Rebolting Resurrection Wall at Pinnacles National Park

Search
Go

Discussion Topic

Return to Forum List
This thread has been locked
Messages 1 - 20 of total 20 in this topic
BruceHildenbrand

Social climber
Mountain View/Boulder
Topic Author's Original Post - Mar 18, 2016 - 12:02pm PT
I wrote an article for climbing.com on the effort Clint Cummins and I put in to rebolt Resurrection Wall at Pinnacles National Park. Here's a link:

http://www.climbing.com/news/rebolting-resurrection-wall-at-pinnacles-national-park/
Impaler

Social climber
Oakland
Mar 18, 2016 - 01:13pm PT
That's awesome! Thanks for the community service! Just out of curiosity: were you replacing with 3.5 inch bolts? Is there a standard bolt to use at Pinnacles currently? Also, with the rock being sub-par were you trying to reuse the holes as much as possible?
BruceHildenbrand

Social climber
Mountain View/Boulder
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 18, 2016 - 01:33pm PT
Impaler,

We got the hardware from the ASCA(thank you Chris and Greg!) and they were 3/8" X 3.5" Powers SS '5-piece' bolts. This seems to be the standard though 1/2" x 2.75" Powers SS have also been used by others. Personally, at the Pinnacles

We tried to use the same holes whenever possible. Rupert used a lot of 'red head' bolts which could be problematic at times to remove. We had to move a few bolts due to rock quality, but overall we found good rock.
Impaler

Social climber
Oakland
Mar 18, 2016 - 01:42pm PT
Thanks for you reply Bruce!

Fivethirty, if I were you, I'd clip the first 2 or 3 bolts on Cantaloupe Death to work the start. I don't even consider the first bolt as anything but trash at this point and you can reach the 2nd bolt from the ground (maybe with a stick). For that reason, that bolt shouldn't even get replaced.
BruceHildenbrand

Social climber
Mountain View/Boulder
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 18, 2016 - 01:56pm PT
Fivethirty,

because of the soft rock at the Pinnacles, sport routes, where climbers may repeatedly fall on one or two specific bolts those bolts can loosen up over time regardless of the bolt type used.

The ASCA put in those glue-ins in 2001. After 15 years of heavy use maybe it is time to update them.
Vitaliy M.

Mountain climber
San Francisco
Mar 18, 2016 - 02:02pm PT
Thank you, this is cool stuff.
k-man

Gym climber
SCruz
Mar 18, 2016 - 02:36pm PT
Way to go Clint and Bruce! Nice article too.

I remember going up to try my hand on the route one time, but there was an enormous bee hive, you could actually see the honeycombs, close to the route. Hmm...

Shiny new bolts, now that's the ticket!
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
Mar 18, 2016 - 02:37pm PT
Good work, Bruce!
Extra stories from this unusual multiday rebolting project:
 Bruce almost plunged while soloing back to the top of the wall in a chossy section to reach the top of our fixed ropes
 El Nino hit between days 3 and 4, so I ended up jumaring into a very dripping waterstreak, which was also fairly slippery for rebolting
 Adam Long and Brad Young replaced the first 3 bolts and the belay bolts on the first pitch some years prior, so that work was already done
 I think Erik Strom had also replaced the bolt which protects the crux on the second pitch. It was in great shape and we left it in place.
 When printing a topo for planning, I found my old notes from 20 years ago.
At that time I hadn't learned how to rebolt from Bruce, and I added a belay bolt at anchors 2 and 3.
I had notes on which bolts were most important, to replace first.
But it was a big project, so I never went back, and forgot about it until Bruce thought we should take it on.
k-man

Gym climber
SCruz
Mar 18, 2016 - 02:41pm PT
You two are my right-arm heroes.
looking sketchy there...

Social climber
Lassitude 33
Mar 18, 2016 - 03:45pm PT
Bravo! Truly soul sucking work for the benefit of all. If that doesn't fit the definition of altruism, not sure what does.
mtnyoung

Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
Mar 18, 2016 - 03:53pm PT
Clint,

Yes, Adam Long and Brad Young (that's me, mtnyoung) did some earlier bolt replacement on part of the first pitch. We used stainless steel, long 3/8" Rawl/Powers bolts for all of these replacements except (if I recall correctly) one bolt Adam replaced at the anchor. For that one replacement Adam was able to reuse the original bolt's hole and that hole was in the face a a deeply, deeply imbedded lodestone. I recall Adam drilling out that old hole for what seemed like hours (the rock was like granite) and finally placing a short bolt in the hole (I think).

I should also note that Adam and I made a decision then (about six years ago) to place a two bolt anchor on the top of the formation, at the end of the climb. We did that after his experience climbing the route weeks before our work; he and his partner topped out to find that the only possible belay - the manzanita tree described above - was dead. They ended up belaying from the dead tree and were totally terrified.

Although I wouldn't normally add an anchor to an existing route, this situation wasn't normal; the only possible anchor was dead (there weren't any other trees anywhere nearby), the condition of the climb was very different than when it was established, and so we felt that placing this anchor was necessary, maybe even mandatory.

(Clint, I assume that you and Bruce found and used this top anchor in your efforts?)

mtnyoung

Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
Mar 18, 2016 - 03:59pm PT
Oh, and thank you Bruce and Clint for the awesome, awesome effort on this and so many other Pinnacles routes you've rebolted over the years (I've thanked them many times, but not publicly on Supertopo).
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
Mar 18, 2016 - 05:56pm PT
I assume that you and Bruce found and used this top anchor in your efforts?
Brad,
Yes, we used it to help with replacing the bolts on the 4th pitch.
And to inspect the bolts on the Reincarnation variation.
(As it turned out, those bolts were glued in Star-Dryvins which are on some Jack Holmgren routes, and can't be pulled out, so I left them in place).
There was the remnant of at least one old Star-Dryvin bolt near where you placed those new bolts.
My guess is that Holmgren placed it, but it was hard to find and not marked on the old topo, so that's why Adam used the manzanita?
The anchor was also great for verifying that we were at the right place on top of the formation,
after our roundabout hike to the top with 3 ropes and bolting gear.

I also placed a second set of anchor bolts at the top of the wall,
further right - above the 3rd pitch anchors.
Because the 4th pitch diagonals so much, this made it easier to reach
the 3rd pitch anchors (and also the 2nd pitch anchors).
mtnyoung

Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
Mar 18, 2016 - 06:05pm PT
Clint,

Also of interest are yet another set of bolt anchors I've been told about that I think are within 100 feet of the top of the route (that distance is a guess based on what I was told and what I was/wasn't able to find when I looked around up there).

These bolts were placed by Park Service employees who are both climbers and are high up in the Condor monitoring program (obviously you know them both). They were placed to allow rappel access to the short-lived condor nest and egg that was on Resurrection a few years ago.

I always thought that these bolts had the makings of an interesting "ethical dilemma," bolts placed by climbers on/near a route for a totally legitimate, but completely non-climbing purpose ;)
the Fet

climber
Tu-Tok-A-Nu-La
Mar 18, 2016 - 06:11pm PT
Thanks for the rebolting and the great write up.
BruceHildenbrand

Social climber
Mountain View/Boulder
Topic Author's Reply - Mar 21, 2016 - 10:01am PT
Here is a photo of one of my favorite bolts from the climb. It's a 1/4"x 3" Redhead bolt that is in the rock 1-1/4". The reason for all the washers is that the threads for the bolt are way out at the end.

Impaler

Social climber
Oakland
May 2, 2016 - 01:07pm PT
What are the logistics for this route, by the way? Does it need any trad gear? Do you walk off or rap? My old guidebook doesn't give a lot of info...
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
May 2, 2016 - 02:05pm PT
It doesn't require trad gear, although you could place a cam to protect
an easy runout on p3.
Normally you walk off, but you could rappel off now, using the new anchor
we placed at the top of the wall above p2 and p3. 2 60m ropes.
There is a lot of poison oak below the wall.
You approach as for Herchel Berchel and then walk right along the base.
There is a lot of moss on p1. Give it time to dry out after a rain.

The cliff is usually closed January 15 - August 1 for bird nesting,
and that is true this year (nesting pair confirmed):
http://pinnacles.org/news/index.php3#link242
Impaler

Social climber
Oakland
May 2, 2016 - 02:14pm PT
Thanks for the beta!
Bad Climber

Trad climber
The Lawless Border Regions
May 3, 2016 - 06:05am PT
Huge job, guys. Well done. The climbing community owes you. I really believe that for this kind of job, climbers should be allowed to use an electric drill. A permit system could easily be used. The brief noise of the hammer drills would be far less intrusive than the many hours of manual hammering currently required. I just don't see the problem, and the benefits of more easily rebolting old lines are obvious. But doing the sensible thing rarely happens with gov't bureaucracies. Sigh....

BAd
Messages 1 - 20 of total 20 in this topic
Return to Forum List
 
Our Guidebooks
spacerCheck 'em out!
SuperTopo Guidebooks

guidebook icon
Try a free sample topo!

 
SuperTopo on the Web

Recent Route Beta