Photo: Andrew Burr

NEWS FLASH: U.S. Forest Service closes sport climbing on public lands pending compliance with UIAA materials recommendations.

OK, that's a lie, it hasn't happened—yet. In April 2016, the Access Fund (AF) and Petzl sponsored the second Future of Fixed Anchors Conference. Approximately 60 policy wonks, bolting geeks, and climbing organization representatives from all over the country gathered in Las Vegas to discuss bolting, hardware, removal techniques, funding, liability insurance for hardware-replacement organizations, best practices, worst practices, and bolting as a public service. Another topic of discussion was the imminent UIAA materials recommendations.

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The original sport climbing boom of the 1990s installed a staggering number of bolts on hundreds of crags all across the country. Twenty-plus years later, this hardware is reaching the end of its life. Many of these old bolts may be fine. But many aren't. On most sport climbs, if a single bolt fails, the consequences can be dire. Added to that, many of us bend safety rules. Have you ever bailed off a route on a single bolt? Ever taken a victory whip? Or clipped in direct while your partner takes you off belay to extract her dog from a fight?

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Fortunately, when correctly placed, modern climbing bolts are strong and reliable enough that accidents are rare. Problems arise as bolts age. And around the country, bolts are aging.

Most of the bolts placed in the 1990s and earlier were made from zinc-plated steel. Zinc is the material that keeps chain-link fences from rusting, which occurs when iron reacts with oxygen. Zinc reacts so strongly with oxygen that as long as zinc is present, oxygen ignores the iron and zinc-plated steel won't rust. Unfortunately, bolts are electroplated (so their small threads can still work) and the zinc coating is thin. The zinc soon disappears, turning into zinc oxide that can scrape away, or zinc chloride that simply washes off, leaving the underlying steel unprotected. It's like peeling an egg. Once the shell—or part of the shell—is gone, the bolt's tasty iron insides are consumed. It takes a couple of decades depending on weather and climate, but rust will ruin the bolt.

Worse, corrosion hides inside the hole in the rock, making it impossible to detect. Even in dry climbing areas, the insides of bolt holes form shady, often moist micro-environments that hold water, then dry out, concentrating the minerals that speed corrosion. The bolt's externals and hanger may look OK, while the internal parts—including the small clips and wedges that allow the bolt to grip the rock and hold falls—may be compromised. Kenny Parker, the chief re-equipper for New River Alliance of Climbers (NRAC) at West Virginia's New River Gorge, reports that on some 20-year-old sport routes he's replaced, one old bolt might be quite strong, requiring aggressive crowbarring to budge. Yet another bolt just a few feet away pulls or snaps off effortlessly. You just never know. Victory whip, anyone?

Bolts may be aging, but in most popular climbing areas, local communities are on task, upgrading hardware with long-lasting stainless steel. Unlike zinc plating, the "stainless" process puts the oxygen-attracting metals within the steel itself, so the bolt's corrosion-resisting shell continually renews itself. But replacing bolts—removing them, re-drilling existing holes, or in some cases drilling new holes—requires a significant investment of time and money. In areas like Boulder and Yosemite that have a high level of commitment to reusing original bolt holes, it may take a skilled worker all day, sometimes more, to re-equip a single sport route. Plus, steep rock, use of glue-ins, difficult access, or anchors that can't be trusted even to facilitate re-equipping all add to the time required.

For perspective, a small sport climbing sector such as the Arsenal at Rifle Mountain Park, Colorado, might take one skilled person two to three weeks of full-time work to re-equip. Rifle is a small climbing area, and the Arsenal is just one of its 30 sectors. Multiply that by the many hundreds of climbing areas in the country and you are talking about tens of thousands of hours of work. Not to mention the expense of the stainless steel replacement hardware itself.

The good news is that local climbing communities have been very good at getting this work done and new hardware paid for. Boulder, Rifle, the New, the Red, Rumney, Yosemite, Joshua Tree—these and many other well-known areas are on it. The bad news is that hundreds