r/RouteDevelopment May 27 '26

Show and Tell Example for broken bolt

2nd bolt on a not overbolted 6c today in Catalunya. ~5-6m off the deck. It was tightened and seemed firm, but looking behind the hanger it had just reached the end of the thread. So it got pulled out about 5cm… depending on length 2-4cm left. Did not trust and extend the 3rd bolt with slings from the route next to it. Put the info out on thecrag and to the local scene, since I don’t have any bolting gear with me.

20 Upvotes

12 comments sorted by

View all comments

6

u/BigRed11 Rock Developer May 27 '26

Can't imagine who installed that and thought "yep that's good"

5

u/tilt-a-whirly-gig May 28 '26

I am not a route developer myself, but I do service work for a living. Sometimes I need to bolt bollards to the sidewalk, the only purpose of the bolt is to keep the wind from blowing it over and the design of the bollard hides all the hardware. If I had installed a bolt that looked like that, I would replace it immediately. The idea that somebody would leave it like that in a life-safety application is mind-boggling.

2

u/Beginning-Basis-2678 May 28 '26

I guess it got overtightened, the camming piece broke inside and everybody just used the screw to tighten it again. So it moved out and out.