RRC Archives

bolts and anchors have obviously become an issue in the red. since many of the lines were developed in the 90's, many of the bolts have decade old equipment on them. so far as i know, only one bolt has ever fully pulled and no one was hurt (this was on "sand" at roadside.. ask lurkist for more info).

there are some people out there who have been incredibly generous in donating large amounts of time and money in updating and maintaining some of these bolts and anchors. still, not everything can be covered. bentley took these pictures last week from a few routes at the motherload.













just keep your eyes open, post up about anything you question, and thank everyone who helps keep this stuff safe and up-to-date. to name a few (a very incomplete list) who help out (add to the list if i left anyone out):

wes
sunshine
goodguy
allah
pigsteak
j-rock
squeeze
rockman
rro
rhino
bentley
snake

those stainless hangers still look good. can I have them to re-use?

Thanks, Bentley-- it's good to see what you're trusting your life to sometimes. What routes are those from?

worn anchors were from "convicted" and "kick me in the jimmy". cut bolt was from "bohica"

My friend Mike fell on the first bolt on Pocket Pussy way back in the day, before Mark owned Torrent, and it ripped out of the wall. Mike landed on his back with his shoulders hanging over that ledge. He was pretty lucky. The story goes that he didn't even fall he just said "take" and then POP!! So there are two cases where bolts have pulled out of the rock at the Red. It can happen but not if we are aggressive about replacing bolts. I'd like to see a season of all new route development stopped at all the cliffs at the Red and time and money be spent at updating all the cliff before new route development resumes. I would like to help, I think that would be a great way for me to learn how to drill routes. Hand drilling at Funk Rock will suck but I would hate to see someone get hurt plus just think what the FS might do if someone does get hurt...the easiest thing for them to do is close the cliff to climbing.

def not gonna stop drilling in the sr but will do more with anchor replacement this season. if you ever get down during the week rhunt let me know and we can roll out and get started on some. i was at fortres today and noticed some anchors need dealt with pretty soon.

or rhunt, if you want to help out, take up a serious collection of cash and buy us some good hardware. i'll do the leg work with the hardware available.

Some of the bolts at Fortress were upgraded not too long ago. It was a huge improvement, thanks to those who did it.

yeah fortress has had some work done, props to the people that did it. just a few more routes to finish up. calypso 2 needs new anchors, i will try to get that done soon.

From those pictures posted here those bolts do look sketchey, but aside from wear around the head of the one bolt that happend because of a loose hanger spinning around, the rest of the bolts look okay to me. I have taken many bolts in the lode apart and for the most part the rust is very superficial.
I am not trying to dissuade Bentley or anyone else from sevicing routes (my thanks for your work), but to reassure...
The problem with bolts are loose hangers.
The problem with anchors are ones that allow (or invite) easy toproping through them. This is my main arguement for chains- they force folks to use their own draws (until they are done with the route and thread the chains to clean it).