[TR] Banks Lake- Several @ The Castle (?) 2/5/2006

[hanman]

Climb: Banks Lake-Several @ The Castle (?)

 

Date of Climb: 2/5/2006

 

Trip Report:

Friend Stephen and I escaped the seemingly terminal wet zone for some E WA sunshine this weekend. Without much route info, we scoped out many prospective fun climbs in the area on Sat., and returned the next day when the lovely 50 mph winds had a chance to calm.

 

We climbed several south and west facing routes, some old some new, and all on quite nice rosy granite. It was a very scenic diversion from the gloom.

 

I would like to encourage the people putting up routes here to think about using standard gear for fixed belays/rap points however. Many shiny new fixed cold shuts (mostly unwelded open) adorn the cliffs, and have been long known by climbers, riggers and the like to be a generally untrustworthy and short lasting option for fixed gear. Unfortunately, availability of alternative gear is sometimes lacking in remote areas. If anyone who FA's out there posts here, please PM me- I would like to donate hangers, galv.chain, and screwlinks to help out.

 

Great time- Thanks!

 

Gear Notes:

Draws, gear to 3"

[Off_White]

pics?

 

I agree, cold shuts are terrible for anchors.

[hanman]

Sorry-no pix. I wished I would have brought our kayaks as well, but they probably would not have weathered the trip over.

[Marty]

Replace all the shuts you want to on my routes. Those big red ones that I use (I don't know if I was using them back then) are bomber. In fact it takes some serious rigging to even open them enough to get a bolt through so I wouldn't worry about them. I do remember using a lot of welded shuts on routes and feel free to replace.

[Bug]

Good work out there Marty (et al).

I have had many fun sunny days on those rocks and always wondered who did the drilling.

There are a couple really nice trad lines out there too.

[crazyjizzy]

Those big red ones that I use (I don't know if I was using them back then) are bomber.

Maybe, maybe not. Conventional wisdom is that all resonably sized non-welded cold-shuts are shit.

 

In fact it takes some serious rigging to even open them enough to get a bolt through so I wouldn't worry about them.

Again, see my earlier comments

 

I do remember using a lot of welded shuts on routes and feel free to replace.

I have seen well welded shuts, and poorly welded shuts. The fact that they are welded can make little difference. What type of filler metal was used? Did the weldor have a clue? I personally am not sure of the alloys used in shuts, but using the wrong type of weld metal can lead to serious weakening of the base metal by C, H, and other elemental migrations.