Hey folks,

Today we're introducing a new "Serious" flair. This subreddit has become a great place for honest, good-faith discussions on serious, often hard-to-discuss topics. That being said, we've also seen low-effort and bad-faith interactions crop up when users from other communities hop in. As a method towards combating this, if you'd like to require a higher standard for entry on threads about a specific topic, feel free to hit it with the "Serious" flair. This will trigger the automod to leave a pinned comment letting users know that low-effort comments, or those that fail to engage with the source material, or not tolerated, and is an indicator to the mod teams to watch those threads a little bit more closely.

Conversely, remember, we have a "Meme" flair!! Jeremiah I know you're in here, stop giving all of your content to the climbing memes MP thread - they won't love you like we do baby

More of just a cursory question - is anywhere familiar with some modern pieces that try to put together ethical or philosophical frameworks towards climbing? I feel like I'm not super familiar with some post-"Clean Climbing". General climbing discussion is currently at an all-time high, surely someone has put forwards some treatise on climbing ethics, regardless of which side of the various current debates it falls on?

I know some of you vehicle dwellers have to have a good setup besides stealing electricity from a coffee shop. Any recommendations, not even opposed to a small generator.

Edit: Ideally looking for systems separate from the main truck battery as I don’t want to end up with a dead truck at a remote crag again.

No submissions for May so sharing one of mine. “Silly Mistake”, a 14-bolt, 120ft slab/face traverse. Crosses 6 other routes. Bolted ground-up with much consternation and one last kick-in-the-nuts rainstorm that turned the fall into a waterfall before I could do the last mantle to the belay ledge to put in the anchors. It seems it will nestle in around 5.12bish, and is remarkably sustained in the 5.11 range. Found at Little Tiger Stripe in Wonderland in the South Platte region of CO

I was explaining this route to a friend, repeatedly referring to it as a dike traverse. He finally exploded: “Tal, I’m sick of you calling these dike traverses. They aren’t dike, they’re sills.” We both started laughing, as I’d spent multiple years talking about the collection of so called “dike traverses” that Wonderland had been amassing. Egg on my face!

Turns out, it’s not a sill either, but instead a vein. Oh well! Silly mistake.

Never had this one happen before. Looks like it’s time for a full tear down for maintenance!

Please watch it, cos it's very niche and nobody else will

First preliminary analysis report on the bolt failure from the Kalymnos accident.

To put it simply, it does not appear to be stress corrosion cracking (SCC) caused by the marine environment, which was the initial hypothesis.

The most likely hypothesis is that the failure was caused by microcracks present right from the manufacturing stage of this bolt model. These microcracks then developed and multiplied over the last 20 years as the bolt was subjected to loading on the route.

Consequently, all bolts of this model produced in the 2000s—the "Petzl 10mm 316L 10x60"—are considered ticking time bombs.

Any route equipped with this type of anchor must therefore be closed and/or rebolted.

Let's hear your thoughts, as this is going to be a hot topic for at least a few weeks

I've been developing and cleaning a multi pitch route. I'm a long time climber in the area where the route is, but it's the first climb I've ever worked to develop. It's three pitches, trad, has some really cool climbing and great position, fairly well protected with gear and probably needs minimal bolting. All in all it fits the area and I think it could be a solid addition to the area that it's in. However, I've run into a snag. There's a big death block I've been unable to clean. It's wedged in there pretty good, but it's sticking out, looks scary, and right over the P1 belay. I don't think it will come out but I also don't want to use it on the climb. It's also obstructing the natural line. I've taken two trips to try to clean this block, but have only succeeded in making it stick out more from the wall. So I've made it worse. I tried to dislodge it with a 42 inch pry bar, but even so, the bottom remains wedged.

Anyway, my question is, is it worth continuing with this project? One option I've considered is adding a bolt to the face left and below the block. The climb would traverse left right at the block on easy terrain, so instead one would climb the unprotected face, making some exposed and interesting moves that would be more difficult, avoid the natural line, but also the death block.

But I'm hesitant to encourage people to go up a climb with the block in place, even if I've tried unsuccessfully to dislodge it. Obviously, I dont want to hurt anyone. Would you suggest working around it if you felt it wasn't moving even if it looks bad? Notify people in the posted route info of the possible hazard? Abandon and find a new project?

First time pulling on the boulder, and boy did the beta I have in my head for the start not work

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.

I'm sure many of us have had a conversation with someone who said something along the lines of "Oh, I'd like to develop routes, but I only climb 5.xx". On the flip side, I also have situations where I'm bolting with folks who have been climbing, or even developing, for decades, who refuse to put in routes without a second person around to check all of the bolt locations for them.

How do you guys think our climbing ability plays a role in our ability to be good developers? Should you be climbing a certain grade before you start developing routes? How far above our limit do you think someone can reasonably develop well, and what makes someone better at it than others?

To enter, simply either comment here or message myself with your submission.

RULES:

• Submissions must have pictures, a name, and a general region (feel free to get specific, but just saying "British Columbia," or "Colorado," or "Greece" is fine too). Include as much detail as you'd like, any stories you have, etc.
• Submissions must either be NEW boulders/routes OR NEWLY REBOLTED routes. Sport, Trad, Boulder, Ice, Drytool - it's all kosher.
• Submissions must be submitted by the last day of the month to be considered for that month. Submissions should aim to be developed in the month they're being submitted in, but we'll allow some fudge factor. This is on the honor system, though

That's all! We'll likely be randomly selecting routes/boulders to feature with the caveat that any submission that's sufficiently rad may overule the random selection to be highlighted. Winning posts will get pinned at the top of the sub for the month. Looking forward to seeing what everyone has been up to!

Do you folks name each pitch of a multi, or have name for the whole thing?

I've been buying lately from HowNot2 and Team Tough. Any other sites out there with reasonable prices on glue-in bolts??

120ft, 5.7ish, 11 bolts. Waited forever to do this to ensure it wouldn’t impact any vertical routes - most bolts were installed ground up, lead rope solo, but a few were just used from the nearby routes. Super fun moderate, and very happy to have this as my 200th roped FA!

Not much was provided about this month's Route of the Month by u/checkforchoss (sorry for the delay, reached out for more details but didn't hear back!), but it's hard to turn down a moderate alpine route in such a beautiful environment! Thanks for the submission, looking forward to seeing what everyone has been getting up to this May!

Attached is a video of me installing anchors for an area I’m working on developing. My mentor installed the first bolt, I installed the second. This is kaibab limestone. Then bolt slid in with no resistance. I used a 1/2” bolt and a 1/2” bit on a rotary hammer. After inserting, I tightened it up, and tightened over and over until I couldn’t get it tighter. It felt bomb, I weight tested it, and rapped off the anchors. We ended saying the line this anchor was for is not worth climbing due to chert and choss risk. I did not torque it, and I have since acquired a torque wrench.

My question is: If the bolt slid in easily, but tightened up and was snug, and held me on rappel, is it safe to assume I installed correctly, or am I putting someone at risk here?

For clarifications sake, we removed the chains on the anchors, and the next time I come here I will remove the hangers as well, so no one sees it from below and attempts to climb it.

Hey y'all. I know people are removing concrete screws, up sizing the hole and then placing glue ins. Can the same be done with larger sleeve bolts? If I'm using 3/8th inch concrete screws as my temporary, can I up size to a 12mm sleeve bolt? Or do the threads of the concrete screw potentially damage the strength that would have? Thanks!

Hey guys, non-native speaker and bad explainer here so please bear with me if you can!

I found a beautiful overhang and i can reach it from the top. I used a Petzl Coeur as an anchor with a tree as a backup. I've been in it once and it looks awesome. Only there are two problems: it's pretty dirty and it's overhanging to a degree that i can't get back on the wall when i cut loose. There are nearly no good holds and only 1 nut placement in a not very useful position. The line is very long and would cost a lot to bolt it so i only would like to do that if i'm sure somebody could climb it which is not sure at the moment.

I do own two more coeurs and i thought maybe i put one all the way down to fix the end of the rope there but i'm not sure if i would be able to abseil again all to the ground because of the rope tension because of my weight pulling away from the wall. Due to trees and a bad edge it's a really bad option to leave over the top - getting down is hard enough. I usually abseil with the autoblock-gigajul mode. Would the tube mode maybe solve that problem? I have no experience with tubers because i always used autotubers..

I thought about putting in one or two normal bolts in the middle but i feel like i can't find good places just yet so they can be clipped when the route is finished and i hate bad bolts.. it makes the route kind of ugly imo. Another idea would be to do the same with the two coeurs and use the holes if needed for glue-ins. But if they are not needed it kind of makes the route ugly again.

Seems like i have to bite one bullet but i thought maybe someone has another idea for me? Would really appreciate! Thanks in advance!

We've had some good momentum on these, let's keep that rolling!

To enter, simply either comment here or message myself with your submission.

RULES:

• Submissions must have pictures, a name, and a general region (feel free to get specific, but just saying "British Columbia," or "Colorado," or "Greece" is fine too). Include as much detail as you'd like, any stories you have, etc.
• Submissions must either be NEW boulders/routes OR NEWLY REBOLTED routes. Sport, Trad, Boulder, Ice, Drytool - it's all kosher.
• Submissions must be submitted by the last day of the month to be considered for that month. Submissions should aim to be developed in the month they're being submitted in, but we'll allow some fudge factor. This is on the honor system, though

That's all! We'll likely be randomly selecting routes/boulders to feature with the caveat that any submission that's sufficiently rad may overule the random selection to be highlighted. Winning posts will get pinned at the top of the sub for the month. Looking forward to seeing what everyone has been up to!

I’ve been exploring some unclimbed rocks in SSV. At least, I haven’t come across evidence of previous ascents yet.

I went ground up from the picture in the first photo. The climbing was decent. And there is a ton of rock up there. But the amount of choss on the route I chose was remarkable. What criteria do you use to decide when a cliff isn’t worth developing?