LATEST NEWS

22.01.2007
Things have been a bit quiet in the last year since much of the major work has been completed at the local Melbourne crags and in the Grampians. Work has been continuing with recent activity at Arapiles and the Stapylton area. Alis Via Ferreta has been beefed up and replaced. At Stapylton a few routes have been fixed. The Seventh Pillar aid route has a few new bolts in the aid ladder and a nice shiny rap chain at the end of the first pitch. World Party (27) has been completely rebolted which took several days of effort. Venom had a new rap anchor. Bellerophon Wall has a new rap anchor as does Crossfire (18) and Iron In The Soul (21). Pythagoras Theorum now has a new lower off and a new bolt at the upper traverse that replaced the original piece of junk. Over at Mt Buffalo Defender Of The Faith (23) has new rap bolts and belay bolts as does Ozymandias. Coming Up For Air (20) got a few retrobolts with permission from the first ascentist. Cynical Pinnacle in the You Yangs has been totally re-equipped - 4 routes have been rebolted + a new anchor has been installed.

20.9.2005
Lots has been happening in the last six months by the SCV crew. Bogong Equipment kindly donated a comfortable Wild Country harness to be used for extended re-bolting sessions as well as several ringbolts. Work has been completed at Werribee Gorge, including new bolts on Holiday Sidewinder (23), Too Fucked To Pump (26) and Redex (23). In the Grampians the Hollow Mtn area has had a few rusty bolts fixed. Routes such as I Surrender (22), Wall Of Noise (18) and Contra Arms Pump (30) have all recieved replacment bolts. On Taipan Wall Mr Joshua (26) has new anchors and several new bolts on the second pitch. At Spurt Wall the classic warm-up of Menstrual As Anything (24) has had three bolts replaced. At Bundaleer several routes got fixed including Genesis, The Castlereagh Line (29) and Morepox (23). Over at Arapiles twisted shackles have been added to several classic routes so that their anchors don't wear out. Black Hill and Mt Buffalo also recieved some minor work including new lower-off anchors at Dreamworld. Many hundreds of dollors have been spent on this work. Donations are vital to see the continuation of Victorian rebolting!

3.3.2005
The re-bolting team has started work again after a few months off due to drill problems. A new electric motor ($170) and some work by Roger Brand has put us back into action. Routes re-bolted recently include Like a Koala (29) and Two Tribes (24) at the Gallery. At Rural Rocks both Another Roadside Attraction (21) and Hobby Bolter (19) has been fixed. Further afield on Taipan Wall the classic first pitch of Seventh Banana (23) has a brand new first bolt. The mega classic and long ignored Us Esoterics (23) on Cut Lunch Walls has been fixed up with new bolts and a lower-off. At Mt Buffalo a new double bolt belay has been added to the top of Iron Maiden to replace the burnt out abseil tree. $60 was raised at a recent VCC slideshow to fund further bolt replacments at Mt Buffalo. All this work costs serious cash - please consider donating!

7.12.2004
New batteries have been purchased for the Safer Cliffs drill. The batteries had finally had enough after drilling many hundreds of holes over the last five years. Total cost of replacment was $70. Please donate!

4.12.2004
New anchor has been placed on Variance (24), Red Rocks, Grampians. Cost $10.

13.11.2004
First bolt on Dance of Life (24) - Taipan Wall has been replaced with a glue-in ringbolt. Cost $7.

12.11.2004
Aprox half of the suspect bolts at Ben Cairn were replaced today in a marathon re-bolting effort. Frankenstein and the Wearturkeys (19)  - Removed very dangerous rusty 1/4" rivet with rusty hanger and replaced with 12mm stainless dynabolt. We moved this bolt down by about 20cm for an easier clip. My Brilliant Career (19) - Replaced two rusty non-stainless carrot bolts with hangerless glue-in machine bolts. First bolt is now without a hanger. It is still a tricky move to reach the first bolt. Nearly Frantic (23) - Replaced second bolt with stainless dynabolt. Original bolt was a very warped, rusted and blue coloured carrot + homemade hanger combo. First bolt was replaced by Martin Lama in the mid 90's. Protagonist (24) - Replaced lower two bolts on this three star test-piece. The original bolts were rusty carrots and the hangers were mashed aluminium home-made jobbies. They had distorted to the point of near failure. I left the original third bolt/hanger in place for historical interest. The third hanger is much bigger than the original lower two so it should last a few more years before replacment is required. The replacment bolts are camo glue in ringbolts. The Big One  (22) - Added glue-in machine bolt to replace the now broken mashie placements in the small corner. All in all it was a big day...Total cost = $43 - please donate!

12.8.2004
Six climbs were re-bolted in a very busy day at the You Yangs. The entire of Trackside Wall was repaired with new glue-in stainless machine bolts. Routes fixed include Caught Redhanded, Innocent Bystander, Sidewalk Cafe & What is This Thing Called Frodnork. The new bolts are painted grey to camoflauge them from the tourists who walk past this area frequently. The North Western Outcrop recieved some more replacements with the mega hard Claw arete of Pain and Frequency (28) being totally fixed. The rusty 8mm dynabolts were hardly inspiring. This arete is now all u-bolts and hopefully will recieve some attention from a local hard gun. The route looks simply crazy - with almost no holds and only a few granite dimples. Baby-Faced Assassin's first bolt has been replaced with a glue-in ringbolt.Total cost $81 aprox - please donate!

14.7.2004
Safer Cliffs Queensland joins the Safer Cliffs Australia initiative.

14.7.2004
Work completed on the Mt Fox (Grampians) 'silver screen wall' over two consecutive weekends. Routes revamped with eleven new stainless bolts include 20th Century Fox (20), Pretty Foxy (25), Finger Sighs (22) and Heaven Seven Eleven (24). Two new rap stations are located on this wall. One 50m rap (two ropes required) is above 20th Century Fox and the other (25m) is on the small ledge at the end of pitch one of Finger Sighs. All replacement lead bolts on this wall are stainless hangerless machine bolts - bring hangers. Full information about the work is contained in the Routes Database. Work cost $60 approx. - please donate!

Work completed on Diazepam (25) at Summerday Valley. Extracted three stainless carrots (two with FH's) and replaced with very well camouflaged ringbolts using the original bolt holes. Also replaced rap anchor for left side of Taipan Wall (Atomic Tadpole, Seventh Banana etc.). Removed rusty 6mm chain and small carrot - left jumbo 14mm dynabolt. Added new camo ringbolt with stainless mallion.

30.5.2004
Added new bad bolt museum photo to the bad bolts page. This is a collection of bolts removed by Safer Cliffs Victoria over the last twelve months. To see the gallery - clickhere.

30.5.2004
That Fearful Vortex (25) at Hollow Mtn has had its manky rap anchor replaced with double glue in ring/chain combo. Work cost approx. $20. Please donate!

17.5.2004
Sordid Orchids (25) on Taipan Wall has been fully rebolted. Two glue in ringbolts and a double glue in ring/chain combo installed. The original first carrot bolt was very dangerous - it was less than two inches into the rock and came out easily with a spanner. Some evidence of poor glue was on the end of the bolt. We removed the tat on the fixed pin near bolt two but all attempts at removing the piton failed (it takes up half a handhold on the crux!). The second bolt was moved leftwards about 30cm for an easier clip and the anchor was moved left about 50cm so the rope runs better. Minor work completed on World Party (27) on Taipan Wall. First belay anchor has been replaced with double stainless expansion bolts and stainless mallions. Crux hangerless rusty expansion bolt on second pitch has been replaced with stainless expansion and FH. New equipment cost approx. $77. Please donate!

3.5.2004
A huge thanks to Pinnacle Sports and Mark Botwright for their very kind donation of a 50m static rope which will be used for route inspection and rap-bolting by Safer Cliffs Victoria. Donations are important to continue our work and Pinnacle has done a great job of helping us out. Cheers Mark!

2.5.2004
Work was completed at the Northern Outcrop (You Yangs) on Sunday in extremely windy conditions! Ropes spent most of the time horizontal...Exam Technique 12m 22 - Three rusty bash in carrots replaced with three glue in ringbolts. Route is vertical and bouldery with awkward clipping stances so rings were chosen for safer clips. This is a great sport route with an awesome dyke feature. A bolted anchor would be useful on this route as the top natural protection is marginal and a long way back. Pit Simitri 18m 26 - Additional FH added at the start to make route safer. Bolt placed with permission from FFAist. Work cost $31 - please donate!

20.4.2004
A big thank you to Bogong Equipment (Melbourne) and Neil Blundy for an outstanding donation of $250 to Safer Cliffs Victoria. This money has been used to pay Tim Marsh to manufacture 30 ringbolts and 12 rap chain ringbolts. Thanks Bogong for your community spirit!

19.4.2004
Lee Cossey has re-bolted the first pitch of Mr Joshua (25) on Taipan Wall (Grampians) in the last few months. Instead of horrid bash in carrots it now has glue in U-bolts which are in much better positions and enable the route to be climbed on a single rope with minimal quickdraw extensions. Minor work was done by Safer Cliffs Victoria to Dial-A-Lama (24) on Spurt Wall. Bolt number 4 was lowered for a much easier clip (new ring) and an extra ring bolt was added above bolt 5 to remove the ankle breaking ledge fall on the upper crux. Bolt four may be repositioned slightly in the near future. Work cost $14.

28.3.2004
Invisible Fist (26) on Taipan Wall has been partially re-bolted. Replaced first six rusty cad plated 12mm dynabolts with stainless ringbolts. Repositioned slightly bolts 1, 2 and 3 for easier clipping and less rope drag. Ran out of battery power to finish rebolting this route. Hopefully this will be finished shortly.

15.3.2004
Work was completed at Chawell Galleries on Join the Dots (19) and Shady Tactics (21). Both these routes have new hardware which is much safer and vastly less visible to tourists. Original bolt son both of these routes was very dangerous. Join the dots had appalling small rivets which came out easily with a funkness device. Work cost approx. $34

2.3.2004
Flinders Peak Slabs - You Yangs re-bolting...The popular polished orange slabs of Tewkesbury (16) and Spontaneous Combustion (17) have been rebolted with stainless glue-in bolts (GB). These routes are still very runout so care should still be taken. A new GB belay is above Tewkesbury. The last bolt of Harvest Moon (17) has also been replaced. Total cost $35

22.2.2004
The classic thuggy warm-up of Kidney Stoned (20) at Millennium Caves - Grampians has been rebolted with glue in rings and has a new double ring belay which adds a further 5m to this climb. Original bolts were rusty expansions. Total cost $42

12.2.2004
Eastern Bloc at the aptly named Big Rock (you Yangs) got some attention last night. The only rusty bolts on this wall have been replaced with glue in hangerless machine bolts (GB). Routes fixed were The Iron Curtain (21) and European Tour (21) which each have two bolts. The very thin bulging Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos (23) has its first mangled FH replaced with a camo ringbolt.

3.2.2004
Big Rock at the You Yangs received some well deserved attention. Phils Fall, Key Finder and Plague Nottle are all rebolted with stainless glue-in machine bolts. Some of the anchor bolts are still dodgy and need replacement. Take care.

27.1.2004
Enter Sandman (22) @ Bundaleer has been rebolted with glue in rings. An extension past a further two rings has been added through the wall and rooflet above. It adds a further 6m to the climb and the grade stays the same (equal crux). Masters of Pox (24) has had a little work done do it. This is the climb famous for having the first bolt pull on the hapless first ascentionist The first bolt has been replaced a few years back but the other four bolts on the climb are the original carrots. People have been lowering off the last hanger instead of topping out on the rubbish jugs for the last 10m. A ringbolt has been placed next to the last FH (which now has a mallion) to use as a proper lower-off. Be aware - the original carrots in this climb could be potentially dangerous.

24.1.2004
Gareth Llewellin has cleaned up most (if not all) of the fixed nightmare of stuck ropes on Passport to Insanity (27) at the Fortress. They had become stuck in trees and cracks when people tried to bail from the top of pitch 2. Lesson - do pitch three and finish the route!

18.1.2004
Very poor single bolt + faded rope lower off on Le Petit Mort (29) at The Gallery (Grampians) has been replaced with two glue in rings with chain links. The last fixed thread (on Monkey Puzzle) is in dire need of replacement. The suggestion to replace it with a bolt was denied by HB.

15.1.2004
Work was completed in the afternoon on several climbs at Camels Hump. The very popular 'best sport route near Melbourne' aka Boogie Til You Puke (21) had some maintenance done. The lower four expansion bolts were all very loose - some of the nuts were only hand tightened on. I cranked them up properly (one required 4 full turns of a spanner). I replaced the lower three hangers with 90 degree hangers instead of the stupid 45 degree hangers which were in place. You can now stick clip the first bolt. I also added a stainless twisted shackle to one of the ringbolt lower-off anchors to stop rope wear. I replaced the two rusty rap chains above Poxbow (17) and State of Shock (20) with rap chains and U-bolt lower offs. From my inspection the last rusty rap chain on the main cliff is on The Silent Assassin (22) and appears to be in OK nick for the moment.

15.12.2003
Some rebolting work was recently done in the Stapylton Amphitheater (Grampians).The classic weird funky groove of Spillway 30m 18 was rebolted The original bolts were placed in the 1960's. These were 'replaced' with the appalling non-stainless Excaliber 8mm screw eye-bolts sometime in the mid 90's. Within a few years they had already rusted badly. The fifth bolt had actually fallen out as I discovered when leading the route! Removing these small eye bolts was easy - put end of hammer in eye and turn. Within 1/2 a turn they fall out. They are very short and very dangerous. I replaced them with glue in stainless machine bolts in the original holes. I also patched the scars from the original 1960's carrot bolts. If anyone knows of any more of these style ringbolts please report them. In my opinion they are much worse than 90% of the rusted carrot bolts out there. The very popular sport routes Spurting Mildly (22) and Lord of the Jerks (23) on Spurt Wall got some attention. Spurting Mildly has new ringbolts and an additional rap anchor U bolt whilst Lord of the Jerks just received a new U anchor to replace the dodgy left dynabolt. I visually checked most of the bolts at Spurt from the ground. Most of them look good - apart from Not That Bad (27) and Menstrual as Anything (24). Both these routes have dangerous rusted dynabolts with nuts not tightened up fully.

8.12.2003
The routes Fear of Choss (16) and Mine Mine Mine (23) at Loddon River Falls now have a double U-bolt lower off. This makes these climbs about a million times safer.

5.12.2003
Rebolted Bosworth 18m (18) at Flinders Slabs in the Youies this morning. Good fun route - still very runout. Also removed giant ugly tape rap anchor off the top of Eve pinnacle. You can easily simul rap off the top - or even just solo down the small side. The sling anchor was visible from miles (at least 5m long). Also did some routes on the Trackside Wall (Stone the Crows area). Most of the bolted climbs on this wall have very small and dodgy looking rusty bolts. Hopefully I can replace these soon but until then please don't use them if you plan to fall off!

15.11.2003
A big day was had climbing and rebolting at Camels Hump on Saturday 15.11.2003. The great, but rarely done Space Jugging (15) was rebolted first up. It is located at the Eastern Outcrop. The other route that got attention was the very popular testpiece of Bop Till You Drop (25). This route had homemade aluminium hangers with rusty dynabolts. I replaced them with some heavily camouflaged ringbolts. This route is certainly not a sport route. You still need to place about three bits of natural gear above the last bolt. That leaves only the 'project' route right of Bloodline needing rebolting attention on the Omega Block. I also replaced the dodgy anchor above Bop/Satanic with double ringbolts. The original chain was very badly set up - the entire anchor relied on the strength of one link of 8mm un-rated hardware store chain.

10.11.2003
I went to Arapiles for the first time in two years. The Natimuk Bolting Fairies have been doing an amazing job out there. Every route we did had a lower off or some evidence of their good work. Thanks guys! As discussed previously in accidents thread I went up there to fix a few problem routes. First up I replaced the bolts on Cumelittle (24). The original bolts on this route were very crappy. The first was an early 80's self drill Petzl caving anchor with a corroded aluminium hanger. The second bolt was the worst of the worst - a bash in SRT rivet bolt - 8mm of button headed death. I broke the hanger on the rivet when I tried to crowbar the bolt out. Probably would have held about 400kg max. Because of the location of this climb I chose to use hangerless machine bolts to minimize the visibility of the bolts. It only takes 5 minutes to run to the top, throw a rope down and pre-place the quickdraws anyway. The route looks desperately hard! I then went and checked out Snowblind (23). This one was a tough one. What I had planned was a retrobolt to replace the old piton. I had led the route years ago with the piton and found it well protected. I climbed In Lemon Butter next to it and setup up a toprope on Snowblind. I tested placing gear past the first bolt (which is nice and new thanks to the NBF) in the region of the old piton. I got a good black alien in the old piton slot which was quite fiddly to place and I also got a loose feeling #4 cam in behind the layback flake. This big cam placement looked like it would fall out if you traversed right which you have to do on this route. So after a lot of ethical pondering I added a bolt. There is now a camo ringbolt just above the old piton placement. I hope this makes this climb safer and that it gets the attention it deserves. Just be very careful trusting cams in the very slick layback crack in the middle of this climb.

30.10.2003
I snuck off work early for some Camels Hump rebolting action. I had never been to the Eastern Outcrops before so I choose that as my rebolting location. I failed to bring the guidebook, so I just wandered around looking for the obvious clean lines which needed rebolting. The area is simply stunning. It doesn't appear to get much traffic but the quality of some of the routes is up there with the main area of Camels Hump. Lots of really nice super juggy faces with awesome exposure and views. If you want to climb at an area with no-one else and get the 'big mountain feel' then head to the Eastern Outcrops. The 5 minute walk in is also an attraction! There is no obvious track into the cliffs - just lots of assorted small tracks wandering through the bush. Because of the moss, and lush forest I think a marked trail would be very useful for this area to protect the forest from trampling. The moss covered rock slabs and grass tussocks on the scramble up to many of the cliffs are also very delicate. It would be great to only have one track in and out. Perhaps the VCC can organize this? Anyway, back to the business. I rebolted the superb sport face route Hazy Shade of Winter (17), the bold looking face of White Ant Wall (19) and the mossy covered Fats All Round (15). Hazy Shade and White Ant Wall both deserve one star and feature excellent rock quality and zero moss. I also replaced a very manky looking chain above Oxbow at the same shelf as the start of Bloodline etc. All up the work cost approx. $45. Please donate!

5.10.2003
More Youies rebolting action on the weekend. This time the very scenic and enjoyable North Western Outcrop got some attention. The very sustained and runout Squish Band (21) now has three bomber lead bolts and a good bolt belay. Mike Law's fantastic face route Pet Simitri (26) now sports good bolts including a ringbolt near the end which can be used as a lower-off. The 7m runout to the first bolt will still scare most people! Total cost $38 - please donate!

29.9.2003
The Watchtower in the Grampians received some attention recently. Jugular Pulse (21) is now rebolted with glue in hangerless stainless machine bolts and has a double ring lower off on the top to replace the old single length rusty chain anchor. Total cost of work... $37. Please donate!

14.9.2003
Hi ho hi ho its off to a another wet slippery cliff for some rebolting action. Hail, rain and temps in the single digits didn't deter the Re-Bolt Victoria team from doing some worthwhile work at Black Hill on the 14/9/2003. First up we replaced the manky 'gravity' chain on Pull the Ripcord (16) at Mushroom Rocks. It certainly was an interesting setup with one bit of chain only draped over a bolt head which could easily be pulled off. We replaced it with a nice Fixe rap chain. The route itself is great - one of the best 16's near Melbourne in my opinion. We then headed over to the terrace routes of Cruising for Meat (17) and Penetration (21). I inspected the only bolt on Penetration - it is a new 17mm head glue in machine bolt (Ramset) which doesn't take normal 45 degree hangers. A 90 degree hanger however easily slips over the head. A new single belay bolt with a mallion exists on the top of the route. The bolts on Cruising for Meat however looked dodgy so I replaced them with new glue in machine bolts. The first old bolt on this route popped out easily with the crowbar. It was a long stainless heavily filled down bash in carrot which wouldn't have held much in the way of an outward pull. So we did some good work which cost about $40. Please donate - we are running out of drill bits, bolts and cash!

8.9.2003
VD Land - Grampians. Warped Spasm, Cosmic Psycho and Blond Ambition all received some rebolting attention recently. Belay bolts on the Pocketed Wall ledge were replaced and the missing first FH on Cosmic Psycho has been replaced with a camo ringbolt. A bent FH on Warped Spasm has also been replaced with a stronger hanger. Total cost $30ish

16.8.2003
On the way back from Kosciusko I popped into Mt Pilot for a few hours of climbing and photo research for this site. A couple of comments... by the looks of things all the bolts are still in place and undamaged. The bush in the surrounding area is burnt badly - but most trees still look and feel bomber and can be used as top anchors. The general bolting of the crag is excellent - all stainless carrots and FH's. I didn't see any routes that require rebolting. I will email Michael photos of the area to add to the 'guidebook' section of this site.

1.8.2003
I took the day off and went to the You Yangs to do a bit of climbing and rebolting. First up I took a look at the rebolting work Hugh Hardwick (Hardcore) has been doing at Urinal Wall and Royalty Wall. Both crags seem to be mostly bolted with bomber glue in machine bolts. Well done Hugh - a nice job. I replaced the anchor on the classic easy finger crack of Nightfall (15). I extracted two rusty bash in 9mm machine bolts which were placed in hollow rock on the summit of the tor. One pulled out very easily with crowbar. I replaced with two stainless glue in U bolts with have stainless steel shackles. Toproping off these anchors is now easily possible. Work cost approx. $20 - please donate!

27.7.2003
A big day was had at the Cathedrals. Jono and myself climbed four routes and did some removing/rebolting and checking. First up we checked the dodgy rings on Junglescope (13) on North Jawbones. We found two sets of these ringbolt belays on the route. There was plenty of good, solid, easy to place natural gear at both stances. The rings at the end of pitch 1 were spinning in their holes but were actually quite solid and hard to remove. The bolts were hardware store style 'eye bolts' which were fully threaded and could be unscrewed with a fair amount of effort. The glue used was Ramset 101. I patched the holes as best as I could. There was evidence of a 'third' belay bolt hole at each stance which was patched by a previous person with a stick. I found no ringbolt anchors at the top of the route. I failed to locate the protection bolt on pitch three but found good gear the entire way up. I then led Xanthene Direct (classic climbing all the way!!). The only questionable bolt was a little 8mm carrot just below Traverse of the Gods. Looked OK for the moment. After that I led the new route located between Spiegals Overhang and Whiteline Fever. I found it a great route that is not anywhere near the two routes on either side. It splits from Spiegals Overhang just below the last bulge and heads through a slightly contrived rooflet and up a sustained 20m grade 18 face past five glue-in hangerless bolts which had a great lack of glue near the surface. The rap chain is located right at the top of the route and is a difficult scramble down to from the topout of Spiegals. A well worthwhile new route which is well protected. Whiteline Fever goes up a corner about 6m right of this new route. Lastly I headed to the Sugarloaf and fixed up one of the three bolt belays on the main face. I replaced the three bolt belay of Lavers Route (3) with twin ringbolt and shackles. I also replaced the first bolt of Black Streak (11).

15.7.2003
Rebolting work completed at Black Hill on Monday 14th July 2003. I took the day off work and went up by myself to do some work at the nice granite crag of Black Hill. It was freezing cold and a little wet but I did fix three routes which all contained very bad small rusty carrots. The climbs are Deceipt (14), Sink the Sausage (18) and Squeal Like a Pig (21). All these routes are classic slabby long faces with nice edges. The bolts on Deceipt were fairly impressive - sticking out more than they were bashed into the rock. The photo below shows how much was in the rock (red line). All up work cost approx. $55 excluding fuel & time. Please donate!

22.6.2003
I spent another day at Gravel Pit Tor (You Yangs) on Sunday. I was mostly climbing but I did fix the old single bolt rusty belay bolt above the route Take A Hard Ride (23). I replaced it with two hangerless glue in machine bolts so it is easy to setup up a toprope for any of the three nice routes on the this wall.

21.6.2003
Bullengarook Quarry - hmmm what can I say about this place. I spent today doing a general inspection of this area and have a few points to make. Firstly I climbed Night Train (19) which was OK I guess. Positive edges with long reaches and some OK looking bolts. They are the classic Matt Brooks two chain link hangers on non-stainless dynabolts. There wasn't a great deal of rust on these bolts so they are holding up OK I refused to use the chain and topped out as I was suspecious of the rock quality of the area in general. I am glad I did. I decided to re-bolt the route left of Night Train which is called Live and Let Die and is ungraded in my guide. It was around grade 18 for your information Mike. I attempted to extract the original rusted hangerless dynabolts but they didn't budge. I then tried bashing them into the rock. On a couple of occasions this resulted in the rock around the bolt exploding and sheeting off revealing about 2cm of the bolt shaft. This got me worried about the rock quality. I tapped the rock around the old bolt to locate the best rock to place the new bolts. Everything donged with the hollow sound of dodgy rock. With a lot of effort I located 'better' rock to place the new bolt in but I was not impressed with the quality at all. I placed 100mm glue in hangerless machine bolts and a double ring bolt lower off. Because of the dubious nature of the rock at this crag I recommend top-roping only off the good trees located on the top of cliff. If you are feeling bold then try leading the routes - but don't trust any of the bolts - even my new ones. Avoid using the rap anchors

16.6.2003
Jacqui Middleton and myself replaced the two old carrot bolts on Idiot Wind (24) at Summerday Valley - Grampians on the weekend. Both were replaced with glue-in ringbolts.

2.6.2003
Re-Bolt Victoria spent another day at Warragul Rocks yesterday. We were supposed to be climbing and doing some new routes but the constant rain made climbing impossible! Stay away from this crag in wet weather. We finished rebolting the nice looking vertical sport route Boys Will Be Boys 15m 24. The original carrots were overdriven and very hard to get a hanger on. The original bolts were also placed in weird clipping positions. We replaced three out of the four original bolts as the third seemed to be a good stainless carrot. The first carrot bolt was replaced with an expansion bolt with FH as the rock was so wet that our attempt to glue-in a machine bolt did not work. We removed a Jewish non-stainless rap chain from Champagne and Novocain as it was installed about 3m below the top of the route. We replaced it with camo ringbolts which are reachable from the top of the cliff so can be used to set-up an easy toprope. Total cost of work aprox $50. Please donate!

26.5.2003
Re-Bolt Victoria crew spent Sunday at Taipan Wall with HB and did an visual inspection of many of the bolts. Generally, most of the bolts are good for the moment. Problem bolts exist on Invisable Fist which would be good to replace as they are rusty and the heads are only tightened to 3/4 on the bolt. I replaced the old tatty piton/wire belay on the first pitch of Seventh Bannana (23) with double ringbolts. The piton was very rusted and rattled around in its placement before i removed it by hand. Malcolm was worred that I was going to make a mess of the crag when i rebolted it - so I am going to try and tread as lightly as possible and replace things slowly and as best as I can. He was reluctant to give me permission to add rap rings to Sirroco to replace the big sling lower off.

18.5.2003
Hugh, Jono and myself spent a very productive day rebolting (and climbing) at the popular Gravel Pit Tor area of the You Yangs. All up 15 bolts were placed and two new abseil stations were installed which replaced old double bolt belays. A new record was recorded for the worst bolt removed! We pulled a very small 1/4 inch carrot from the belay above Question of Ethics which literally exploded the rock around the bolt when we applied light pressure with the crowbar. It was a very dangerous bolt in shitty rock. It is now replaced with a double ring bolt abseil/belay. Routes that got attention included Chuck Solids ** (24), Question of Ethics *** (20), Mean Streak (20) and Asylum for the Insane (17). Rap anchors are placed above Question of Ethics and Chuck Solids and we added an additional BR to the single BR above Asylum for the Insane. Please don't try and 'lower off' the new rap anchors as the rough rock and slabby angle of the top will guarantee rope destruction. Just thread your rope and rap off pulling the ropes when you get to the ground. Thanks to Hugh and Jono for their patient assistance and donations of bolt/glue for this job. Total cost of work - aprox $70. Please donate!!!

4.5.2003
Another day was spent at Warragul Rocks. Our aim was to fix up the last of the more popular climbs. There are still still several routes with non-stainless bolts but, in our experiance removing some of them, the ones left are fairly bomber! We did a heap of climbing as well. Routes we rebolted were Champagne and Novocaine (21) - classic pumpy face/crack, top bolt of Boys Will be Boys (24), Stolen Car Descent Route (15) - slightly vegetated multipitch adventure and the first bolt of Just Cruising (17). The first pitch of Just Cruising is now safe with all new bolts. The second pitch is still considered dangerous with several bad Dave Bairns carrots. I repeated Wussle Slowe (20) and found it very nice and with the new rap rings is a great fingery face/slab. I also did the first pitch of Clown Town (19) which was a very nice well protected crimpy slab.

28.4.2003
More Grampians rebolting work done over Anzac Day long weekend. I replaced three bolts on Moral Vandal Block (right of Sandinsta) on the routes Moral Vandal (21) and Sedition (24). I used glue-in hangerless machine bolts. I also replaced the bolts on Silver Hands (22) at the Watchtower with camo ringbolts like the ones on Broomstick. Work cost aprox $40

23.4.2003
Work completed at Gallery (Grampians) by Tim Marsh. Weaveworld is rebolted. Stripped 4 slings from the route, replacing them with 2 bolts, replaced the dodgy lower-off bolt and added a lead bolt and an anchor on the headwall. All bolts used were 12 x 75mm hex head sleeve anchors, on beefy Fixe hangers. The route climbs really well now. The bolt on the arete is in a good spot, and is easily clippable. The last sling before the shit loweroff bolt was totally fucked - worn to the core on a single strang of spectra. All the other slings were quite good considering their age. the description for Weaveworld should now read 6 bolts to a DBB at the top of the arete. Natural gear not needed.

13.4.2003
Another very sucessful rebolting mission was achieved by myself, Jacqui, Tim and Kent. This time it was Warragul Rocks. The rain was always present - but never really caused much of a problem. Routes rebolted included Trail Bike Yobbo (18), Platonic (18), Wussle Slowe (20), Clown Town (19) and a few bolts of Just Cruising (17). Anchors have been placed above Trail Bike Yobbo, Wussle Slowe and Clown Town. Full details of the work can be found in the Rebolted Routes section. Facts: 24 machine-bolts & 6 ringbolts used. Total cost $130 aprox. Please donate!! A big word of warning. We removed four ringbolts placed by Dave Barnes circa 1998 which came out by hand. Yep, we pulled them from the holes by spinning with our hands. It was a shockign feeling - and by far the worst bolts that any of us had ever seen. The glue holding them in was obviuisly very inadequte - and looked like the stuff on the back of sticky tape!! So, the rule is - do not trust ringbolts as lead climbing protection at Warragul Rocks. We have placed several ringbolt belay anchors - and these are all bomber. The route 'Just Cruising' should be avioded until further notice as it contains several more dangerous bolts.

30.3.2003
Another succesful day on the rebolting front. Jaqui Middleton and myself rebolted Sluts Honour (23) and Satanic Verses (27). Full details of the work done can be found in the Routes Rebolted section. All routes were bolted with red camo recessed rings. Cost for rebolting - $70ish. Donate please! I climbed Sluts Honour and found it very nice - but a little bold after the first bolt. Really great wall climbing on thin edges and possibly soft for the grade. I also redpointed Broomstick on my second shot after stuffing up the opening bouldery moves on go number one. It certainly isn't grade 25 but is hard for 23. I would imagine grade 24 is properly fair. There is still quite a bit of work to be done although the worst has been fixed. Bop Till You Drop, Open Project, Into Oblivion ect. Perhaps Mr Lama would be kind to throw some cash our way to fix some of his bad bolting

19.3.2003
I went to Camels yesterday arvo and bolted into the night. I inspected the intire crag from the ground. First impression - there are lots of flashy obvious FIXE ringbolts littering the cliff - BUT - they are badly placed. I saw none of them that were recessed. Ring bolts need to be recessed or they will spin and break the glue bond. Whoever it putting them in needs to drill DEEP holes for the notches. I will list the routes that are left to rebolt on this forum later today. I inspected and rebolted Broomstick and Bewitched. These two climbs were bolted with zinc plated 10mm dynabolts with 8mm 'chain link' hangers. The bolts were badly corroded inside the holes and appeared to be very dirty. I think perhaps whoever placed the bolts did not blow out any dust. The bolts seemed to be held in with the dust not any expansion! Anyway - they were easy to remove and I replaced them bolt for bolt with very reccesed, dark red painted ring bolts. I also covered the glue and rings with dirt to really camaflauge them. I am proud of the work done - and offer anyone (Pat?) to go and inspect them to see proper low visabilty rings. On Broomstick I replaced the last bolt with a gluein hangerless carrot as the clippign stance was very easy on a small ledge. I removed the old chain lower off (made from 8mm 'dog collar' chain) and replaced it with twin camflauged U-bolts. What I have done is a good example of the three types of bolts I recommend using for rebolting. Recessed rings, glue in carrots and U bolts. The FH's on the wall left of Broomstick stand out a mile compared to my rings. A guess on what this cost me - is around $108 not including petrol/time. Please donate to the fund!!!