drilling at Malham and
Gordale. Try to drill at quiet times, early or late in the day or when the crags
are reasonably people free. Windy days are also really good for minimizing noise
pollution.
10. Donations as always payable to:
The
Yorkshire Bolt Fund care of Dave Musgrove 11 Wynmore Ave Leeds LS 169 DD
Equipment
from Mick Johnston Tel. 07801 766 918. E-mail at MickyJ @ Nitonclose.
fsnet.co.uk.
Bolts
should not be used in new routes; anyone using them in the peak will be shot!
Bolters Beware!
All the protected birds in Yorkshire are watched very closely (25/7) during the nesting season. No drilling should take place on crags while protected birds are nesting. Disturbance is a criminal offence.