The Turret and Fortress Anchors

Post by **Jack** » Sat Jun 07, 2003 4:01 am

There is a really short climb that begins behind Bonzo, after a short scramble. It's about 15-25 feet of climbing to a ledge with a very large tree. There are (fairly new looking) anchors on the right wall. If one were to traverse over and up a bit, one would come to the floor of the little canyonette of the second pitch of Bonzo. The location seems right, but the length is way wrong; the guidebook says 50 feet.

I want to make sure this is the Turret, and not just a nice little toprope setup.

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Thanks (I assume) to the ARI, American Crack has nice new anchors with better placement. The rappel actually uses both anchors now.

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Does Snake share Serpent's anchors? We went exploring top-roping options and weren't sure how to setup Snake. It looks reasonable to finish leading Snake on the anchors above the face next to Calypso III, but it seems goofy for a toprope.

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FYI: The leftmost (of three) hangers on Calypso II pulls out about 1-2cm. The other two hangers are great; it's a safe anchor.

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Hopefully as everyone knows, Fortress is a big adorable choss pile. A washing machine sized rock came down pretty recently just left of Snake. If you climb up to Thunder Chicken, take the warnings about sending rock down onto Calypso II climbers seriously.

Post by **littlefeller** » Sat Jun 07, 2003 2:21 pm

the turret is to the left of the big tree it ends at the top of a pinnacle.the one you can see from the top of bedtime. the anchors to the right of the tree were origanly put up by andy howe for toproping that flake for I.U. rock climbing classes.

Post by **hamsco** » Sun Jun 08, 2003 1:18 am

The last time I climbed the Turret there was one bolt on the face of the pinnacle and you had to rap off the trees on the top.

The new anchors at American crack and Calypso III looks like the work of Terry Kindred with the new anchor replacement project

Snake has allways used the rappel station long before Serpent was climbed. It used to be one of two stations on the ledge which served all climbs. So it is hard to TR.

The rock which fell off this spring is scary!!!

The worst anchors are the ones for Bombs Bursting, watch out.

Post by **Steve** » Sun Jun 08, 2003 2:49 am

littlefeller wrote:the turret is to the left of the big tree it ends at the top of a pinnacle.the one you can see from the top of bedtime. the anchors to the right of the tree were origanly put up by andy howe for toproping that flake for I.U. rock climbing classes.

Ahh thanks for the trivial information. They had come to been known as the anchors someone put in without going through the proper channels above the girlscout flake, even though girlscouts never climb there. At least they were more solid than those hack jobs shuts someone put in above all the other routes up there. Or the chain that used to be atop of Bedtime.

Jack, I think that scramble you are reffering to will lead you to the hallway of Bedtime.

Glad Terry has replaced some anchors up there.

Post by **Wicked Tribe** » Sun Jun 08, 2003 11:56 am

The Turret is left of that short flake. I usually climb the chimney in the dihedral to the face above (the bolt is gone hamsco). There are no bolt anchors for The Turret, only a middling sized pine 20 feet from the edge.

Bombs Bursting definitely needs a good set of anchors.

Post by **Jeff** » Sun Jun 08, 2003 11:44 pm

Terry has been hard at work up there, as well as other areas. Tell him thanks when you see him!

Post by **Steve** » Mon Jun 09, 2003 2:02 am

Hey Jeff, define hard at work.

Post by **Gretchen** » Mon Jun 09, 2003 3:08 am

With donated materials, Terry is replacing anchors and spinning/nasty bolts!

Post by **Steve** » Mon Jun 09, 2003 8:57 pm

Gretch, I know what Terry is doing. Just trying to figure out what he has replaced.

Post by **Jeff** » Mon Jun 09, 2003 9:51 pm

Haven't been to Fortress in quite a while, but saw Terry on Sat. He mentioned a handfull of routes that he fixed/replaced/improved the anchors on at Fortress. Mostly moderates/easier routes.