A rock climber died on the island of Kalymnos due to the destruction of old bolts

A fatal accident occurred on Kalymnos Island, Greece, on the route St. Savvas (7b+), a sport climb bolted in 2002 in the sector Jurassic Park.

After climbing the route, the 60-year-old Czech climber clipped into the anchor and began lowering, cleaning the route as he went. After he unclipped the second quickdraw, both anchor bolts failed. The load from the fall then transferred to the next bolt down — the third bolt below the anchor — which also broke.

The route was equipped with 10 mm expansion bolts and PETZL hangers. According to available information, the route contained aging hardware from an unidentified manufacturer. The condition of the anchor and bolts indicates significant metal degradation. There was no breach of safety procedure.

The climber fell from considerable height, striking a ledge. He remained conscious after the fall, but despite an evacuation attempt involving a helicopter and rescue services, he died of his injuries several hours later.

The incident confirms a systemic problem with old routes on Kalymnos that have not yet been rebolted. The primary cause of the climber’s death appears to have been a chain failure of aging hardware approximately 24 years old.

We recommend:

1. Do not climb routes bolted before 2005 unless there is confirmation that they have been rebolted.
2. Rebolted routes are typically equipped with RAUMER glue-in anchors or modern LAPPAS expansion bolts.
3. If you have any doubts about the condition of the hardware, avoid the route and report the issue to the reboltkalymnos.org program.

Rebolt Kalymnos also states that it plans to:

• inspect all routes equipped before 2005 that have not yet been rebolted
• close suspect routes until they are rebolted
• send the failed anchor for forensic metallurgical analysis
• speed up work on creating a public list of all rebolted routes and sectors on the organisation’s website

Kalymnos, routes in the Jurassic Park sector. Route number 10 is the line from which the climber fell:

Topo Ref	Route	Sport Grade	Length	Quality	Description	Tick
01	Fossil Wall	6c+	25m	***
02	Pegasus	7a	25m	***	Big jugs up the wall then a couple of thinner sections. Excellent
03	Nike	7a+	35m	***
04	Dike	7a	30m	***
05	Pterodactyl	6b+	20m	***	Big holds up the steep wall
05e	Full Wingspan	7b	30m	**	The extension to Pterodactyl over the roof
07	Themelis	6b	35m	***	Another route with good holds the whole way
08	Cesta do Praveku	7a+	30m	**	Scramble up to the ledge and then the left hand side of th small cave
09	Houftasaurus	7b	25m	***
10	St Savvas	7b+	20m	**
11	Carnivore	7c	30m	***
12	Kalinycta Mer	7b+	30m	***	Excellent
13	Raptor	7c+	30m	***	Lovely holds up to the big tufa below the roof, then hard moves and sustained climbing to the top
14	Atlantis	8b	30m	***
15	Rendez with Platon	8b	30m	***
16	O Lakos ton Leonton	8b+	30m	***
17	Labyrinth	8b	25m	***
18	Paleolithic Line	7b+	15m	***	sustained
19	Nicola la tigre	7c	15m	***	A short, steep route from the left hand side of the cave
20	The Sickle	7c	15m	***	The RHS side of the cave
21	Neolithic Line	7c	15m	***

Source: alp.org.ua