UKH

Cord and sling round the tree at top of Brink of Solarity has been cut leaving sling and tat scattered the maillon missing.

Why is there an anchor there? There is no need. Belay off the trees and walk down.

It's a longish and inconvenient walk down.

I assume that's sarcasm?

All of 3 minutes? Please tell me you are joking?

The tree at the top is actually taking quite a battering (or was the last time I was there). The roots have been stripped of quite a lot of soil. I equalised a long static anchor between a couple of trees on it last year to protect it and someone nicked it within a couple of weeks. 

The best thing for it i think would be a BB on the solid slab (above the chossy section near the top). You can always lower off the BB on the hvs next door also but that misses out some of the best climbing in the upper section.

By the time ropes are coiled and careful retreat made it takes nearer ten minutes or so without it.
More when overgrown. That it was there is testament to it's convenience!

Bolt lower offs are bad enough on sport routes so please lets no have them on trad routes unless it really is not possible to top out, belay and walk off. There are plenty of trees to belay off of at the top. In-stu gear really isnt a good idea up there as teenagers 'play' up there and can tamper with it.

It never used to be up there when I climbed the route. It was obviously placed there by someone being lazy. I have never found the path down being overgrown.

Yes, of course, because convenience is secondary to the health of the tree?

Out of context seems unreasonable (which I'm sure accounts for the downvotes) but when you consider that every other route on the slab finishes at a bolted loweroff, and the quarry has numerous sport and hybrid routes, it isn't.

There are 4 lines on the main slab that account for 99% of the climbing done on it. 3 of them finish at bolted loweroffs and the one that doesn't has a trashed tree at the top. Putting a loweroff in wouldn't change the character of the route at all, it would only stop the tree from getting damaged.

"I have never found the path down being overgrown"

    That's because for convenience, people garden it

What do you mean by 'downvotes'?

Part of the character of the route is topping out and belaying. The only reason the others dont (anymore) is because you cant top out because of the dangerous rock and rock catch fence! The tree is probably only damaged because people have been abseiling from it. There are other trees to belay from. I am convinced people insist on lower-offs because of the indoor wall culture.

No they dont. Climbers/kids/animals just going up and down it keep it clear.

Ok, well it's news to me that the other routes already have bolt lower offs, and that does rather change the argument.  I've done all those routes multiple times (though obviously not recently) and it never occurred to me that they needed bolts (despite the sport and hybrid routes in other parts of the quarry) but if that's now the local consensus... 

I'm certainly not saying we should bolt for convenience. What I am saying is that a lot of people are apparently abseiling off the tree for convenience, and no amount of messaging is going to get through to some of them. 

I've always walked off myself but I'm probably in the minority, with most either skulking off to the hvs belay or abbing off the tree. The path down is steep in places and can be pretty overgrown. I'm not excusing the behavior but I can understand it.

The BBs on the other 2 HVSs are much more damaging, as people set up top ropes straight through the staples and then peddle up the bold hard routes between them. As far as I know, there aren't any hard routes that would benefit from the convenience of a BB on Brink.

There was rock stabilisation work by quarry owners, hid the very top sections of the other routes behind their works.  The bolts aren’t on the routes themselves, and if they weren’t there people would use the fence instead.  Quarry owners wouldn’t like that.

Haven’t walked off myself since the bolts were put in, it’s easy to ab off the other BBs... (sorry PK )

As a side, I also know someone who got a tick at the quarry so my enthusiasm for bush-wacking is at a low eb.  

A possible answer posted on FB
https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/epic-late-night-rescue-afte...

You're joking? Its the outside. Why is everybody so disproportionately terrified of ticks?

Lazy t*sser.

Shouldnt pander to idiots.

Solus E3 5b and Sandbagging Simon E2 5b.

I've always thought it would be best to put in a steel cable like at Fairy Cave Quarry to protect the tree. Bolts would have to be placed too low to avoid rope friction/jamming which would make them difficult to use safely.

Or better, just belay from the tree/s then walk down?

The steel strops at FCQ are wrecking some of the routes. Abseiling back down the routes are causing erosion with mud washing down onto the routes. Balches Slide and Halfway to Kansas are two good examples. People should walk down.

Also, the Balch's Slide strop got corroded and then snapped! Thankfully, no-one died. Obviously, these strops shouldn't be considered a permanent fixture.

I think the rock quality deteriorates as you near the top of Brink of Solarity, certainly less compact: may not be suitable for bolting anyway.

If climbers really must avoid walking down, they can simply deviate slightly rightwards to finish at existing bolts. Or if they really must get in that last 8m or so, then accept the walk. Simples

Topping out, belaying and enjoying the view is one of climbing's great pleasures.