Official Rebolting and Route Hardware suggestion thread

[F4?]

Was not sure if the route is too cold in winter.

[JC w KC redux]

I followed up John's rebolting and this post by contacting one of the first ascent party who put up Swept Away. I explained the concerns with the tree and the flake it grows behind. I told him that to me the solution was obvious - put in a bolt to serve as a protection point instead of the tree. I also asked him if he had time in the near future to look at the route.
He lives halfway across the country and won't have time to look at the route. He emailed back though:
"That said, I like my routes to be safe. No point in excessive risk. Especially with that rock quality. So feel free to add bolts to any of my routes to make them safe."
I shared all of the above with John who thinks he can reinspect the route and eliminate the need to use the tree for protection. If anyone can do that safely it would be Mister J.C. himself.
This all seems like a very positive set of developments.

Thanks for doing that Brad.
I plan on getting back out there soon to get the work done.
I'll follow up on here when it's done.

[JC w KC redux]

Brad, that was a positive response.
Cool they would say to add bolts to make safe.
Was this the same person whom also used to epoxy his bolts?

Bruce said Holmgren used to epoxy his star dryvins but I haven't found any that way to date.

Smokestack - Swept Away isn't a Holmgren Route.

[JC w KC redux]

thanks. I remember when those were put up and climbing one of the routes and noting studs.  Interesting, any if they are old or new?

Runout sent me a pic of one bolt. It's a carbon steel 5 piece with no rust.
I have a handful of carbon steel hangers that I could use to refurbish stuff on Whitetail.
The guide book shows 3 lead bolts and one, two-bolt anchor that need hangers.
I've been meaning to get out there - just haven't done it yet.

I'll keep that in the back of what's left of my mind as a training ground - since I obviously need the practice.
Mission Impossible sounds really good for a pump. I'll get out there and check it out. I'll take a handful of washers in case the original hangers were those thick ones that Richards used to install.

[JC w KC redux]

On Wednesday, Kat and I returned to The Flatiron so I could finish the rebolting work there.

I climbed a new version of the Regular Route (same one I did the day before) and went to work on Burtons Below.

When I climbed Burtons, I noticed that bolts 4 and 5 had SMC death hangers and bolt 6 had a Leeper hanger.
Bolts 5 and 6 are really close together and have a nice stance below them - so I worked on those first. someone had left screwlinks on both bolts.
I removed and inspected bolt 5 (a short 5 pc carbon steel bolt) and then put a shiny stainless SMC hanger on it (one I retrieved from Lost Fortune's first bolt the day before).



Old death hanger on bolt 5 with a heavy schmear of silicone




bolt 5's internal bolt with the "new" hanger





bolt 5 after a little surfacing to make it flush with the shiny "new" stainless SMC hanger





I then proceeded to remove what I initially thought was a split shaft (bolt 6). It turned out to be a 3  3/4 inch wedge bolt and only half the clip came out with the bolt shaft. I was surprised that it even came out. I wouldn't normally use my puller tool on a wedge bolt for fear of breaking the tool.

Old bolt 6 with the hanger removed. Note threads continue into the hole meaning this could be a long split shaft or several other types of bolt (wedge? set bolt? damnit!). The letter stamped on the end was a tip-off. I haven't ever seen that mark on a split shaft (normally blank). The rule is go easy when turning the wrench on the puller tool.

 



In case you're curious about the puller tool.
Large washer and coupler nut go on first





Then the puller tool is screwed into place




Tighten down the big nut on the puller shaft which draws it up the square tube and pulls the bolt out





the old bolt





and the replacement bolt installed and torqued





When I led Burtons I nearly missed the 4th bolt because it had a bunch of silicone smeared on it, was a somewhat patina'ed SMC death hanger and had been spray painted after it was installed with brick red primer (not a criticism - merely an observation).
It is also quite a bit left of what I perceived as the natural line - so I wasn't looking in the right place

Check this out - where the heck is it? (nearly invisible from any distance)





closeup





and the new, shiny carbon steel Fixe hanger after a little surfacing (very visible now)



That was it for Burtons. With Brad's previous work - it is in primo shape now.
I switched over to Lost Fortune and replaced the remaining two lead bolts on that. Both old bolts were split shafts that needed a lot of surfacing after I extracted the old bolts and drilled the original holes deeper. The top/3rd bolt came out easily but the second bolt was unusually hard to extract. They are all in fine shape now. The only climb on Flatiron that has not been rebolted is Silent Running. It is 4 star dryvins with SMC stainless hangers. The other two existing routes (Angle Iron and Mungy Bulgy) both have modern hardware.

[squiddo]

Runout sent me a pic of one bolt. It's a carbon steel 5 piece with no rust.
I have a handful of carbon steel hangers that I could use to refurbish stuff on Whitetail.
The guide book shows 3 lead bolts and one, two-bolt anchor that need hangers.
I've been meaning to get out there - just haven't done it yet.

I'll keep that in the back of what's left of my mind as a training ground - since I obviously need the practice.
Mission Impossible sounds really good for a pump. I'll get out there and check it out. I'll take a handful of washers in case the original hangers were those thick ones that Richards used to install.

Yep those are Doug Martin homemade hanger specials!!

[Brad Young]

J.C., your whole last post (and the first part of the same story) discuss nothing but "work." Literally.

And yet I felt like they were, together, a great trip report.

Perhaps seeing your work done to a few bolts on a route I put up 27 years ago made it even more interesting! It didn't look like that super-camouflaged bolt was very rusty. Did our silicon seal keep it from rusting or was it the position on a section of rock that probably dries fast? Any thoughts?

[JC w KC redux]

^^^
The simple answer is both of those factors probably helped slow oxidation.
Thoughts?
The silicone seemed to be doing a good job.
It had excellent adhesion to the rock and the steel.
The downside would be any eventual void/opening could let water in and hold it longer (which didn't seem to be happening here).
You can see how good the internal bolt looked and the other one was essentially the same.
The rustoleum primer likely had an effect as well.
I also think that rock gets a good proportion of sun compared to the other faces.
The formation dries fast with no soil on top to hold the water.
Rust is mainly the result of chemical weathering (oxidation) and the main catalysts are heat + water.
Pinns typically has one or the other - but not both - which keeps rates of weathering low. 
The black streaks are an exception/the worst - where biological activity adds an extra component to the mix.

I used to tell my students (when we did our brief chemistry section) that oxygen is just dying to react/combine with something.
That is why metal rusts, food spoils and fire burns.

California in general has fairly low rates of chemical weathering with one main exception - the coastal areas.
Salty moisture along the coast speeds oxidation like crazy (even in the absence of heat). 

A little surface rust isn't necessarily a bad thing (we're just conditioned to think it looks bad).
The oxidative coating is in a more stable state chemically and can act as a protective coating to the underlying metal.
Rust never sleeps. 

[F4?]

Hey squiddo, that hanger looks familiar, like ones that were on foothill wall.
There was a lead route with those hangers.

Good memories.

[mungeclimber]

Was it really the official death hanger? The super thin ones? I can’t imagine BB using visually suspect hangers. But back then we didn’t have the awareness we do now.

[F4?]

Right Mungie, they used what could be fund or made. Jim told me that it was hard to get bolts, he his lac of placing many.

Crazy ho times have change!

I am still befuddled on who would carry sprays pant up the high peaks.

Camouflaging bolts would be an odd quest after JC replaces.....

[JC w KC redux]

Was it really the official death hanger? The super thin ones? I can’t imagine BB using visually suspect hangers. But back then we didn’t have the awareness we do now.

And there it is.
Yes. Let your imagination run wild. 
Even though I no longer need it - I still carry my drilled quarter on my wrench cord to confirm.
Here's a death hanger, a stainless SMC and my drilled quarter.





and the quarter_hanger comparison

[squiddo]

And there it is.
Yes. Let your imagination run wild. 
Even though I no longer need it - I still carry my drilled quarter on my wrench cord to confirm.

Wow John...no bueno for sure. Things weigh like 1/3 a fixe I bet!

[JC w KC redux]

Camouflaging bolts would be an odd quest after JC replaces.....

Nail polish works well and you can get it in flat gray, tan, black. Small bottle, easy to carry and apply after installation.
Easy to spray paint in advance too.
Oil based paint doesn't have great adhesion to stainless but it seems to hold up pretty well - scroll back a bit and look at the red primer on the Italy hanger on the Regular Route.

I've sprayed a few hanger/bolt combos when I know I want to disguise but the stainless hardware develops a protective patina that reduces shine and helps it blend - especially with gray rock. I don't typically find camo is necessary unless I know the bolts can easily be seen from hiking trails.

Not a big fan of searching for disguised bolts in a sea of lichen and moss.
I thought I would never find the last lead bolt on Embraceable You and it wasn't even camo'ed. 

[JC w KC redux]

It's another rainy day here along the coast and a dismal weekend at Pinns. Even though the rain gauge hasn't started tipping there yet the forecast for today is: Showers likely, mainly before 4pm. Cloudy, with a high near 56. South wind 9 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.

I got out a bunch of hangers and my calipers just out of curiosity and to stave off the boredom.
My calipers are English calibrated (to 64ths of an inch) so no metrics here. As a result, I will list/compare all the hangers in my stock and my rebolting pile of old junk in terms of 32nds of an inch. I was a little surprised to see that Leepers are just slightly thinner than SMC death hangers and a quarter is slightly thinner than that - even though all three appear very similar in thickness to the naked eye.

circulated quarter = 2.25/32
Leeper hanger = 2.75/32
SMC Death hanger = 3/32
SMC stainless hanger = 4/32
Italy hanger = 4/32
Metolius hanger = 5/32
Fixe hanger = 5/32
clink's skull = ?? 

[F4?]

All perfectly fine.

I always liked the Kong Bonnati ones.


Time to hit the gym.....home gym

[JC w KC redux]

J.C., your whole last post (and the first part of the same story) discuss nothing but "work." Literally.
And yet I felt like they were, together, a great trip report.
Perhaps seeing your work done to a few bolts on a route I put up 27 years ago made it even more interesting!

You're right - it was all work but I'd been planning to do it since I led Burtons (after your work on it) and Lost Fortune.
It was good to get that anchor in better shape and also to replace that last remaining lead bolt on the Regular Route.
I figured you'd already put a lot of work into Burtons and are super busy with your guidebook work - plus I knew you didn't have the puller tool to get that 6th bolt taken care of - plus I was already going to be working on the other routes.

It felt good to get it all done.

I need to take a crowbar and tuning forks up and at least get the first bolt on Silent Running replaced. The hangers on that route are okay but the first bolt's hanger is loose and the crux is between 1 and 2.

I still haven't tried to free the bolt ladder or the 4th class first pitch of the Original Route.

[F4?]

Is this retirement?

[JC w KC redux]

Is this retirement?

Doesn't really feel like it - too much like skilled labor.
I may finish the box of ASCA bolts I have now and retire from rebolting so I can climb more.

[F4?]

Well save a few to clean up mission impossible...