Simon Wilson
New member
Car Pot used to be a popular cave and it's surprising that cavers have not done anything about the anchors. They are your anchors and you should maintain the anchors in caves in the same way that you maintain any other item of your caving equipment. What are you doing to maintain your anchors?
If cavers don't engage with the anchor replacement programme then caves like Car Pot will not get resin anchors. Caves will only get resin anchors if people report defective anchors, request resin anchor installations, volunteer to get involved in the installation or assist the programme in any of the other ways.
Since I have been involved, the CNCC has only received one report of a loose anchor. I have spent most of my caving time over the past year inspecting anchors and I feel the need to do it because cavers are not reporting. We are overwhelmed with the amount of work needed and are only managing to scratch the surface. By far the biggest and the most urgent need of the programme is information.
One example of a defective anchor which has not been reported is the one I discovered recently at Dr Bannister's. That anchor was described recently as, "the single most used anchor in the Dales" yet it is loose, must have been loose for a long time and has not been reported as being loose. I have found a considerable number of defective anchors in many other caves, some of which are seriously dangerous.
The situation is worse than cavers just not engaging: there are a greater number of cavers actively undermining the work of the anchor replacement programme than the number engaged in the programme. There have been many instances of cavers saying that anchors are OK when they are not for a variety of reasons which undermines the programme in several ways. And there are cavers who install non-approved anchors which creates extra work for the anchor replacement programme because the non-approved anchors have to be removed which, depending on the type of anchor, can take much more time and effort than installing a resin anchor.
If you do nothing to maintain your caving gear then don't expect somebody else to do it for you and please don't complain.
If cavers don't engage with the anchor replacement programme then caves like Car Pot will not get resin anchors. Caves will only get resin anchors if people report defective anchors, request resin anchor installations, volunteer to get involved in the installation or assist the programme in any of the other ways.
Since I have been involved, the CNCC has only received one report of a loose anchor. I have spent most of my caving time over the past year inspecting anchors and I feel the need to do it because cavers are not reporting. We are overwhelmed with the amount of work needed and are only managing to scratch the surface. By far the biggest and the most urgent need of the programme is information.
One example of a defective anchor which has not been reported is the one I discovered recently at Dr Bannister's. That anchor was described recently as, "the single most used anchor in the Dales" yet it is loose, must have been loose for a long time and has not been reported as being loose. I have found a considerable number of defective anchors in many other caves, some of which are seriously dangerous.
The situation is worse than cavers just not engaging: there are a greater number of cavers actively undermining the work of the anchor replacement programme than the number engaged in the programme. There have been many instances of cavers saying that anchors are OK when they are not for a variety of reasons which undermines the programme in several ways. And there are cavers who install non-approved anchors which creates extra work for the anchor replacement programme because the non-approved anchors have to be removed which, depending on the type of anchor, can take much more time and effort than installing a resin anchor.
If you do nothing to maintain your caving gear then don't expect somebody else to do it for you and please don't complain.