Weird Bolt Placement

Yellow springs?

DrRockso wrote:Yellow springs?

Yes. John Bryan.

Strip the hanger if you want, or just leave it be. There's no reason for it to be there. Maybe someone was practicing lol. How do you like those ridiculous glue-in top rope anchors. I think they could hold a tank and are far back enough from the cliff that they might as well have just let people use tree anchors.

Erik Kloeker wrote:How do you like those ridiculous glue-in top rope anchors. I think they could hold a tank and are far back enough from the cliff that they might as well have just let people use tree anchors.

Yeah, they are pretty massive. I had to borrow a set of carabiners for my anchor as mine didn't open wide enough. I still used a tree as a tertiary for backup. The ranger didn't seem to mind as it wasn't load bearing under normal use. I think they have bigger things to worry about because a crap ton of trees have been cut down due to the emerald ash borer beetle.

John Bryan state park??? I stopped there to stretch my legs on my way back from THE NEW. Those eye bolts are massive. But I would still back them up with nuts or a tree. Happy climbing.

Back them up? Any specific reason you say that? Not only have I climbed on worse, I don't think I have climbed on MORE bombproof anchors. I would guess they are about an inch wide shaft and they're placed in horizontal rock with epoxy. Way overkill and poor placement in relation to the edge of the cliff IMHO. Besides it's not allowed to use trees at John Bryan. "Secure to anchor bolts only. No tying to trees."

John Bryan State Park Anchors

According to Crosby's website each anchor is rated to 7200lbs working load limit which means the ultimate/breaking load is 36000lbs * 2 anchors.. of course the rock and or glue would blow way before those forces..

They need some of those buggers on the tops of the the traprock cliffs in CT, though I would countersink them a little to look better. Backing-up a well placed two bolt anchor of those with a tree is about like wearing a condom while walking around in your clothes to avoid getting a disease, unless the rock is not absolutely bomber.

Wade J. wrote:Chaining up your children.

Thats funny!!!

M Sprague wrote:They need some of those buggers on the tops of the the traprock cliffs in CT, though I would countersink them a little to look better. Backing-up a well placed two bolt anchor of those with a tree is about like wearing a condom while walking around in your clothes to avoid getting a disease, unless the rock is not absolutely bomber.

One of the eye bolts was a little wobbly. I had the extra gear with me and it took all of 30 seconds to rig up a backup.

That's great about the forces of impact. Glad you can do your research... Now do some research in climbing anchors. First RULE--- never trust your life to one piece of gear. So yea I will back up what I want where I want. If a ranger wants to talk to me I'll gladly explain my reasoning for what I did. ---- edit five minutes later --- when I was there on some anchors I only saw one anchor. So I would use nuts, hexes, or cams. If a tree was the only option then I would use that. But no routes there are that hard.

Makes sense ya'll, I was under the impression they all had two bolt anchors the few routes I climbed there had two.

Rick Winkler wrote: One of the eye bolts was a little wobbly. I had the extra gear with me and it took all of 30 seconds to rig up a backup.

Wobbly glue-in?! That is not good. They should be pulled right out of there. Somebody obviously didn't know how to properly install them unless there was a previous attempt to chop them that caused damage.

Backing them up (or rather not even using them) was the right call then. I was also under the impression you had two huge bomber bolts per each anchor.

If there is somebody who is in charge of them, they should be notified right away. If one is wobbly, I would be suspect of all of them in case the installer used incorrect glue, not enough or didn't clean the holes.

M Sprague wrote: Wobbly glue-in?! That is not good. They should be pulled right out of there. Somebody obviously didn't know how to properly install them unless there was a previous attempt to chop them that caused damage. Backing them up (or rather not even using them) was the right call then. I was also under the impression you had two huge bomber bolts per each anchor. If there is somebody who is in charge of them, they should be notified right away. If one is wobbly, I would be suspect of all of them in case the installer used incorrect glue, not enough or didn't clean the holes.

I inspected about 10 of them, there was only 1 that had about 1mm of wobble. I plan on being out there regularly. I'll see if I can find out who maintains them.

It wouldn't surprise me if whoever put them in didn't know what they are doing. This is what happens when you have park rangers and boy scout leader types putting in anchors. However due to their orientation in the rock and sheer beefiness I don't think they are going anywhere, even the wobbly one. If you happen to get a hold of whoever is in charge please ask them what type of epoxy they used. Don't be too rude I doubt they are super happy with the liability of rock climbing in their park to begin with. Thanks Rick!

DrRockso wrote:However due to their orientation in the rock and sheer beefiness I don't think they are going anywhere, even the wobbly one. If you happen to get a hold of whoever is in charge please ask them what type of epoxy they used.

I mostly agree. They may not have used an epoxy but a "binding mortar", in which case the "wobble" shouldn't be a huge problem, depending on what kind of "teeth" the bolt has.

That said, the vertical orientation means it's more likely for water and carbonic acid from decaying vegetation to seep into the crevice, and galvanized or not, that bolt won't last long.

The top rope bolts were placed by http://www.ohioclimberscoalition.org/southern-ohio/ if you have an issue with a bolt call them.  The bolt hangars at the bottom of the climbs are down anchors for light belayers please do not remove hardware from the park. If you did remove hardware best be calling someone to replace it and send a check. There is a park office where you could have asked who maintained the routes...

DrRockso wrote:Not only have I climbed on worse, I don't think I have climbed on MORE bombproof anchors. 

Index, WA Great Northern Slab anchors. (Not my photo)

Sam, I think you need to replace those with stainless errr, whatever they ares.