Bolt Failures

Lena chita wrote:

more than 2, surely?

All draws and no Brain at the Gallery, 2017.
Psycho Billy Cadillac, Muir Valley, ~2012.
Sand at Roadside, maybe 2008?
Convicted at the Lode, don't remember when, maybe 2008-2010?

Those are just off the top of my head.

There was also this one at the New:
http://rockandice.com/climbing-accidents/bolt-pulls-out-in-the-new-river-gorge/

Some of the above were bad rock, or improper bolting, but I think the thought on Convicted was that it was originally well placed, but it was the first bolt that saw probably 1000s of harsh falls before it failed, years later?

Then there are somewhat-related failures where the rock wasn't a problem, the hole-drilling was fine, and the bolt was fine, too, but the 5-piece bolt, new, got loosened and pulled out.

e.g. On thin Ice, Portal, Miller Fork, 2017.

I think the same thing also happened on Kaleidoscope at Drive-by, maybe is ~2011

Good write-up!

There's been one other recent failure at the New River Gorge, on the route Locked on Target at Bridge Buttress.  It was a new glue-in, one of those Petzl types that had glass glue capsules intended to break inside the hole.  Perhaps because of the glass, or perhaps because of an insufficient amount of glue in the drilled hole, but the bolt pulled directly out by hand.

Pnelson wrote:

Good write-up!

There's been one other recent failure at the New River Gorge, on the route Locked on Target at Bridge Buttress.  It was a new glue-in, one of those Petzl types that had glass glue capsules intended to break inside the hole.  Perhaps because of the glass, or perhaps because of an insufficient amount of glue in the drilled hole, but the bolt pulled directly out by hand.

More likely the hole was not properly cleaned if it pulled out with the glue attached to the bolt...if the bolt pulled out of the glue then it was a curing problem.

As an avid route developer and rebolter I'm always interested in these bolt failure discussions. What I get really interested in is what actually failed. A nut coming lose and falling off is very different than an actual bolt or hanger breaking, principally because having metal/hardware break is a lot harder to do something about (other than using good hardware or rebolting stuff) than the former, which climbers can be more proactively responsible for (like properly placing bolts or tightening nuts or using Loctite).

Here's an example of a bolt failure from a poorly placed bolt:

Which, to me, is different than the SCC that John is talking about (broken with one tug of a quickdraw). More pics here.  

In the hundred of bolts I've replaced only one was from the actual bolt breaking during a fall. The others were getting old (Stary Dryves, old Leepers, etc), extremely rusted or even grooved, or loose in the rock they were placed in. A few were bolts that had come out because the bolt or nut had worked loose. 

I have pulled 4 bolts. 1st old bolt bashed into a hole (2 months in hospital from that); 2nd bolt pulling almost killed me and my belayer (I almost took both of us off the top of the first pitch as we had deemed the ledge big enough not to require an anchor (which was inconvenient and way off to the side)). The bolt pulled because of bad glue. 3rd bolt I pulled out by hand as it looked loose -bad glue. Pushed it back in and placed trad above it. 4th bolt was in Thailand on multi pitch. Did not pull but bent as I clipped it. Placed trad instead. Was really scared rapping off. There was another occasion- route in black corridor (far up right). I wanted to do the route but the bolts were being replaced (probably 2010). Came back a few days later and did it and the crux bolt had pulled out by aprox 1/2 inch. Made sure I did not fall getting to anchor.

Thailand,on old routes particularly bad, if bolts not titanium.

While I have less faith I still trust bolts particularly good glue ins. Expansion bolts in sandstone I am not too happy about 

One of my mates died falling when a bolt pulled (expansion bolt in soft sandstone). On later check every bolt pulled out by hand.

J Kuginis wrote:

 The bolt pulled because of bad glue. 3rd bolt I pulled out by hand as it looked loose -bad glue. 

"Bad Glue"  happens.

Just wanted to emphasize this for any developers who are reading this.   The most likely time for "bad glue" is when you've just put on a new nozzle, and/or new cartridge, and the first few trigger pulls results in "resin" that's not completely mixed with the "hardener".   In other words, you're only getting one part of a two-part glue, or not the right proportions.

This happens more often with a new glue cartridge, when one side "pops" before the other part.   Or when you put on a new nozzle/mixer but didn't thoroughly clean the outlet, and a piece of hardened glue partially clogs the nozzle (which can be subtle). 

With some products, iike RE-500, it's really easy to tell by the color of what's coming out the end.  With some other products, no so much.    Just pay extra attention.

Maybe someone else remembers this one better.  A leader falls on new bolts.  Several bolts pop out resulting in a fatality.  It was later determined that the holes were drilled to big, wrong bit.  I believe he was from Australia or the accident was in Australia.  Anyone else remember this one.  6 or 7 years ago, maybe.

Also, a friend in Cochise.  He and his partner at a bolted belay.  Before leader takes off, he is able to clip into first bolt of next pitch.  He hangs on it to assist the belay change over.  No problem.  Then, he leads the pitch, falls part way up after clipping/placing some more gear.  The bolt he was hanging on falls out.  

This one?

http://climbingnarc.com/2009/01/cautionary-tale-about-bad-bolting/

Thanks Mark.  I believe that's the one I was thinking of.

Should go without saying but always squirt some glue out when you first attach the mixing nozzle until it's the correct color,  I also check later on to make sure the discarded glue hardens properly.  I also like to give a good pull on all the bolts after they're cured. I think these simple steps would catch at least half of the installation errors and proper hole cleaning with a good hole brush and blowout pump (not just a blow tube) would take care of many more.  

We've had one glue in related failure here due to poor rock quality (bolt placed on top of a roof and rock sheared at bolt) which I would chalk up to inexperience, a simple tap of a hammer on the rock found it to be incredibly chossy, basic bolting principles like checking for hollow sounding rock,  avoiding cracks and fissures, and avoiding placing bolts near edges are not exempt when. Placing glue ins. The bolt is only as strong as the substrate it's placed in. 

DrRockso wrote:

... basic bolting principles like checking for hollow sounding rock,  avoiding cracks and fissures, and avoiding placing bolts near edges are not exempt when. Placing glue ins. The bolt is only as strong as the substrate it's placed in... 

this is something that i have been seeing more frequently - bolts in shit rock.  ugghhhh.

man all this concern over bad bolts....what about all those shitty pins that rattle out after you pass by...?

for me slim, it is less the bolts in shit rock but the poor bolt placements given specific geometries of shitty, pocketed rock.  

there is definitely that (ie poor skill in the actual placement of the bolt), but there also seems to be this trend in placing bolts in blocks/flakes/hollow plates/etc that are obviously not completely solid.  it's like people don't knock on the rock and listen to it anymore.

slim wrote:

there is definitely that (ie poor skill in the actual placement of the bolt), but there also seems to be this trend in placing bolts in blocks/flakes/hollow plates/etc that are obviously not completely solid.  it's like people don't knock on the rock and listen to it anymore.

So much this. A few years ago I got a huge amount of flack for moving a couple of crux bolts and a top anchorout of hollow (read pried off with hammer) features on a reasonably popular 12c. The developer even admitted the rock sounded a little hollow when he drilled but decided it was the best spot for clipping. Funny thing is the route still climbs well with the bolts moved to good rock.

Jim Tittwrote:

I´d guess I hear of 10 to 20 per year which probably amounts to a hundred or so world wide (I´ve contacts in a lot of places but not everywhere and most failures aren´t reported anyway). Accidents maybe half a dozen per year.

Deaths, I know of around ten fatalities in relatively recent history but some of them it´s more a question of the bolt failure being contributory, not the actual cause.

All that in the context of an estimate of 5,000,000 plus bolts out there, many being unsuitable/dubious quality/old/never intended for use as climbing equipment and installed in a less than optimum way! It´s also worth noting that the standard was never designed for bolts to be repetitively fallen on for decades and like other climbing gear under the "replace if fallen on when nescessary" category. Glue-ins are better in this respect but bolt-ins are definately not a long-term solution for frequently loaded bolts.

Usually the failures are poor bolt quality, wrong bolt for the application and poor installation. Modern CE certified bolts are amazingly good when you look at what is actually going wrong out there.

Very helpful and comprehensive, thank you!  Great to hear some numbers.

https://thesheetnews.com/2015/03/19/beloved-local-dies-in-climbing-accident/

This was a bolt failure death in the Owens River Gorge. It definitely happens, be safe y'all. 

Frank Kwrote:

https://thesheetnews.com/2015/03/19/beloved-local-dies-in-climbing-accident/

This was a bolt failure death in the Owens River Gorge. It definitely happens, be safe y'all. 

So sad and unfortunate.  Any idea if there is further info on what happened with the bolt failure?

Mike J the Secondwrote:

So sad and unfortunate.  Any idea if there is further info on what happened with the bolt failure?

http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/2595487/Broken-bolt-in-Owens-5-16-buttonhead

Basically, from that thread, he was stick clipping his way up the route in a way that left him on a single bolt. He was setting up a top rope solo. 

Frank Kwrote:

http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/2595487/Broken-bolt-in-Owens-5-16-buttonhead

Basically, from that thread, he was stick clipping his way up the route in a way that left him on a single bolt. He was setting up a top rope solo. 

Thanks, Frank.  Helpful to see more details there.

To pile onto this zombie thread - some more from memory in the Australian archives, as discussed by others, few of these tend to get written up and these are not clearly representative of all known failures in this region. 

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https://www.climbingaccidents.com.au/database#incident-database/accident-details/62ea1ba219dfca0021ad6130/

Lead fall on development/short sleeve bolts (?accidently left in situ) in sandstone pull in lead fall - 1st and 4th bolts pulled (no injury). 

https://www.climbingaccidents.com.au/database#incident-database/accident-details/5ff1a410663c0b001b440cdc/

Bolt in loose block removed by hand (no injury).

https://www.climbingaccidents.com.au/database#incident-database/accident-details/5ff1196694ab1b001bc0d8db/

Bolt installed in large loose block, block easily dislodged (no injury)

https://www.climbingaccidents.com.au/database#incident-database/accident-details/632399bdd0481200224a274e/

Bolt failure likely due to 304/SCC/SSC/corrosion phenonenon at location where this was not previously known to occur. No significant injury. 

https://www.climbingaccidents.com.au/database#incident-database/accident-details/61d6d81a8ad2090020c642cb/

Hangerless glue in machine bolt (ie. stainless glue in carrot) failure in lead fall - sandsone/close to edge failure mode.

https://www.climbingaccidents.com.au/database#incident-database/accident-details/61d57187f454e5001f7e712f/

Glue in P type bolt failure in lead fall - sandstone/close to edge failure mode.

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There a been a work up on a few metallurgical failures from Australia - https://doi.org/10.5006/3227 and a few more are awaiting further workup last I'd heard.

**edit: note archives have moved to rockclimbingaccidents.com.au