The first pitch of Africa Arête is rather sporty with the peg there as you clip the peg from a good low lay-back hold with good feet.

There are two excellent small cam placements at the level of the peg round to the left but you have to place them blind off finger tips and poor feet and then do a pull-up on tips to check em. Adds a grade to the route.

Although the pitch is graded 25, I reckon it is not harder than 24 to on-sight and especially with the peg removing any head factor at the crux.

Placing the cams does indeed crank the grade to 25 which is what it is graded but definitely not 26 in my opinion. It is still 1 or even 2 solid grades easier than Uber Huber's top pitch and easier than TATWOC.

The peg is getting rusty and although it is still seems OK it won't last forever. Been there for about 10 years or so.

One day some one is gonna fall there and break that peg and take a monster fall. It has already stopped a lot of plummets. I have broken or pulled out at least 5 pegs in my career that were placed in good rock and away from the coast.

Question is: should it be removed because people implicitly trust it and there is quite a run out before and after and it is at the crux. Should it be replaced?

If a mediocre old TAWOCian like me can lead it sans peg and safely then so can our young rock jock WANNABE's

What say you all

May I suggest we place one of these "pegs"? Seriously I think just leave it as the 1st ascent was done. Maybe whack a galvanised peg in when you replace it.

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AndyDavies

OOOOOOOh! No he didn't!

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I hate this real world place... I'd be more than happy to live out there rather...

Simple, remove old rusty peg asap and replace with new one; or remove old rusty peg altogether.
Either remove it or replace it; leaving it as is is just plain reckless and dangerous.

I've seen guys attempt "brave" ascents on old routes with the original rusted bolts trying to prove a point I guess. The only point being proven is one of ego, risking injury on unsound gear, climbing the route in a manner the FA never did.

The second pitch is far more tricky,heady,scary and demanding and yet they are graded the same grade. The cam placements are indeed very good but just much more pumpy to place than clipping the peg. Removing the peg will not make the route more dangerous in my view, but less as you will feel compelled to place a good piece there; very few people I know will be bold enough to climb past that point without placing the cams.

As I said before, by placing the cams it is really only grade 25, not at all harder...

I reckon remove the peg because rusty old pegs give one a false sense of security and in this case where the route goes on gear, don't replace it. Trad gear has improved so much in the last decade presumably making it easier to place and safer than when the route was opened. Just a thought though, Snort, is it likely that people will not see the cam placements and risk getting themselves into trouble?

I agree with Jimbo - take the peg out and leave for the use of trad gear. ITO of not noticing the placement I think you will be very inclined to find that placements given the upcoming move and the monster whipper lapping at your feet. And you'll have that thank god feeling once they're placed. That's as long as cams DO fit there - I clipped the peg so didn't try out myself.

If the peg is known to be knackered, remove it.

Try to avoid incidents like this;

http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=44631

Out of interest - how was that peg placed? I don't want to stir an ethics debate, I'm just plain curious.

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"I have no more friends, and my nuts are too small!"

Snort did a great lead without clipping the peg but he has climbed the route many times before and knew exactly where those placements were. The placements are a bit hidden around the corner. I recall someone telling me a story about Dave Birkett not wanting to clip the peg but apparently after much hanging around he relented and clipped it.