Checking bolts on routes haven't been touched in years

I'll be visiting my home town and want to get out and check the routes' state and if they're still there or not. Climbing is not a big thing in my home town, but there are so many beautiful walls/mountains to be climbed (desert climate). I was able to find an old guidebook about the crags there that have been developed by non locals, but that guidebook is from 2006. So when I go there soon, I'm planning to explore the area and see if the routes/bolts are still there and how the rock is looking like.

If I'm able to find them, my next step is to see if I can access the top by foot and if there is an area I can have a secure anchor and rap off to check the rock and the bolts on some of the routes. I'm very excited because if they're still in decent shape, climbing in that place will be a dream come true. I want to make a project about it as well to document my process of "rediscovering" the climbing scene there and how it was developed a long time ago.

I'm assuming most of the bolts will be glue in, but from some tiny pictures in an old guidebook I think I saw some expansion bolts as well. What do you guys recommend me doing to check if the bolts are in a good shape or not? And how do I check the rock quality where the bolts are in? I know how to check for a surface level kind of damage/rust, but I'm more wondering if they haven't been touched in a long time, how do I know the integrity of the rock and the bolts?

This is the first step, to checkout the routes and see what's possible. I'm hoping by the next time I visit (maybe next year), I would have learned how to bolt (not just watching videos about it online) and maybe replace some bolts or set up new routes or something. But for now, I would be very stoked if I can find them and climb at least one route.

* Btw I won't be bringing my trad rack because I don't want to fly with all that gear while I still don't know how the area looks like. I'll be bringing my sport gear (draws, some alpine draws, slings and cordelette and a 70m climbing rope)

Anyone has done something similar and explored some old crags? Any ideas on how to approach this are appreciated!

Liberal use of common sense, is the best advice I can offer. As to your plans, you're thinking about replacing something you've yet to even confirm exists. Relax, open yourself to exploration and adventure and let it unfold before you, without too much "this is the way its going to be" wishful thinking. Don't be in a hurry to start bolting or rebolting; resist that temptation.

Bolted prior to 2006? don't expect to see a lot of glue-ins. In a dessert environment don't expect much corrosion, check the nuts hangers and studs for any cracks. Check the rock adjacent to the bolts for crack especially coming from the bolthole itself. Otherwise I wouldn't expect too many bad bolts in that kind of environment

Cherokee Nuneswrote:

Liberal use of common sense, is the best advice I can offer. As to your plans, you're thinking about replacing something you've yet to even confirm exists. Relax, open yourself to exploration and adventure and let it unfold before you, without too much "this is the way its going to be" wishful thinking. Don't be in a hurry to start bolting or rebolting; resist that temptation.

Yeah for sure I'll be taking it slow and just explore the area. There is also other safety concerns that I need to make sure of before I even think about climbing anything. Climbing is very foreign to the area that if people saw someone climbing a rock I might get in trouble Lol. So I'll need to take care of that first, then go out explore then check out the bolts situation. It'll be a long process I'm sure. I do need to resist the temptation of climbing something though for sure haha. Though when it comes to rebolting and stuff it's not during this visit anyway since I have no experience in that and I don't have the tools either.

Bolted prior to 2006? don't expect to see a lot of glue-ins. In a dessert environment don't expect much corrosion, check the nuts hangers and studs for any cracks. Check the rock adjacent to the bolts for crack especially coming from the bolthole itself. Otherwise I wouldn't expect too many bad bolts in that kind of environment

interesting, I thought it'd be the opposite and the glue ins were more common prior. Thanks for the tips!

Austin kwrote:

...What do you guys recommend me doing to check if the bolts are in a good shape or not? And how do I check the rock quality where the bolts are in? I know how to check for a surface level kind of damage/rust, but I'm more wondering if they haven't been touched in a long time, how do I know the integrity of the rock and the bolts?

The rock has been there for about a bazillion years, so the rock integrity will be the same as it was when they were bolted, so the only thing you would need to worry about would be whether or not the bolts were placed in poor rock from the start.

That being said, if you do want to check the quality of the rock, here are the things you would do:

1) Know the rock type, obviously sandstone is different than bullet granite which different than decomposing crumbly granite

2) Visually inspect: is the piece of rock the bolt is drilled into an actual part of the mountain, or is it a death block tenuously holding on?  Are there little hairline cracks around the bolt?

3) Listen to the sound: lightly tap the rock all around with a hammer.   Does it make a solid, high pitched ringing sound (indicating solid rock), does it sound hollow? Does it sound like you're tapping on wet cardboard?  Do you see any surrounding rock wiggle around when you tap? Put your hand on the rock surface and feel the vibrations as you tap around.

Spend some time trying to connect with the folks that originally developed the area. I would say gather as much information as possible regarding the history and access. There might be a reason no further routes were developed or that climbing died off in the area. The placement of the bolts and rock integrity are considerations but the first question should be about the hardware itself. There are plenty of resources now online about good vs bad hardware. Bolt integrity depends a lot on the environment.

I am curious where this climbing area is. 

Adam Woodwrote:

Spend some time trying to connect with the folks that originally developed the area. I would say gather as much information as possible regarding the history and access. There might be a reason no further routes were developed or that climbing died off in the area. The placement of the bolts and rock integrity are considerations but the first question should be about the hardware itself. There are plenty of resources now online about good vs bad hardware. Bolt integrity depends a lot on the environment.

I’ve tried to connect with the writer of the guidebook but no reply so far. I’ve been trying to collect info since last year. I’ll be visiting soon and collecting more information on the area and its accessibility and security.

Sadly there isn’t a community there, hence me trying to get in there and create one hopefully sometime. It’ll definitely be a long journey, but I want to start. Baby steps. I’m sure there might be some former local climbers, but the routes were developed by expats a long time ago and I’m 98% sure they’re not there anymore haha. Hopefully I get connect with someone who knows the area and has seen any climbers in the past.