How rotten does the rock have to be before calling the route unsafe.

Just posing a question I guess. Can you clean a route to a point where it's not worth it and it's just unsafe? I ask because there is a very old abandoned quarry in Middle GA that is on private property, long overgrown by the forest. It's easily the tallest/biggest wall in Middle GA. Maybe 50ft+ in some places. The rock is very suspect though. They obviously stopped digging when they got to crappy rock. There are areas of very solid rock and areas where flakes and chunks come off in your hand and areas where it looks like rotten limestone almost. Any route would have to be top roped as clearly there are very few places I would feel safe placing pro. Most of the wall is straight vertical so I'm not that worried about roofs collapsing or car size boulders coming off. If there was another sport or trad climbing area in Middle GA I would never make the effort to clean anything in the quarry. But all we really have is a little bouldering. Not that I'm a rock snob, but I haven't really climbed on suspect rock. I don't get to take trips much so we always go for known quality places when we go. I've read people saying the rock at Lost Wall is not that high quality but I've never been there to compare it. Basically I'm torn with the fact that near me is 50ft wall that I could hit after work and the fact that at best it would be ton of work to clean a few solid routes and in reality it may not be that safe anyway.

One more note of consequence...there is a huge boulder pile all over the bottom that looks like it is rattle snake heaven in the summer. I wouldn't really go in there except in the winter.

Ask Ed Wright, he'll tell ya'.

Do you have any good trees at the top so you could rap in and inspect? Sure it likely will be a lot of work to clean a route but you don't know whether it will be worth it until you try. Start at the top with a hammer and crowbar and work your way down, only removing large, obviously dangerous rock. By the time you get to the bottom, decide if it is worth more work.

Whether it is worth it or not is up to you. There are popular and well known places with not so great quality. So, especially if you're the only game in town, you could be on to something. Incidentally, there are plenty of popular and well known places invested by rattlers, too.

Climbing recently had an article about the heroic efforts an outdoor club went through to clean a route in BC.

Build an anchor, and rap in to inspect. Wear a helmet. Stack the rope in a pack and rap down with it on your back so you don't damage your cord with a falling rock. Worse that will happen is you spend an afternoon on a vertical bushwack...or catch a rock to the dome.

Took a minute to get the Ed Wright reference but I found a pic. I wouldn't need binoculars and a team for this wall though.

Yes there are tons of good trees. The forest has retaken the quarry and it's mature. That would be our plan, to rap from the top and clean all the way down. I'm positive I could clean some good top rope routes. If I knew more about types of rock and could identify what I'm dealing with I could probably ask better questions. On a "clean" safe route where would you draw the line if the rock was worth climbing (quality wise). If it's loose and dirty and your constantly slipping...if flakes are coming off and there are rotten sections...More than likely that's in the eye of the beholder. I can tell immediately that I would not lead anything in this quarry and only top rope it. That answers half of my question I guess.

I'm really just thinking out loud here. I know there is no real answer probably except my own judgment. I appreciate the comments though.

Go to Suck Creek's Malevolence Wall to find out...

i dont even like to rapp. down quarrys. i dont know of any areas that have been blasted and now host good climbs

people climb on old quarries (PA) and roadcuts (AK) when desperate. I say you should try it out. If the rock was total choss they wouldnt have bothered to extract it...