It turns out the nut on the bolt must have come loose with barely any thread remaining, and a slightly outward force of the fall popped it off, resulting in the hanger and entire fixed permadraw flying off and sailing down the rope during the fall clocking her in the forearm. Luckily it wasn’t her face! The next bolt caught her. After she lowered and the jitters wore off, I asked if she ever checks the hangers or nuts or bolts as she’s climbing by, or especially while working a route. She gave me a look and calmly said “well obviously not this time!”

For Seb, the first step to safety is education. And always report anything that looks suspicious. But to who? Seb says locals are a good place to start.

“The easiest option when you see a bad bolt at a crag is to alert the locals. They would likely know the bolters, or the association around. And if you know how to bolt, ask permission of the original bolter for replacing the bolt yourself.”

One final point Seb makes is that using modern hardware could solve the problem of faulty bolts and loose hangers.

“I think the best way to not have this kind of problem would be to bolt with chemical bolts. (glue-ins),” explains Seb. They have a longer life and no problem of the nut coming loose.”

Speaking of glue-ins, OG to the game, Mr. Will Gadd brings a level suspicion to every new area he visits, even when the hardware looks pristine.

“If they are all shiny bright glue-ins then I keep an eye for change,” he says. “If something looks weird it may be. If it’s an old route, then I inspect closer. Sea cliffs, water, rust, physical damage, are all signs to me to take a sharper look.”

as for those spinning hangers, Gadd’s got a little hack for you.

“If I encounter a loose nut, I can often tighten it ‘enough’ just using the slots in my ATC.”

He adds:

“When I encounter something suspect I’ll usually post on social media to the Facebook page for that community (TABVAR here in Canmore, but lots of groups globally).”