I was climbing out at the Ruins yesterday, and was on a route called Primal Sledge when I realized that many large chunks of rocks on the bottom half of the route had been reinforced with massive amounts of glue. While I did my best to barely weight these chunks (it's overhung, so I didn't do a great job of it) they felt pretty solid to me. So my question is, how solid is this sort of thing usually? I've seen small glued-on holds before, but these were fairly large chunks. I would guess 10-50+ lbs of rock. The route has apparently been up since '98....but how long has it been glued?

It's probably re-enforced with epoxy, the stuff is very strong. However, in time it will succumb to weakening but when depends on how well it was mixed and what type it is.

There are so many variables............Was it epoxy ?...if so, how well was it mixed ? How clean was the rock ? How much was used ? What was the viscosity ? How well was it worked/flowed in ?

Sometimes the glue is stronger than the rock. Sometimes not.

And most of time... glue doesn't belong on the rock...

JF

Yeah, I'm guessing it was epoxy...it looked like grout. I have no idea how well it was done, though it all felt solid. It was just visually thought provoking. While the route itself was fairly aesthetic (which, I assume, is why someone bothered doing something to hold it together), I agree that the reinforcment was not.

John,

I wouldn't know, I can't climb anything steep.

Hope all is well,

JF