In reply to Mick J B:
> I was climbing there last week and a local climber explained:
> There had been instances of people knocking rocks off as they abseiled down above other climbers.
> There had also been an incident with someone falling off one of the narrow paths leading from the top of a climb.
> So the safer solution was to remove all the old ab points and install a new well rigged ab down Hairy Gully. This I found works really well.
> Although care is still needed on all the paths above the Crag and when climbing down to the top of hairy gully.
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing...
The abseil from the large Scots pine at the top of Hairy Gully has been in situ for over 30 years; I regularly replace the rope slings/steel screwgates/maillons - the current 11mm static rope & large stainless steel ring was replaced last September.
There has been a sling & maillon at the top of The Creep, one of the lesser travelled routes here, since at least 2008; again regularly replaced.
In the last year or two, I replaced the rope slings at the top of both The Groove & The Creep with 1 tonne SWL wire slings & large pear-shaped maillons.
> There had also been an incident with someone falling off one of the narrow paths leading from the top of a climb.
> So the safer solution was to remove all the old ab points and install a new well rigged ab down Hairy Gully. This I found works really well.
Your argument doesn't hold up, removing the ab points (not old!) surely makes it more likely for someone to fall off the path, not less? Rather than utilise nearby abseil anchors to the tops of many of the routes, they would have to traverse the "narrow path" for 100m or so & scramble down to the abseil point at the top of Hairy Gully.
