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mucci
Trad climber
The pitch of Bagalaar above you
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Jul 28, 2009 - 02:03am PT
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Sweet photos! Man you guys make it look like fun.
Good show out there!
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Jul 28, 2009 - 02:06am PT
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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.
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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Jul 28, 2009 - 03:03am PT
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best wishes Roger Brown and hope this summer of bolt replacement goes without any accidents. hope to see you soon.
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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Jul 28, 2009 - 03:52am PT
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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.
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JesseM
Social climber
Yosemite
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Jul 28, 2009 - 12:18pm PT
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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
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Jul 28, 2009 - 02:43pm PT
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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!
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kev
climber
CA
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Jul 28, 2009 - 03:08pm PT
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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
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Jul 28, 2009 - 03:47pm PT
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Fabulous work, you guys, and great pictures. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
John
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Jul 28, 2009 - 05:41pm PT
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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.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Jul 28, 2009 - 05:42pm PT
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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.
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msiddens
Trad climber
Mountain View, CA
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Jul 28, 2009 - 07:54pm PT
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Great stuff guys.
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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Jul 29, 2009 - 11:33am PT
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Clint always a pleasure.
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couchmaster
climber
pdx
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Jul 29, 2009 - 01:56pm PT
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Kudos to the dudes doing the hard brutal dirty dangerous and often thankless task here.
Thanks fellas.
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Joe
Social climber
Santa Cruz Mountains/Los Gatos
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Jul 29, 2009 - 03:53pm PT
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thanks guys
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Kiwiclimber
Ice climber
Kiruna, Sweden
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Jul 30, 2009 - 06:22am PT
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I put up a couple of routes on the righthand side of the Apron in the early 80s - Ephemeral Clogdance and Chiropodist Shop. Can anyone tell me what the status of the bolts is on those routes, and whether they are exposed to rockfall danger?
Rick McGregor - now in the far north of Sweden (not far from great granite in northern Norway!)
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Jul 30, 2009 - 06:26am PT
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Used to enjoy those nicely named Apron Routes. Rocks didn't fall anywhere near them.
But I don't think anybody replaced the bolts on them either. They'd probably hold a slab fall but are worthy of maintenance.
Sadly, the Apron age is over and they don't see much, if any, traffic anymore.
I remember Deep Throat and Hoppy's favorite as worth doing but only have done Deep Throat within the past 15 years. I backed off Ochre fields when my rope would reach a belay.
What seemed worthy to climb and not death (or almost death) to climb out of what you replaced?
PEace
Karl
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Jul 30, 2009 - 04:00pm PT
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Rick,
Roger replaced the bolts on your climbs in September 2007.
The 2007 Apron replacement thread is at:
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=441303
and here is where your routes are mentioned:
----
Roger Brown
Sep 17, 2007, 07:27pm PT
To the right of "Salin' Shoes" the bolt at the anchor of "The Grunt" was never found, but the bolt above was and was replaced. The bolts on "Chiropodist Shop", "The Token", both pitches of "Emphemeral Clogdance", "Bark at the Moon" (the anchor was never found or any sign of an anchor at any stance but there was a bolt that matched the other bolts that lead up and left toward the top of the first pitch of "The Letdown" so it too was replaced), "Synchronousity", "Nothing on the Apron", "Something on the Apron" (not in guide books) and "Lean Years" also had thier bolts replaced this season. I have the bolts and hangers from at least the last five years "bagged and tagged" and some day I will sit down and make a proper list so the ASCA site can be brought up to date.
----
The ASCA list of climbs replaced is at:
http://www.safeclimbing.org/areas/california/yosemitefree.htm
Sometimes it gets slightly out of date, but it's a fairly complete list.
A summary of where Roger has worked with me and several other folks these past 3 summers on bolt replacement:
Arches Terrace area 6/2007
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=394886
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=400384
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=413885
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=416237
Glacier Point Apron - West 8/2007
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=441303
Middle Cathedral North Face Apron 6/2008
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=621928
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=622678
Glacier Point Apron - Central 8/2008
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=659883
Glacier Point Apron - East 6/2009
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=912351
(this thread)
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Jul 30, 2009 - 04:08pm PT
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Karl,
> What seemed worthy to climb and not death (or almost death) to climb out of what you replaced?
It's hard for me to judge the runouts, as I have a fairly numb left foot so I am a pretty bad slab climber. For example, I thought the 5.9 R move on Regular Mouth p2 was too scary to try, but it involves trusting / feeling your left foot. But Bruce Hildenbrand told me the other day that it was considered to be the easiest 5.9 on the Apron back in the 70s.
Incidentally, we also found a couple of newer routes which are not in the guidebooks yet:
between Grack Right and Hot Tin Roof / Ochre Fields
between Tightrope and Hoppy's Favorite
You may have also seen there is a newish one pitch route with many bolts at the base, between Goodrich Left and Goodright Right (just right of the lowest rap anchor on Goodrich Left).
There are also some random pitches here and there which have some bolts shown on the guidebook topo but don't have names or ratings listed. These might be fun to explore:
1-2 pitch variation, right of Deep Throat p3-4
1 pitch variation to Regular Mouth. There are some bolts which go between the two lines shown for p3 of Regular Mouth
I have some topo notes on these, and I'll try to make an updated topo at some point.
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Jul 30, 2009 - 06:07pm PT
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"You may have also seen there is a newish one pitch route with many bolts at the base, between Goodrich Left and Goodright Right (just right of the lowest rap anchor on Goodrich Left). "
Done that, it ends with a short roof right? Great climb with pretty good pro.
Peace
Karl
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Fuzzywuzzy
climber
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Aug 24, 2009 - 01:39pm PT
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Dolt Hanger on first pitch of Tightrope was Chuck Cochrane's. Soon Vern joined in the effort.
Oakshotte had those stainless hangers made that were used on Hoppy's Favorite.
Amazing Tat!!! Yikes.
Great efforts all around!
TC
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