j_b Posted October 2, 2003 Posted October 2, 2003 http://tvmountain.com/gmhm/craie.php short movie on chalk cliff climbing Quote
Jake Posted October 3, 2003 Posted October 3, 2003 How stable is that stuff? Does climbing put lots of holes in it from tools and crampons? Quote
j_b Posted October 3, 2003 Author Posted October 3, 2003 i haven't been there so i don't really know, but i'd think it's probably not too stable (blocks on the beach) yet it looks fairly compact (not too many cracks and such). the impact of crampons and tools must be pretty obvious even though people probably tend to use the same placements. people have been climbing there for ~20years and i don't believe there is an unusual number of accidents, although, it may be because few people do it. Quote
catbirdseat Posted October 3, 2003 Posted October 3, 2003 I noticed they aren't just hooking. They are sometimes swinging to plant the pick. That's got to have an impact on the "rock", if that is what you want to call it. Quote
Dru Posted October 3, 2003 Posted October 3, 2003 The impact of swinging tools in chalk is the same as swinging tools in ice... a temporary crater. Those cliffs lose meters of depth every year due to ongoing erosion. What I wonder is if they use a little bag of powdered granite to dry their hands and make tick marks Quote
j_b Posted October 3, 2003 Author Posted October 3, 2003 yes, the craters are temporary but the retreat rate is probably much less than meters per year (cm?). we don't get meters of cliff retreat in puget sound where the material is overall much less cohesive than chalk. my guess is that it would take a number of years for the craters to disappear. it's all speculation on my part of course. Quote
Dru Posted October 3, 2003 Posted October 3, 2003 j_b said: yes, the craters are temporary but the retreat rate is probably much less than meters per year (cm?). we don't get meters of cliff retreat in puget sound where the material is overall much less cohesive than chalk. my guess is that it would take a number of years for the craters to disappear. it's all speculation on my part of course. maybe you should google up some info on the chalk cliffs before you indulge in speculation. of the C8 and C9 routes like Orgasmotron and Pleasure Dome in the chalk caves, how many are left? none - cause the entire cave is gone now. Quote
j_b Posted October 3, 2003 Author Posted October 3, 2003 retreat does not occur uniformly (a major landslide here, nothing over there, etc ...). but i'll call it a draw: http://www.geog.sussex.ac.uk/BERM/project/cliffretreat.html Quote
Dru Posted October 3, 2003 Posted October 3, 2003 the effects of episodic landslides and collapses, averaged over time.... i am a catastrophist, see! none of this uniformitarianism, 10% of the events create 90% of the observed results. Quote
JayB Posted October 3, 2003 Posted October 3, 2003 Didn't Alistair Crowly put up some lines on the chalk cliffs around the turn of the century? Quote
Dru Posted October 3, 2003 Posted October 3, 2003 Alistair Crowley did indeed make first ascents on the chalk cliffs at Beachy Head, around 1905. Not repeated until Mick Fowler made 2nd ascents in the 1980's. "Any fool can climb on solid rock; to climb chalk requires judicious technique and a sound understanding of the principles of physics" Quote
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