For all those [...]]]> Sorry that lately there have been no updates on this site. It is in a way because I have grown tired of being the only one updating it even if we have a list of contributors who are able to log in themselves and add content about their experiences and news. I have received lots of support from friends and strangers online and offline… but for the most part support has been of the lip service variety, and only a few individuals made the effort to contribute anything, and to those few I say thank you very much.

For all those who use the excuse that they dont have time to contribute, please consider that I also have a full time job and also have no time. Consider also the amount of time you spend uploading content onto Facebook or spend chatting during office hours.

I have found that my efforts to create a community site have found no audience of willing participants and thus I question my time and energy spent in maintaining this site when the same energy can be utilized elsewhere to greater personal benefit.

So I am sending this notice to all who wish to try their hand in maintaining this site henceforth. Perhaps someone with more energy may take over from me.

Any takers, please make yourself known. Else I will discontinue this service after some time due to lack of response.

Regards,
putra

Here I have been cracking my head for weeks…. and all I needed to do was nothing and it works.

I will forever be puzzled and amazed by the capacity of computers to screw you over for unfathomable reasons, and then fix themselves when you are not watching.

They are demons.

But hei….its working now… so I’m happy.

Regards, putra

In the off chance that it is because my own computers are shit, if anyone see’s photos and videos on your computer, please inform me of them. It will assist in the debugging effort.

Thanks and sorry.

Regards, putra@putraclimb.com

He shall be doing this in a series of posts separated into chapters for easier reading under the category “Bolts and [...]]]> In response to the article “The Dangers and Risks of Haphazard Bolting“, Malaysia’s resident bolting sensei, Patrick Andrey of BlocX and Stretchmarks Asia has decided to lend his time into witting a bit about bolting safety and also a history of bolting in Malaysia and its safety concerns. Pictured left in a not so flattering picture taken by Angeline Yan (Sorry Patrick… I couldnt find any other, you might have seen him prowling Camp5 if you are there often enough,

He shall be doing this in a series of posts separated into chapters for easier reading under the category “Bolts and Bolting“.

We thank Patrick for his time and efforts and hope that those involved in bolting routes in Malaysia can actively participate in comments on what Patrick has said.

On the morning of January 2nd 2009, Nick Kaczorowski (left) met with a tragic accident in Grose Valley, Australia, going off route near the top of a climb known as “Bunny Bucket Buttress”. The route was a 270m with a grade 18 (or 6A+ using the French scheme that we use here in Malaysia). The expansion bolt that he was on failed [...]]]> Fang pointed out an article to me that I found very disturbing and interesting and felt that I wanted to comment on it a little bit more, perhaps to see how people would comment on it in turn.

On the morning of January 2nd 2009, Nick Kaczorowski (left) met with a tragic accident in Grose Valley, Australia, going off route near the top of a climb known as “Bunny Bucket Buttress”. The route was a 270m with a grade 18 (or 6A+ using the French scheme that we use here in Malaysia). The expansion bolt that he was on failed and he plunged to his death when his rope got cut on a sharp ledge. The tragedy can be read on the site of the Daily Telegraph.

We are all aware that climbing is a dangerous sport which carries with it certain risks which we have to accept if we are to pursue it. While we are out climbing, we take measures to ensure that our risks of injury or fatality to ourselves and our climbing partner, is minimised and controlled. And in most cases, the safety precautions we take work well to keep us out of harms way, and our anxiety and fear are diminished somewhat by the assurance that we are doing things safely to avoid untoward incidences.

But the death of Nick Kaczorowski last January highlights a fundamental “blind sight” that most of us have with our approach to climbing, which will result in tragedy, and this blind sight is the blind faith we place on our bolts and anchors. The tragedy happened in a fast sequence of events. The first was the failure of the bolt (as it ripped out of the rock), followed by a factor two fall which landed the rope across sharp ironstone rocks, where the force of the fall on the rope against the ironstone severed it, plunging Nick to his demise. The full sequence of events is described by world renowned climbing photographer Simon Carter in his first report and follow up report linked here. We recommend you to read the two full reports to understand the severity of what this tragedy should mean to us climbers in Malaysia where almost every new route here in our area uses expansion bolts.

Below a picture of one of the expansion bolts that were loose. Expansion bolts are identifiable with a screw on nut on the outside. This is twisted around the expansion bolt after it has been hammered into the hole. The bolt will expand into the hole as the nut is twisted thereby tightening its grip and securing it to the rock.

The tragedy of Nick Kaczorowski’s death truly sent shivers down my spine and made my heart skip a beat as I watched the video of the loose bolts being pulled out by hand in the video below. There are also forums discussing this tragedy which you should also read, like Chockstone, and UKC

Nick actually wandered off into a separate route that was bolted in December 2007 by climbers from Croatia who were visiting Australia on a round the world climbing trip. The route he wandered into was named “Last Chance for Happy End” which under the circumstances, was a very grim name indeed. The bolts which were used were not suitable for sandstone and is not even made for use on climbing routes. It is more suited to caving usage. As a result, when a fall occurred on them, they ripped out with ease.

How much do we all know about the nature and construct of the bolts we use in Malaysia? How much do we know about the age of the bolts and the condition of them? As Nick has done and what we all do on a regular basis, we place faith in the infallibility of the bolts and anchors to catch us should we fall. In so doing, we are placing faith on:

1. the skills of the people who bolted the routes. Do we even know them or are aware of their experience in bolting?
2. the quality and type of the bolt used? Is it suitable for the rock we are climbing?
3. the condition of the bolt. How long has it been there? Does it need to be replaced?
4. the anchor will hold. Will it? Some anchors we have seen are looped with a sling through two or more bolts. Some of these slings have been there for years…. When top roping, abseiling down or setting up a belay for multipitch on these anchors… we are relying on a single point of failure that is questionable.

The point being made now is not that we should scare everyone into not climbing, or to cast doubt on the quality of bolted routes already in existence by all the great volunteers who have contributed their time, effort and money to bolt the routes for us to climb. The point of this whole message is that we as a community of climbers should look at this tragedy and from this learn a lesson. That the safety of climbers on the rocks is determined by a combination of climbers skills and precautions, as well as bolter’s skills and precautions. We need to start thinking about this link when we climb and start realizing that we are a part of a community, and it is the community’s responsibility to keep climbers safe. From the bolter, to the climber and to the belayer.

When we climb routes we should look at the bolts and the anchors and ask question about them, as well as be involved in the handling of any safety issues we may discover. If we see a worn out anchor sling, we should take steps to replace it. If we see a dodgy bolt, we should take effort to warn others not to use it by a sign, or perhaps even rebolt it ourselves (with the correct methods of course). Highlighting potential dangers to more experienced people will help us know more about the safety impacts and steps to take to avoid catastrophe.

In short, we as a community must mature, by being more informed about the sport and what goes into it, as well as the risks associated with it. It shouldn’t be all fun and games until someone gets killed.

For those who wish to learn more about bolts, bolting and fixed anchors, the BMC have published some useful guides here.

Regards,
zee

Admittedly we did really [...]]]> Fang, Nat and Zee decided to do a marathon 40 routes in one session at Camp5 last thursday. The routine was at castle wall with their 8 metre routes. We started from the far left and climbed all routes for a given rope, before swapping climber, until we had all done all the routes, and then moving on to the next rope and repeating. It took us close to 3 hours to complete 40 routes. We could have continued to do 50 with ease but Camp5 was closing at 1030opm and that was the end of it.

Admittedly we did really easy routes and so did not have much trouble with them. Had we been more stringent in our selection of routes to perhaps 6A and above, it would have been much more difficult to achieve 40 routes in 3 hours. Also the routes we chose were short at 8 metres. Even so…. it was a good workout and good training to pace yourself on the routes and take it easy. At the end of the night I felt muscle fatigue on my arms and back.

We treated ourselves to ice cream !!! which may have negated the positive benefits of the great 40. But who cares….. we WANTED it.

Below: Fang resting after his session.

I soaked the rope in some soapy water for about an hour and a half and then rinsed the rope with water to waash off the soap [...]]]> My rope was showing signs that it was due for a wash when I was climbing with it at Nanyang this weekend. My hands were filthy and it smelt a bit funny too. So back I took it to my place and washed the thing. I found this guide on the internet on washing your rope and I am not sure whether this is the best way or not, but I followed the directions.

I soaked the rope in some soapy water for about an hour and a half and then rinsed the rope with water to waash off the soap and dirt, and lastly ran through the rope with some cloth gloves while squeezing all the water out as I pulled the rope from the bucket of water.

It is currently now hanging on my apartment railing getting dry.

Anyway, enjoy the video and comment.

We are in constant search for people who not just climb regularly but also those who are willing to tell others about it.

If you have a group of friends who you go climbing with or perhaps if you are new to climbing and want to share with the community your experiences as a newbee, take up the task to join us and write up your experience for others to read.

The community is growing and it needs your participation. Please contact us if this is something that you [...]]]> Is there anyone out there who would volunteer to write regarding your experience climbing?

We are in constant search for people who not just climb regularly but also those who are willing to tell others about it.

If you have a group of friends who you go climbing with or perhaps if you are new to climbing and want to share with the community your experiences as a newbee, take up the task to join us and write up your experience for others to read.

The community is growing and it needs your participation. Please contact us if this is something that you can do.

Thanks.

Regards,
putra

This little tool enables users to back link to existing social networks. Until recently this included Facebook, but there is an ongoing dispute between Google and Facebook with regards to this.

So for now, we are testing out this new feature from Google as part of a pilot [...]]]> You May notice a funny looking addition on the sidebar and the temporary removal of comments. We are trying out this new widget called Google Friend Connect, which is a social network tool that allows users to join this site with existing OpenId standard logins from other sites like Google, Blogger, Yahoo and AOL.

This little tool enables users to back link to existing social networks. Until recently this included Facebook, but there is an ongoing dispute between Google and Facebook with regards to this.

So for now, we are testing out this new feature from Google as part of a pilot program and will see how the response is like. We may retain this feature if it has good support or return to the previous method.

Regards,
putra@putraclimb.com

I have gotten responses from several individuals who have agreed to be authors for PutraClimb. Thanks to you all for the helpful hand. It will be great if there are more volunteers for this effort. I look forward to working with you all.

Lets together create a vibrant climbing community here in Malaysia and make ourselves accessible to our climbing friends from afar.

Let this be a beginning of something GREAT.

Welcome to all of you to PutraClimb.com.

Regards, putra@putraclimb.com