Bolt replacement 2009

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Thorgon

Big Wall climber

Sedro Woolley, WA

Jul 27, 2009 - 09:40pm PT

Awesome work, Roger, Clint et al...!!!

Thor

Those are some classic hangers!

Clint Cummins

Trad climber

SF Bay area, CA

Jul 27, 2009 - 10:47pm PT

A few more photos, so this page can be slow to load, too? :-(

Roger following Perhaps p1 (first pitch above the Grack), while I haul the fixed rope and water.

Hoppy's Favorite - replacing the bolt at the start of the crux 5.10b downwards traverse (another of Vern Clevenger's thin aerospace homemades)

piton belay on Hoppy's - below the traverse pitch

doubled protection bolt midpitch on Deep Throat
(it looks like somebody was scared of the spinner and added a bolt next to it - looked like a tough stance)

cinnamon bear cruises the base of the Grack

California King Snake at the base

mucci

Trad climber

The pitch of Bagalaar above you

Jul 27, 2009 - 11:03pm PT

Sweet photos! Man you guys make it look like fun.

Good show out there!

Clint Cummins

Trad climber

SF Bay area, CA

Jul 27, 2009 - 11:06pm PT

Thanks, Josh.

And some from June 26 with Bob Steed - Deep Throat to Ochre Fields:

jugging to the high point on Deep Throat

Bob leading past the mid-pitch high point on Deep Throat, past the wiggling Lost Arrow (a black Alien fits there now)

which way to go above the dike? All smooth 5.9 with no dishes.
"I could'a drilled here!"

long sustained run to the bolt; it's a Zamac loaded with bail slings. Clip with a screamer....

Another, even longer runout to the anchor - nonstop slick and sloping 5.9

Traversing left to join Ochre Fields

probing the heinous runout to the anchors on the 5.10c.
There is a sloping / slick / insecure section way out from the last bolt.

Roger - already replacing the anchor we just left.

belay bolts at the high point on Ochre Fields (top of the "5.8" corner) - note Zamac on right.

pyro

Big Wall climber

Calabasas

Jul 28, 2009 - 12:03am PT

best wishes Roger Brown and hope this summer of bolt replacement goes without any accidents. hope to see you soon.

Tom

Big Wall climber

San Luis Obispo CA

Jul 28, 2009 - 12:52am PT

If you use the SDS-type rotahammer carbide drills, they come from the factory with a very blunt edge. This is to prevent breakage by a power drill in the hands of a typical concrete guy. For hand drilling, that blunt edge isn't optimal.

I've used a silicon carbide grinding wheel (green, not gray, as the colors in the U.S. are sold) to sharpen those bits, and they seem to work better. Don't pound the hell out of the drill, or you will break the sharp edge, especially when first going into the smaller hole.

I once took a gray aluminum oxide sharpening stone up onto the Stone for a belay repair job, and it was worthless for sharpening the carbide drill bits. Too soft to cut the harder material, the ALOX played out like teflon on the hard cutting edge. I had no idea, and was too lazy to see if the whetstone actually would sharpen the tungsten carbide before going up.

I was headed up The Wall, Bermuda Dunes, and thought, stupidly, that I could buy drill bits at the store, and then hone them, at leisure, while while sitting belay, when it was all part of a safer means on El Cap with repaired belay anchors.

Store-bought drills, and trying to use those drill bits, right from the store.

I pounded my self silly, and even crazy, using those dull rotahammer rock drill bits that take a thousand hammer strikes - each hole - to repair 40+ holes on that Wall.

The Better Way is to sharpen the carbide drill bits, on a silicon carbide grinding wheel, before the ascent.

EDIT: The write-up is exactly as it played.

JesseM

Social climber

Yosemite

Jul 28, 2009 - 09:18am PT

Awesome work Clint and Roger and other GP Apron climbers!

Some of those bolts look frightening! Time for them to be put to rest.

Roger, how's Yellow Pines? I'll try and drop by tomorrow afternoon.

Jesse

Clint Cummins

Trad climber

SF Bay area, CA

Jul 28, 2009 - 11:43am PT

Ryan,

Thanks again for your help in 2007 & 2008 - that lead last year on Exodus was pretty serious!

Tom,

Bruce Hildenbrand has sharpened a couple of my carbide drill bits, but I haven't done a careful test of sharpened vs. unsharpened on the same mix of granite. I don't hit very hard, and Roger tries not to hit too hard, but he has broken (chipped carbide tip) some regular bits. Bob hits a little harder and has had a lot of breakage problems with the latest box of "SDS Plus" drill bits he bought.
Roger might be the best person to test sharpened vs. regular - I know he (sometimes?) counts the number of hits per hole - about 2600 as I recall.

Jesse,

I think Roger has been doing great in Yellow Pines. Thanks to you for setting it up so he can maximize work time these past 2 summers, instead of commuting in from Crane Flat!

kev

climber

Jul 28, 2009 - 12:08pm PT

Roger, Clint, and Bob,

Thanks for the good work. It's nice to see rebolting being done the right way instead of all the retro bolt madness that seems to have been done of late.

Clint and Bob,

Hope you're having a good summer - I've been hiding out in SoYo avoiding the crowds and the tool! See you guys this winter!

kev

Mike.

climber

Jul 28, 2009 - 12:14pm PT

Again, great work (and documentation).

I'm not super hip to what's going on at the Apron these days in terms of rock stability. Are these routes in an area that is considered out of the path of the slide activity if recent years? Thanks for insights...

JEleazarian

Trad climber

Fresno CA

Jul 28, 2009 - 12:47pm PT

Fabulous work, you guys, and great pictures. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

John

The user formerly known as stzzo

climber

Sneaking up behind you

Jul 28, 2009 - 01:27pm PT

Is it just me, or does this baby look like it's been hit by a few rocks?

Clint Cummins

Trad climber

SF Bay area, CA

Jul 28, 2009 - 02:41pm PT

Mike.,

In terms of recent past rockfalls on Glacier Point Apron:

a big one on the far left which blew down the trees with one death at Happy Isles. This is well to the left. I haven't gone way down and left to Synapse Collapse or The Calf to see how close they are to the impact zone. You can see the source ("McDonald Arch") and impact areas on the overall photo above.

a rockfall in early May 2009, apparently hitting Hall of Mirrors and Springtime Dry Variation in spots below the level of Goodrich Pinnacle. I don't know exactly where it originated and if it hit up high also.

rockfall hit the top of Monday Morning Slab, about 20 years ago. I think it took out some trees, and the rock along the top is still kinda fractured in places.

rockfall (1996?) which came down the Punch Bowl, hit the talus cone, and rolled down the talus cone along the base, killing Peter Terbush, who was belaying at the base of Apron Jam. I would not try to climb Punch Bowl or anything to the right of Green Dragon - there seems to be debris still up there. Opinions vary on whether it's safe enough to do Mr. Natural. I did it last spring and it seemed fine. A friend of mine went over there about a month ago and said the talus at the base looked too fresh.

rockfall this past winter on the Nine O'Clock Wall above the west part of Curry Village. Not any Apron free climbs that far over, except for the old Glacier Point Terrace descent.

Clint Cummins

Trad climber

SF Bay area, CA

Jul 28, 2009 - 02:42pm PT

Kent,

We think that "unofficial" benchmark at The Mouth has been hit by some hammer blows. Like the bolt anchor nearby, it's protected from rockfall by the small overhang which forms the smile/Mouth shape.