Kangaroo Point Top Roping Anchors – Update

Note: this relates to U-Bolts along the wall at the top of the cliff only. It does not relate to lead climbing safety bolts or anchors.

ACAQ understand that the Brisbane City Council has now engaged a contractor to replace existing climber installed U-Bolts in the wall and its foundations at the top of the cliffs.

We understand that the contract allows for installation and engineering certification of up to 100 new U-bolts to replace the 75 or so currently there.

In addition, Council installed Bollards will remain in place and available for use.

ACAQ understand that the work is likely to occur in August and that there should be minimal time periods in which there will not be top anchors in the changeover process.

The increase in number of U-bolts will allow for additional bolts to be in places where drainage holes in the wall have previously been used, and to fill in any 'missing links' in available anchors.

Background

Council approached ACAQ in December 23 and advised they had an engineering report as part of the bollard replacement project, that indicated that the climber installed U-bolts could not be certified and their strength was unknown (to Council). There were also concerns about the integrity of the wall and the use of drain holes for anchors by climbers. Council had legal advice which gave them concerns about liability particularly if the public thought that Council had installed the U-Bolts.

ACAQ and Council held numerous discussions regarding options and alternatives. ACAQ indicated that we were strongly opposed to any removal of the U-Bolts unless it could be demonstrated that a testing regime was not possible (we considered it was under the relevant standard the Council was applying) or if not adequate replacements were put in place.

While there was some talk of installing additional bollards, due to budget limitations this would likely be over many years and thus was not feasible.

ACAQ suggested that if Council could not agree to a testing regime, then it should be feasible for Council to commission design and installation of a much larger number of U- Bolts at a much cheaper cost than bollards and with any certification required by Council undertaken.

Ultimately Council have acted on this and we should now have the benefit of an increased number of top rope anchors, fully funded and maintained by Council.

While many climbers, particularly those that funded and volunteered to install existing anchors may rightly see the process as unnecessary, we are fortunate that as a result of consultation that the current infrastructure will be maintained and expanded.

Feedback requested

ACAQ has and will continue to consult with University Clubs and Crag representatives to determine preferred locations for additional U-bolts. However, if any members wish to provide feedback this is welcome.

Our initial feedback to Council is that many climbers actually prefer U-bolts to set up top anchors compared to Bollards due to ease of set up, or U-bolts are consider at least as good as Bollards for these purposes. Council have requested that we obtain any further feedback from the community on this.

Feedback can be provided on the FB page, by message to me or to policy.qld@climb.org.au

Hayden Bentley – Policy Officer.