The bolt failures in the Western Cape have resulted in many of us questioning the integrity of the anchors that ensure our safety.  Its quite obvious that some of our seaside crags have rusty old bolts that need to be replaced. So, in order to get the ball rolling, ARF was launched. Is it a UFO? No it’s the Anchor Replacement Fund. It has been limited to the Cape for now in order to keep the project manageable.

One of the bolts that failed

Phase 1 of the project intitated the rebolting the following crags:
• “The Mine”
• “The Hole”
• The Silvermine Crags

This was be achieved by:
• Raising approximately R35,000
• Purchasing 800 glue in eye bolts and 200 lower off rings.
• Training approximately 10 volunteers to install the bolts
• Installation at the above crags

ARF Updates / Reports:

• Report:  ARF phase II – fund raising & new bolts (May 2012)
• Anchor Replacement Fund Phase II (Feb 2012)
• Bolt Failure at The Steeple (September 2011)  *see comments below article

• Bolt fails at Oudtshoorn (June 2011)

• Bolt failure at The Mine
  

• Report: ARF meet at Skoorsteenskop (May 2011)

• See the complete list of replacements here (May 2010)

• Recommendation for the construction of Via Ferrata

Bolt failure – The Mine (October 2008)
Illegal routes bolted in Rocklands (October 2008)
Illegal bolting on Table Mountain (July 2008)
Peers Cave ARF meet (June 2008)
ARF at Fawlty Towers – poor turnout (April 2008)
Bolt breaks at the Hole (January 2008)
ARF bolting spec (October 2007)
Lions Head sandstone abseil anchors (December 2007)
Paarl Rocks access and bolting permission (March 2007)
ARF at Peers Cave (March 2007)
ARF at Peers Cave (January 2007)

Would you like to be a sponsor? Contact us.

Here is some background info

The first bolt failed in Montagu at the Alley. This is a dry low chloride environment (this is evident by the state of the mild steel bolts in this area). No one was hurt during this failure as it was one of two lower off anchors. The second bolt failed at Silvermine Crag in Cape Town which is a relatively high corrosion area, but there are worse areas, like The Hole, The Mine and Peers Cave. Nobody was hurt in this failure as they were top-roping and hung on the bolt. It’s pretty scary that both these bolts failed only with body weight!

The failed bolts were sent to a materials analysis company who concluded the following:
• Both bolts were Stainless Steel 304
• Both bolts were machined on a lathe (turned vs rolled)
• Both bolts failed due to Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC)

For SCC to occur it requires 3 conditions:
1. Susceptible material (Stainless steel 304 is susceptible)
2. Tensile (pulling) force, this is due to the permanent tension on the bolt as a result of a climber’s overtorqueing bolts to prevent hanger spin. Climbers falling or hanging on a bolt will have negligible effect on SCC as it is for such a short time.
3. Chloride environment – The salt laden NW and SE winds in Cape Town paste Chlorides over the bolts and the chloride concentration will build up unless the bolt is washed by pure rain water. Therefore bolts in overhangs that do not get washed by rain water are in fact more susceptible to SCC.

Two other factors will exacerbate SCC:
1. Higher temperatures will accelerate SCC but this isn’t really applicable here
2. Machining a bolt on a lathe (turning) will create tiny circumferential scratches on the surface which act as stress concentrations in a the most penalising plane and they also act as microscopic areas where Chlorides collect.

A Raumer bolt that has been used to replace the old bolts/anchors

In order to remove these phenomena from our bolts we can do the following:
Use bolts that have been rolled instead of turned. The two reputable bolt suppliers (Hilti and Fischer) only supply rolled bolts now.

Use better materials. Stainless Steel 316 is far better than Stainless Steel 304 and is used in marine applications. Some materials engineers would prefer other more exotic materials, but these can cost as much as R60.00 per bolt.

Reduce the tensile forces. This can be done by using glue-ins. For the currently used express anchors one can use a spring washer to ensure minimum tensile stress whilst preventing hanger spin.

Therefore the following bolts are recommended for use:
Hilti / Fischer 10mm Stainless Steel 316 express anchor

From Fischer the stock ref is:
146-1007 FBN 10 x 89 A4 (316)

Trained Volunteers:
Stainless Steel 10mm glue in eye-bolt (Although this is the best option, the risk of installation error by untrained climbers is greater than the risk of SCC)
Training on how to place anchors will be provided.

Disclaimer * this feedback has been compiled by concerned climbers and not as a professional engineer / person or company.

Interesting links:

Bolting info from SACIN
Re-bolting in Thailand (with titanium bolts)
Planning a tropical climbing vacation this winter? Beware of those anchors!

How to donate?

You can make cash or cheque deposits at the MCSA or make an electronic transfer to:

Bank: Standard Bank
Branch: Cape Town
Branch Code: 020009
Account No: 071556060

Send us an email to info@climbing.co.za and also please state on your deposit details: “ARF Initials Surname” (eg ARF I.R.Scared) so we can identify it as a ARF deposit, give you a tag and put your name up in lights!

We are also looking for technically minded volunteers with some bolting experience to place the bolts. Please contact Andy Davies at andyDOTdaviesATeskomDOTcoza or call him on 083 455 5667 if you are keen.

The MCSA manages the finances and has accordingly created a separate ARF fund. The strategy for fundraising is currently as follows:

• Corporate sponsors will be asked to donate cash in exchange for some free advertising on various websites and notice boards. Corporate sponsors will be ranked according to the amount of money they donate. Please support these guys.

• Individual climbers will be asked to donate R200 to support this project. R200? Lets see that’s 4 visits to a climbing gym or 4 pizzas – not a bad investment considering its your life. Of course if you are rolling in cash please feel free to donate a lot more.

Bolts - will they hold if you fall?

Corporate Sponsors

- Eiger Equipment – R5000 – Eiger Equipment is not only going to be providing the anchors at cost – but will be taking a further R5000 off the billl!!
- Mountain Mail Order – R5000
- Ram Mountaineering - R5000
- Madrock R2000
- GeckoGrips R1000
- CTSM Access R500
- MCSA Cape Town is managing the ARF finances
- Climb ZA has sponsored and maintains the ARF page
- CityROCK
– The Mountain Club of South Africa
- AdventureInc

ARF Update: 24/01/2006

There has been a lot of interest in the Anchor Replacement Fund – we have been waiting for some final info and can now give the following feedback:

We have ordered 800 eye-bolts and 200 lower-offs from Raumer that will be arriving before the end of January 2006. The MCSA Cape Town Rocksubcom loaned the deposit of R10,000 to ARF in order to place the order. Now the real work starts – we are still looking for competent bolters who will do the actual anchor replacements. If you are keen please email Andy Davie at andyDOTdaviesATeskomDOTcoza for his attention or call him on 083 455 5667.

We have managed to do really well with getting pledges from our climbing business community as seen below. Please support these organisations – they have gone out of their way to support climbing and our safety. We will continue to request donations from other businesses – anyone keen to pledge can please contact us.

Individual Sponsors

The following people have decided to forego 4 pizzas
Arvind Varsani, Cheryl Jenks, Rik De Decker, Dirk Versfeld, Eric van der Walt, Kevin Lancaster, Alan Jarvis, Rob Zipplies, Sue Liell-Cock, Steve Downing, Maggie Van Der Westhuizen, Mark Klinkert, David Thornely, Douw Steyn, Scarre Celliers, Jody Paterson, Guy Holwill, Robyn Holwill, Etienne Pieterson, Lance Blane, Russell Warren, Andy Nixon, Robert Weyer, Diane Wilcox, Tim Gebbie, Micky Wiswedel, Jayson Orton, Esme Davies , Charles Edelstein (CityRock), Bruce Daniel, Francie Buhrmann, Stephen Davey, Bill Tucker, Lizanne Tucker, B Marx, Andy Lewis, Mike Scott, Trizanne Pansegrouw, Chris Goodwin (Active Africa), Karen Varga, Keith Forbes, MJ Kruger, Patrick & Adele McCann, Stuart Wallis, James Douglas, Oliver Schuster, Arno van der Heever, Alex Bond-Smith, Peter Grobler, Brent Russel, A.Steyn, Stephen Tillemans, Adam Roff, Gavin Earle

“There are many others and if you have made a donation and your name isn’t on the list, our apologies. Please send Climb.co.za an email and we will follow it up.