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Greg Barnes
climber
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Topic Author's Original Post - Apr 11, 2008 - 07:58pm PT
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Or, to be more precise, the bolts-that-broke-on-people-while-climbing list.
Have you ever broken a bolt climbing?
Below is a rough list of ones that I either know about or remember or just suspect (since rockfall or whatever could have been the cause of the break). I thought simply the area, the date, the route, and some details would be the best format. Some of the bolts in my rough list may be removed if we can’t find who they broke on. This is obviously a very rough list…and let’s ignore Thailand and other warm seaside areas where stainless bolts disintegrate in a few years (or else the list will get too long!).
Post up!
Yosemite
1970s Nose raps - Dolt hanger broke
1973 Anchors Away - Single ¼” bolt – nut unscrewed?
1980s? Zodiac - First bolt first pitch broke on Mike Ward
? Stoner’s Highway - Hanger broke at pitch 7 belay (thin SMC)
? Freewheelin - one bolt broke at a 10b crux?
1997 Shaky Flakes - bolt pulled on Korean climber (Zmac)
1990s? Washington Column - Bolt broke during hauling, Dinner ledge(?)
Pinnacles
1970s Monolith Regular Route - Chunk of rock with bolt attached blew out.
1980s? Feed the Beast - 5-piece bolt core pulled after unscrewing over time
1999 Son of Dawn Wall - Bolt broke on bolt ladder
Red Rocks
? Eagle Dance - 3rd bolt on crux pitch
? Eagle Dance - 8th? bolt on crux pitch
1980s? Levitation 29 - Bolt at crux broke, 3” cam placement used afterwards
1997 Levitation 29 - Bolt on pitch 6 broke on Gary Fike
? Prince of Darkness - first bolt on 3rd pitch
? Refried Brains - anchor bolt pitch 5 broke
2007 Triassic Sands - anchor bolt pulled pitch 3
Joshua Tree
1980s? Pumping Ego - bolt pulled in fall shortly after route put up?
2000? Leaping Leana - Anchor bolt pulled, 3/8” spike bolt in soft/grainy rock
2002 Bolt Heaven - bolt broke on me when I put maybe 50lbs pressure on it as a directional
Tuolumne
2007 new route Dozier - 1/4" buttonhead fell out on second ascent, fractured
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scuffy b
climber
up the coast from Woodson
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Apr 11, 2008 - 08:03pm PT
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I was told of a belay bolt breaking on Shaky Flakes in the late
70s, under body weight, Scott Frye, Nat Smale
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caughtinside
Social climber
Davis, CA
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Apr 11, 2008 - 08:03pm PT
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The Owens guide mentions that the climb named after that rant the sarge unloaded on Gomer Pyle is the site of the only bolt failure in the Gorge, on the gorgeous tower. 1st bolt.
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Levy
Big Wall climber
So Cal
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Apr 11, 2008 - 08:29pm PT
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I know of 2 incidents on El Cap:
1~ Will Oxx broke a bolt on the Shield at one of the belays under body weight getting ready to leave the station.
2~ Scott Stowe ( AKA - Silverback) broke a bolt on Chinese Water
Torture mid pitch & went flying downwards. Another case of a Stowe-away pitch!
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, Ca
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Apr 11, 2008 - 08:31pm PT
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Domelands, California. Church Dome. The Heretic. 8/1993.
Led the route. Clipped the 3/8" buttonheads. Lowering off, I was removing my draws, and the head of one of the bolts snapped off as I grabbed the draw.
I think someone was using a pretty heavy hammer when that one went in...
One time around 1990 I saw a guy fall off of Figures, in Josh. He was up where you traverse right on the first pitch, but had not clipped the bolt yet and the flake he was so casually hanging onto broke. The bolt below him - I think about the fourth one(?) - broke, dinner plated out the rock. You can still see this old placement when you do the route today. His belayer caught him in the treetops.
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fear
Ice climber
hartford, ct
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Apr 11, 2008 - 08:36pm PT
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Jesus Christ Greg,
What do you weigh? Leading with steel cables or something?
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Greg Barnes
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 11, 2008 - 08:44pm PT
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That's not my personal list!
I only broke one bolt on that list, and I did it on rappel by clipping a draw, pulling myself over towards the bolt with one arm, and the bolt snapped. I broke a bolt in Thailand by clipping it and twisting the biner, good thing I had a nice stopper in a constriction since the bolt looked sketchy.
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Greg Barnes
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 11, 2008 - 08:53pm PT
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klaus, I know that Randy Leavitt sheared a half-dozen 3/8" 5-pieces while tightening them down before he went to all 1/2".
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Apr 11, 2008 - 09:29pm PT
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We had a bunch at Squamish in the mid to late 1970s, almost all Rawl 1/4" compression bolts with Leeper hangars. One belay bolt on Dream On in 1976, that was probably placed in too shallow a hole = over hammered.
Two belay bolts in 1978 on a route called Mirkwood Forest - one during the first ascent, as the climbers were rappelling, and a second during an attempted second ascent, again during a rappel. That is, first one of the belay bolts failed and was replaced, then the other failed.
A bolt on Bran Flakes, placed by PC Jr., failed in 1979 - it probably came from the same batch as the ones on Mirkwood Forest.
Finally, a bolt failed on Zorro's Last Ride in 1978, when Daryl Hatten weighted it. As he'd just finished a bunch of A4 and a bunch of bathooking (with a rivet or two), he sailed 20 metres+ - I saw it happen, and was quite impressed. Daryl's fall was held by a rivet.
The Squamish climbing community wasn't large then, but for some reason I was connected with several of the failures. I was there for the breakages on Dream On and the second on Mirkwood Forest, belayed PC while he placed the one on Bran Flakes, and saw Daryl take his winger. Very odd.
[Edit: My weight was the direct cause of only one of the failures. I was rappelling off Mirkwood Forest when one of the two bolts failed, and I knew the other had previously failed and been replaced. A rather exciting moment. I was at least 10 kg lighter then - Daryl used to call me a lightweight. But then, he called everyone lightweight.]
I corresponded with Ed Leeper and John Dill about this afterward, and have a copy of the letter - it was at a time when suddenly everyone realized that we needed better bolts, so there was lots of debate.
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
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Apr 11, 2008 - 09:48pm PT
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I leaned back to lower off a TR anchor at Deerhorn and watched one of the 1/4" split shanks shear under body-weight. Had placed both bolts myself and "experimented" with using silicone sealer; the "experiment" failed - bolt looked fried, rock "scorched". Replaced both, failure made (non-fatal) lower-off exciting.
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deuce4
climber
Hobart, Australia
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Apr 11, 2008 - 11:46pm PT
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Hobbit Roof, Joshua Tree (multiple instances)
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couchmaster
climber
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Apr 12, 2008 - 12:33am PT
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Here's one you can add to your list Greg. Following me on the East Buttress of Middle Cathedral in @1981-1982, John Petroskie broke the first bolt of the bolt ladder (bolt, a 1/4" split shank pulled out with the hanger under body weight, estimated at 145 lbs).
I think I still have the hanger around someplace as I carried it around in my chalkbag at least until last year.
Regards
Bill Coe
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deuce4
climber
Hobart, Australia
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Apr 12, 2008 - 12:40am PT
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Oh, also I was hauling on a 2 bolt belay on the Sheep Ranch in 1989, pitch 4 or 5 I think (the one that has a big traverse left), and one of the bolts blew after I started hauling. I was hanging with the haulbags off a single threaded bolt. If the other bolt blew, I would have gone for a 80 foot penji off some A3 gear, could have ripped the whole pitch, who knows?
Luckily Xaver was able to get the bag back and send me up the bolt kit (though it took some doing, his english wasn't too good back then, and I didn't know the appropriate cuss words in French or German.
edit: also, later on the route, I took a 60' whipper and ripped out a couple rivets, where it joined the Sea of Dreams.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Apr 12, 2008 - 12:51am PT
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The Zmac nail-in that broke on the crux of Shakey Flakes did not pull out. The lead part that was holding down the hanger broke off. The nail and lead sleeve in the hole were intact when I replaced it last summer during the session with Roger.
The Dolt hanger which broke on the Nose rappel route (causing a triple fatality in the 70s) was cracked before they got on it. John Dill found a piece of it at the base and had it analyzed - the steel alloy used was too hard and thus brittle. They also did not clip the chain redundantly; I'm not sure if the haulbag was dropped on it or not; I haven't located the original accident description recently.
My partner broke a rusted 1/4" buttonhead when penduluming on it, on p16 of the Dorn Direct, 1987. (This was in an attempt to avoid a loose flake; I finished the lead, after almost dropping the flake onto my partners directly below - yikes!).
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bhilden
Trad climber
Mountain View, CA
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Apr 12, 2008 - 01:02am PT
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1978 - first protection bolt (1/4" Rawl buttonhead) on Friday the 13th on GPA. I was belaying my partner who had clipped that one bolt and had a jingus copperhead in up higher as the only pro on the 5.9 pitch. I was wiggling the rope from below trying to dislodge the copperhead to show how bad it was when the bolt broke!
1978 - belay bolt, Movin' Like a Stud 1st pitch(for some reason the NPS won't let you climb in this area anymore though they let Curry build a pizza and beer garden!) 1/4" Rawl split shaft, I believe it was with the hex nut and not a buttonhead. My partner (same guy as above) yelled Off Belay and before I had taken him off the bolt broke. The last protection bolt on that pitch before the belay is a Zmac and the bolts are so widely spaced that I basically ended up rappelling of that lone 1/4" Zmac when I cleaned the pitch!
Bruce
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Greg Barnes
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 12, 2008 - 03:10am PT
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Thanks Clint for the clarification.
1/4" Zmacs - it's neat that you can see them anytime you visit most western parks, since six of them are used to hold up the toilet paper bracket in those standardized concrete outhouses...
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Apr 12, 2008 - 08:04pm PT
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From the Powers website:
The Zamac Nailin® is a tamper-proof nail drive anchor which has a body formed from Zamac alloy. Nails are available in carbon or stainless steel. The anchor can be used in concrete, block, brick or stone. This anchor is not recommended for applications overhead.
http://www.powers.com/product_02826.html
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jsj
climber
Boulder
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Apr 12, 2008 - 09:45pm PT
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I removed one of the bolts on pitch 6 of Primrose Dihedrals by hand. It is the pitch right after the ear; the variation that heads up and right past two (now one?) bolt. The "hanger" was an old ring piton with a hole drilled through the blade and fixed flat against the rock with a 1/4" bolt.
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Greg Barnes
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 14, 2008 - 12:07pm PT
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Bump for those who didn't see this (out climbing in the great weather perhaps...)
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