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The Turret and Fortress Anchors

Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2003 4:01 am
by Jack
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.

Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2003 2:21 pm
by littlefeller
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.

Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2003 1:18 am
by hamsco
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.

Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2003 2:49 am
by Steve
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.

Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2003 11:56 am
by Wicked Tribe
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.

Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2003 11:44 pm
by Jeff
Terry has been hard at work up there, as well as other areas. Tell him thanks when you see him!

Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2003 2:02 am
by Steve
Hey Jeff, define hard at work.

Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2003 3:08 am
by Gretchen
With donated materials, Terry is replacing anchors and spinning/nasty bolts!

Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2003 8:57 pm
by Steve
Gretch, I know what Terry is doing. Just trying to figure out what he has replaced.

Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2003 9:51 pm
by Jeff
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.