Eldo Roof Routes - fixed ropes today, re-bolt tomorrow

Starting this afternoon there will be ~12 or more fixed ropes on the Roof Routes in preparation for a bolt upgrade that will happen all day Saturday. The fixed lines will span from Le Toit to Scratch 'n Sniff.
We plan to place the majority of the new stainless bolts by cleanly removing the old bolts and reaming to 1/2" rather than drilling new holes.

Upgrade list:
Le Toit
The Wisdom
Scary Canary
Temporary Like Achilles
Huck Off
Hands in the Clouds
Evangeline
Wasabe* (anchor only for now. Ring bolt removal tool is being manufactured.)
Psycho
Fire and Ice
Downpresser Man
Guenese
Kloeberdanz
Lipsync
Candelegro
Jules Verne
T2 (P1 anchor)
Naked Edge/T2 Raps
Scratch 'n Sniff

Awesome. Thank you Gregger Man and team!

Wally

Good luck with it all. Quite an impressive list. I think its great that you guys are replacing the hardware store 3/8" wedge bolts that have been on this wall since 1988. I think its great you're going to replace the bolts on Scratch N' Stiff which are 1/2"x 3-3/4" Rawl 6 piece bolts. Bomber bolts but on a slab that gets a lot of water. The anchor of Kloeberdeath (Callegro) could really use the stainless upgrade. Hopefully glue-ins
On the other hand, all the plated steel 1/2"x 3-3/4" Rawl 6 piece bolts under the roof from Kloeberdanz to Temporary Like Achilles are really bomber & get little if any moisture. They are less than 20 years old. I guess you know how to remove them. I have had a lot of experience removing the shorter 1/2" x 2-3/4" Rawl 5 piece but the 3/3-4" seems like much more work.
My understanding is that the plated steel Rawl bolts are stronger than the stainless steel. I am not saying the stainless are weak. I just find it amazing that anyone would want to replace these bolts. Hopefully the upgrade is to glue-ins and not the weaker stainless Rawl 5-6 piece bolts.

Mark,
We replaced 40 or so bolts yesterday. Many thanks to the volunteers for their patience with such a frustrating task. It was hard.
Although the Roof Routes are popular on rainy days because the rock stays dry, the irony is that the rock under the surface is quite damp compared to the rest of Redgarden Wall. Water seeps into many of the bolt holes. It's true that a lot of those bolts looked fine on the outside, but they were already so rusted at the sleeves and cone that they were/are extremely difficult to remove. Replacing them now with a stainless 1/2" bolt that can be unscrewed 50 years from now is a better plan than leaving the plated bolts (with SS hangers) to rust beyond the point of usefulness.
The difference in shear strength between plated and stainless 1/2" bolts doesn't matter to me at all. Both are high and that isn't the failure mode I'm worried about. Rusty bolts end up with poor holding power on an axial pull. Most hangers do a good job of loading the bolt in shear, but climbing falls can load a bolt in some funky ways. Remove-ability is an important attribute to consider in the long run.
Regarding glue-ins: One glue-in lead bolt was installed on Le Toit and glue-ins are planned for the belay on Candelegro.

Mark Rolofson wrote:My understanding is that the plated steel Rawl bolts are stronger than the stainless steel.

Greg,
Thank you for your reply & all the hard work. I placed many of these bolts such as the ones on Downpressor Man, Guenese, Kloeberdanz roof & the Pscho anchor around 1997-1998. I was very active in Eldorado from 1993-1999 replacing bolts. I was the organizer of Fixed Hardware Replacement for Celebrate Eldorado for 4 years (1995-1999). I have also replaced numerous bolts at North Table Mountain, Boulder Canyon, Clear Creek & Shelf Road.
I would really like to see the Rawl 6-piece bolts that were removed at the roofs so I can fully appreciate the amount of corrosion that occurred in less than 20 years.
I am also interested in learning about the tools & techniques used to remove the inner section of sleeve & compression ring of these bolts. I have lots of experience removing both the 3/8" & 1/2" Rawl 5-piece bolts (that have only one section of sleeve), but almost no experience removing the longer Rawl 6-piece (with two sections of sleeve). The only 3/8" x 3" Rawl that I have removed, I drilled out with a metal bit & cutting grease.
Thanks to all the volunteers & skilled re-equippers at last weekend event.

Here's a close-up video of a 1/2" Rawl removal on Apple Strudel:
youtube.com/watch?v=zzwbN-h…

Article on the work:
dailycamera.com/get-out/ci_…
Thanks for getting out there and putting in the hard work!

Thanks for the videos, Greg. Those are the best techniques I've ever see. Is it very easy to find the heavy duty threading device?

Mark Rolofson wrote:Thanks for the videos, Greg. Those are the best techniques I've ever see. Is it very easy to find the heavy duty threading device?

Mark Rolofson wrote:Thanks for the videos, Greg. Those are the best techniques I've ever see. Is it very easy to find the heavy duty threading device?

My partner and I replaced the P1 anchors of Psycho. I was at first reluctant to pull these bolts, as they looked great, with no visible rust whatsoever. If I remember correctly (all hardware was returned for testing), at least one of these bolts snapped while attempting to funk out the cone, and both were quite rusty. A theme for the day for my team and those around us was the required use of a breaker bar to get the hex heads to budge at all. Combo and adjustable wrenches couldn't come close to loosening any of the bolts I encountered.