Report on mechanical bolt failure at Kleinmond by Maarten Turkstra
On the 25th of April 2021, I (Maarten Turkstra) was climbing palm oil (Kleinmond) with my children, who were of the opinion that they would be doing laps on this route that I climbed when I was at school (27 years ago) That did not happen 😉
We set up a top-rope off bolt 4, to minimise the swing, and after a few burns I went up to clean the route by down climbing bolt to bolt. I decided to clip into the old express anchor next to bolt # 2 (as the reverse layback crack/flake is tricky to down climb) to then thread the nice shiny glue in (yes I know that there is space to clip in and thread the glue in – was probably not the first and wont be the last stupid thing that I do..)
I weighted the express anchor with my body weight, an impressive 85kgs, then I landed on the flat rock below, which was a surprise. I think I got quite lucky, my ankle was bruised and I walked off the mountain, only to have a delayed very sore back/arm/shoulder manifest around 4 days later and my 1 arm pullup training is on hold.
What did I learn from this ?
• Old express anchors near the sea are a really bad idea, NO MORE EXPRESS ANCHORS near the sea ever, ever
• Chloride stress corrosion cracking is real
• Wear a helmet, they are not sexy, but neither is a head injury
• Injuries get worse the older and heavier you get
• I have run through about 7 of my 9 lives
