Home Forums Bolting grid bolting at the gracetown crag

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  • #2204 Reply
    john
    Guest

    After taking a stroll down to the crag today, i discovered to my horror that some absolute moron has drilled some 20+ “new” bolt holes over existing traditionl lines and even placed a new one on that absolute piece of shit chipped creation up the middle of the crag( as if there weren’t already enough). There is a new line of holes exactly 2m apart running parrallel to a crack that has a an abundance of natural protection options and not to mention the fact that it is an existing route. To whoever ruined our beautiful playground, yet again. You had better be careful if you are considering putting metal in those hole, as i for one am now watching out for you and will not give you the benefit of the doubt. If for some reason these holes get filled, they will be coming out just as fast. So for anyone who still has a shred of concern for our limited natural rock, please keep an eye out for a vandal with a petrol drill.

    #2205 Reply
    Dinah
    Member

    That sucks. It is really sad. I hope you find out who did it.

    #2206 Reply
    Toc
    Member

    Agreed. It only takes one idiot to destroy something that can never be replaced. It might be a good idea to fill the holes with some rock coloured filler. It’s not perfect, but could be better than nothing. I’d happily do it but don’t know when it would be possible for me.

    Toc

    #2207 Reply
    kevin
    Member

    I would cut the unnessary bolt out with a hack saw and teach people to use natural pro.

    #2208 Reply
    Dinah
    Member

    Was down at Gracetown crag over Australia day long weekend. Sorry sight it is.

    The new bolt holes have been filled with a dark coloured filler.

    #2209 Reply
    alan
    Member

    yeh i was down there last week and now theres at least 10 bolts cemented in, the chipping is quite mind blowing aswell.i think i have a good idea as to who has done it but dont know his name, as i was down at willyabrup on steel wall when 1 frenchmen came and asked if i was going to be on a climb(cant remember the name of it) for long, upon saying no he set up an abseil just to the left using existing ringbolts. as i soon saw he was letting himself down a route already bolted and merely placing bolts where he thought necessary oblivious to the excisting route, constantly swearing as he placed bolts where he couldnt even make the move required, this paralells to gracetown because alot of the chipping looks due to a shitty job of drilling and placing the bolts thus the person chipped out the whole hole they drilled. This was more then evident at the start of the climb as theres a big triangle with a very slight imprint with what looks like a bolt was once there. sorry for my long story but if you happen to see a frenchmen that says hes from the french alps and sports a battery powered drill beware i think his the mercyless chipper and bolter.

    #2210 Reply
    Ross
    Member

    Alan

    Are you saying this guy is now active at Willy’s ? Which route was he retrobolting ? Did you talk to him about retrobolting of existing routes ? If it was me I would sort him out.

    Ross

    #2211 Reply
    Diane
    Member

    A group of us will be down there this weekend and if we see him we’ll bolt HIM to the wall by various parts of his anatomy . . . .

    Thanks for the ‘heads up’ about zee french accent . . . .

    #2212 Reply
    alan
    Member

    sorry ross but im only 17 and just climbed for round a year and just only started leading outdoors hence i didnt really think i was in the postion to be telling this guy who i wasnt 100% sure was the bolter about 20 yrs older than myself to pull his head in(being polite when i say it like that). i forgot the name of the climb he was on and bolting but it was the next climb to the left on the only 18 on steel wall(left if your up top, right if your looking up from below)

    #2213 Reply
    Diane
    Member

    Fair enough Alan- the ten of us who will be there this weekend (combined age of almost 300!!) will have a chat if we see him. Probably best not to take on these fights individually anyway!!

    #2214 Reply
    Toc
    Member

    Alan,

    Was this guy bolting a new route close to the existing or the old route. Also describe him, particularly his hair. Some of us know someone who may know who this is.

    Cheers,

    Toc.

    #2215 Reply
    alan
    Member

    he was on an excisting route toc, and he has short black hair with grey flares through it, about 5ft7, he drives a black 4wd ute i think it was a toyota(modern looking) and has a battery powered drill, and says hes from “the french alps yeh”. the day i saw him with my sister he was by himself. hope all that helps-

    #2216 Reply
    John Knight
    Member

    Lol, I think that should do! You’ve almost spelt out his social security number! 😉

    #2217 Reply
    Pat Turner
    Member

    Hey all.

    I have been down at willys the last couple of days and have seen the bolts everyone has been talking about.

    From what I saw however it was an unfinished NEW ROUTE that is in between Steel ulster madness’2nd pitch and delving devoids 2nd pitch. there seemed to be no bolts that had been added to the 2 existing routes.

    I decided to ask a friend of mine who happens to be french and turned out to be the bolter, and he further enforced what I had seen that morning saying that he had not added any bolts to existing routes, he had started to put up a new gem around grade 19-20. As for accusing him of being the retard responsible for disfiguring gracetown, I dont think that is particularly fair.

    In response to me asking him if he was, he said” Do I look like a piece of sheet”. (hands flying in true french style)

    Anywho, I just thought I’d better clear his name before someone takes to him with a baseball bat.

    Pat

    #2218 Reply
    Toc
    Member

    Thanks Pat,

    I know who this is, and it didn’t seem possible he would have damaged rock in the way Gracetown has been.

    Cheers,

    Toc.

    #2219 Reply
    Ben
    Member

    I have on a fairly good source that that the original grinds in the rock a while ago were done by an adventure company based in Margret river to teach climbing to punters at a conveniet location. I will not disclose their name for obvious reasons but if any one want to know more, come see me at the hangout. Maybe the same people involved with this had something to do with the more recent atrocities at the grag. I know they were keen to have somewhere to teach lead climbing at an outdoor location.

    #2220 Reply
    Toc
    Member

    To Ben and everybody else,

    Careful guys. We can chop bolts and fill holes, but we actually have to leave the bolter alone. It won’t do climbing much good if this got nasty, no matter what we actually may feel.

    Not saying anybody has bad plans, just be careful.

    Cheers all,

    Toc.

    #2221 Reply
    The Savage God
    Member

    I say kick them in the nuts and then smash the drill with a large rock. Make sure there are no witnesses before doing this, afterwards take details of home address from drivers licence and explain in deep voice that the next step, if they don’t stop, is Molotov coctail into living room at 2 am. What’s wrong with that ?

    #2222 Reply
    john
    Member

    i have just returned from my regular boulder down at the crag and i noticed that two original bols were missing. The climb is Short Sharp Shock (24) and the original bolts were looking very sad and sorry, not to mention the knee-capping length of the bolt shafts… Just wondering if the person who took them out is going to replace them at some stage or wether they have been left for somebody to re-bolt????. I’m just assuming that they were chopped and not that somebody fell and ripped them both out. hope not!!!. Also id like to send out a thanks to Rob Klok at CALM for his great work in filling the holes and removing some of the atrocious bolt. It’s a pity people like neal, who obviously does not live in the area, have the cheek to bag CALM and local commercial operators, when we are the ones that are trying to look out for this beautiful area.

    #2223 Reply
    Tom Roberts
    Member

    Everyone in this forum needs to be aware that bolting in any form is not permitted at either Willys or Gracetown except when authorised by CALM. Rob Klok has spent a considerable amount of time and effort placing bolts correctly where necessary.

    Those who choose to bolt routes as they wish run the risk of being fined if caught.

    #2224 Reply
    Neil
    Member

    What a croc.

    Landmanagers who have scattered bolts at will across the top of the cliff don’t have much credibility when it comes to this….

    #2225 Reply
    Glenn
    Member

    I agree with Neil. In my opinion Willubrup is one of the most over bolted cliffs in Australia (in term of cliff top anchours). There are numerous crack for gear, and rocks to rig belays from. No need to place so many bolts.

    #2226 Reply
    Toc
    Member

    Hi everybody,

    The bolts at the top of Willyabrup were generally placed for Abseilers. There is a different ethos. These people want to feel like they had an adventure, but they don’t want to be at any risk, and if they got hurt, they’d sue anybody within cooee of them into the ground. Hence CALM can deal with them, you just give them lots of safe anchors, make sure everybody has permits, all instructors have licences, and by doing that they can cover their arses, and it’s all perfectly logical and in todays world quite acceptable to insurers. And this is why there are so many bolts on top of the cliffs. They have nothing to do with us, other than the fact that while there you can use them if you wish. CALM don’t quite know what to do about climbers. We are accepted as legitimate users of cliffs, but we don’t play by the rules, ie we don’t demand that land managers make it completely safe for us, all we really want them to do is leave us alone and let us get on with climbing. Where is this little ramble getting to. At the moment there appears to be no real ruling which says a climber can’t put up a new bolted route, (if you can find one), and there is no real ruling which says you can and nobody you can ask either. CALM are at present putting together a new management plan for the area. Hopefully CAWA will have some input and climbing will be left largely free of the restrictions necessary for people who won’t take responsibility for their own actions. That demands that climbers continue to take responsibility for their own actions. The only suggestion I would make is that if you find a new route and it needs bolts, do it with the ethics that most of us accept.

    Cheers,

    Toc.

    #2227 Reply
    micko
    Member

    ah nothing like good ole mob justice!

    #2228 Reply
    george
    Member

    to add to the problem. some half-wit has added a fairly new bolt on the terrace above “totally awsome”, which already sports 5 CALM ringbolts. so obviously there is a problem and all non-CALM bolts, that can be naturally protected should be removed!.

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