3 O'Clock Rock - Silent Running bolt work needed

[Off_White]

The sixth pitch still has three or four 1/4" button heads, it'd be a great public service if someone who knew what they were doing replaced those. I'd have done it if I had known to bring a hand drill (it's in a wilderness area). All the other gear on the route is great.

[Peter_Puget]

Hey I just bought, well ordered, 100 of the 1/4" and now I find out they are not good. Guess it's back to Z-macs.

 

But speaking of drilling anyone with an old Hurricane bit holder that wants to sell it send me a pm. I am sick of grinding bits to fit the old Rawl holder.

[catbirdseat]

There is another route at Three O'clock Rock that needs upgrading. The route is called Charlie Chan's Number One Suspect, 5.9. It's entirely 1/4" buttonheads.

 

Also, in my humble opinion, the anchor is not in a good place [the anchor is shared with a seldom climbed 5.10a, A2 route to the left]. There is no decent stance. Only ten feet to the right there is a much better place to stand to belay.

 

This would also improve the route as all the moves up to that point are 5.7-5.8. The last move to the anchor is 5.9+ to 5.10a and not consistent with the rest of the route. This would be an excellent beginner's route if it weren't for this. We naturally found a bail biner on the last bolt. People get suckered in on this route all the time because it looks so moderate from the bottom.

 

The route would get a new rating of 5.8, naturally. The Whitelaw guide does not identify the FA party, so I'd have no way to contact them to ask.

Edited August 11, 2006 by catbirdseat

[shapp]

Garden Weasel needs new bolties, fun and steeper than other routes at 3 o'clock

[Otto]

What a great thread! I can't wait to get on these routes, even if nobody replaces the bolts. Thanks in advance to any public-spirited folks who do so!

What guidebook does Garden Weasel appear in?

[hanman]

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!!!

[catbirdseat]

Mark, what do you think about Charlie Chan? Do you know who the FA party was? I know that most of you guys probably don't care too much because the route doesn't really go anywhere, but I think it's a good warmup route.

 

Did anyone clean the "filth pitch" (P8?) of Total Soul since last year. I remember it as being really bad.

Edited August 11, 2006 by catbirdseat

[shapp]

Weasel is in Rattle,

soloed it with soloist in year 2000 to get some cursty old bail biners me spied will scoping 3 o'clock rock for first time, subsequently learned of the name and rating when the Rattle CD came out. P.S. if you can identify the crabs I think I still have them, but chucked the tat.

Edited August 11, 2006 by shapp

[hanman]

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

[mattp]

I second Hanman's priorities here. I'd also add that 9 out of ten of the old 1/4" buttonheads (many if not most of them are actually 5/16") are actually quite strong - based on the amount of effort required to remove them when doing replacement.

 

I'd also like to clean up the Big Tree routes, to improve the opportunities for more moderate climbing and, in the case of Big Tree I, what should be a good gear pitch at about 5.6 now includes some grubbing about.

 

I doubt anybody would object if you installed a new belay station on Charlie Chan's.

[Otto]

I've climbed Big Tree 1 twice in the past year, I find it an excellent route to bring beginners up for a thrill. But I don't know what you mean by "grubbing about". What pitch, and why?

[catbirdseat]

The flakes on the third pitch are a bit dirt-filled in places so you can only get fingertips in to layback them.