Clipping bolts without hangers

I read a route description here on MP that said to “clip a few bolts with no hangers”. How are you supposed to clip that? Sounds very dangerous.

Usually no hangers means there was some disagreement in the community about whether there should be bolts at all. But apparently this has been unsettled for a long time because even the Miramontes guidebook says the same thing.

This is a trad route. Swain in the Breeze, in Joshua Tree. mountainproject.com/v/10572…

You can use a nut as a rivet hanger, or just use a rivet hanger.

Thanks Weston. I wasn’t aware of rivets before. After some searching, it sounds like these are common in big wall or air climbing areas. Would there typically be a small gap between the rivet head and the rock, where you could slip the wire of a nut behind?

You can use wired nuts that slide on their wires--cinch them on the studs, preferably behind a nut. Rivet hangers function similarly.  If there is a nut, a keyhole hanger also works.

These are not very secure placements, so try not to fall.

A rivet will always have a gap, typically 2 to 5mm.

So if there is a whole pitch of these placements, or even several in a row where there isn’t any kind of nut (non-climbing hexagon nut) to keep the hanger or rivet hanger from falling off the end of the bolt, it might not be that safe to fall. YMMV. 

That being said, I have done this while sport and trad climbing for a single missing hanger, and for several placements in a row while aid climbing. Never whipped.

For the route you’ve described, I’d say it’s fine. I’m not a guide or any kind of professional, so again, YMMV.

Bring a hanger & a bolt nut & fix the issue?  Then clip into hanger. 

Aren’t hangerless bolts standard on Australian sport routes (carrots)? I wonder if carrot hangers would work?