hanman

Anyone been up there recently? Wondering about snow levels for taking my kids-a-camping this w/e. I know there is a considerable remnant below the North Butt of 3:00, how about higher on the trail? MH

Tvash- those bolts in Westward Ho are not epoxy anchors, they are 3/8" Powers ss wedge anchors, as is the modern typical bolt used in DTown. Please do not use locktite on the threads. If freeze thaw is the mechanism for the nuts loosening, locking the nut on will result in a spinner come next season (without the ability to retighten or maintain the hanger if it gets damaged by rockfall). Here is a pretty good bolt thread over on Supertaco http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=374939 I have observed the need for annual retightening on many of the DTown routes we have used wedge anchors on. During install, most of these were overdrilled to allow sinking the stud should replacement become necessary. The frozen pocket/ice wedging scenario may explain this phenomenon. M. Hanna

Good to see people getting some fine slabbage in Clear Creek - It sounds like all the anchors were in place on WH? We usually lose a few during winter due to the bowling alley effect that provides for surface texture on that one. M. Hanna

Trip: Darrington Three O'clock Rock - Magic Bus Date: 5/11/2007 Trip Report: Just a heads up for those who may be interested- Protection bolts on P1 of Magic Bus have been upgraded to 3/8" hardware, and chains replaced tat at belay. I hope in the next few weeks to do the same to P2. It was great to be out there yesterday! MH

Is that in Renton?

Some more Dtown stokes- Solar Wall on Exfo Dome Solaris P3 on Solar Wall Bring on the good weather MH

The "good" 2nd pitch belay. The one at the top consisted of 2 short aluminum rivets punched thru some 1" webbing and a short buttonhead. While the route had lots of tat at the 2nd pitch belay, the 3rd pitch rap had no signs of other ascents than the first. Pitch 3 awaiting a 2nd ascent speculation?? Recent conversations with Duane Constanino about the route indicate that he felt this was definitely one of his finest FA's- it is a great line for sure!! MH

The route does have fresh anchors, but could really use a good scrub and removal of a fairly large loose flake that apparently was solid enough during the FA to take gear behind skull . I hope to spend some time up there this spring to work on - wanna help? MH

As of about a week ago- there was still a stubborn bit of snow about 2/3 of the way in to 3 oclock. I think this last week probably melted a bunch more. Road bed looks like it weathered our winter rains well as far as I could tell. MH

Darrington tomorrow Geoff- PM me if interested MH

Will do- hope to climb with you soon Trogdor- Until then, sounds like I may have to saddle up the ol' Silent Pardner- MH

It's true- Spring is upon us- anyone up for some dead south facing steeper new granite near Darrington tomorrow? PM me if interested

I and a few others were out there in the sun- we did A Crack, the Tube, Windward Direct, Testicular Fortitude (somewhat scary flake and runout), and West Face to LightningP2 of GCT. Speaking of the previously mentioned block that someone should remove on Lightning; that someone turned out to be us. The 50 lb thing was just hanging there by a few layers of keyed in crap, and did't take more than the weight of a pigeon to dislodge, once we determined noone was below. How many folks have climbed up past that block? One in our party had done it about 5 years ago, and didn't recall it being like that... Good to be in the blazing sun though!

Well done gentlemen!! Quite a place

My experience has been with the single use chemical buttons in industrial settings- Humidity seems to play a large part in the frequency of false positives, so a tent setting may not be the ideal environment for this product. While working for a construction company as a safety consultant, we used these "personal detectors" on an enclosed and propane heated scaffold in the winter. Indications on the buttons appeared quite different from calibrated electronic equipment (causing major havoc). Check the manufacturer's stated threshold for humidity vs accuracy before using. MH

I Like Sonic Youth Rather Alot. Truly. And Devo.

I really like that area of ExfoDome- Solaris was a blast! Good to see someone getting up there. MH

I just got back from an "alltooshort" 5 day trip to LL (including driving). Cold, rainy, and windy but still managed Haystack, Bears Reach, Line, Surrealistic Pillar and a bunch of Phantom Spires stuff in the sun. 2nd pitch of SP was quite special. I loved it all, and will go back soon for sure!!!

I have done a bit of bolting both industrial and sandstone/conglomerate with Powers AC100. Rapid bolt up of the hanger within 2 hours usually, and the coaxial tube fits in a standard caulking gun. Powers specs call for a 7/16" hole with a 3/8" stud. Other good epoxies are Sonneborn Rapid Gel and the newer Hilti products (2 part mixing gun is required however). As the Big 4 conglomerate I have experienced goes, it is by far much harder to drill than granite. I found that the Hilti bits would overheat and "unweld" the carbide tip, leaving the tip in the hole, and eating another 9$. Bosch bits worked the best. I hope to retro that Tower route this year or next with 5" long 304 SS threaded rod or the new Hilti TZ stainless anchors with AC100. Anyone want to help? MH

I'm not sure of the FA, and I climbed it years ago but don't recall much. I think there are other routes that could use some fresh hardware though; such as: Tidbits belay station tat removal (all pitches) Magic Bus (most pro and belay anchors) + P3 scrub Silent Running (as previously mentioned by Off) Conan's Crack- scrubadub and bring the big cams Lots of stuff far left that looks great... MH

Both Stance or Dance (P1) and Shot in the Dark (all pitches) have been upgraded. SITD still needs a good scrub and a loose flake removal on P1 however. The P3 belay consisted of a single 1/4" stud and 2 tiny aluminum rivets, each 1/4" deep and simply driven through webbing. Classic! Go Duane!!!

Nice photos. Great climb!

Great work Chuck and Jeff! I tried a couple weeks ago during the super heat, but ran into some wet at about P5, and bailed. MH

Perhaps a good scrub/clean on the natural (though meandering) first pitch might help to better ascertain the quality of the pitch. If infrequently done, it may be better than first (or second, or third) thought. Might be time well spent.

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