My First Bolted Route!

After a year of owning all the equipment, finally, I've created my first ever sports route! 

I got picked up early by Dave, a person I had only ever spoken to on the phone or by email, but who turns out to be a really nice Welsh geologist. We bunged all the multitude of crap I was carrying into the back and rocked on up to Taffs Well. Once we had parked in lay-by we walked on up into the woods to find this new crag Dave had been developing. And what a lovely setting it is in! High enough for the sound of the road to fade significantly into the background, the little quarry resides in a little dip that is filled with wild garlic so there is a permanent fresh smell to the place. 

Walking to the top, we set an abseil of a concrete fence post and abbed down the face. Dave showed me what to do; first you hit everything in sight with a big 'fuck-off' hammer just to find out where the hollow and loose bits are. Then you find the sight where you want to place the bolt, then you hammer the fuck out the area some more. Only then can you begin drilling, which is flipping difficult when you are wielding a massive drill and swinging around on a rope 30 foot off the floor trying to get enough pressure on the drill bit for it to bite into solid limestone. The process gets even more difficult when you abseil lines is in the wrong place and you have to place a bolt in an overhang! 

Once the drill has gone deep enough, you have to blow out the excess crap then brush the insides clean, then blow again, then clean; you get the idea. Well once thats done then you can back and insert the resin deep into the holes then once again hammer the fuck out of the bolt until it is seated deep in the hole, completely engulfed in resin. And there you have it, your new route! 

And it is tiring work, especially when you only have prussiks that keep slipping and you have to keep on jumaring up and down the route as vital bits of equipment keep falling out of your pockets! But I completed it, placing four bolts in total (a fifth bolt and the belay had already been placed by Dave). Now all I have to do is go back once they are set and whack the hell out of all the surrounding rock to knock down any loose stuff, then go climb it! 

Hopefully it wont take long, I'll keep any progress posted!