Mark Fletcher
07/26/99 08:45 AM

As promised, I continued to work on rebolting Old Original (5.3) on Machete
Ridge.

First Pitch:

The belay at the top of the pitch was moved up 15 feet to the top of the
ridge.  I installed two Metolius rap hangers with 3/8" x 3-1/2" Rawl 6
piece bolts, thus allowing one to rappel to the ground at the top of the
ridge without unprotected down-climbing.  The previous interim belay had two
very closely spaced bolts.  I removed  one of these bolts and replaced the
Leeper hanger on the other one (a good 3/8" bolt) with a Fixe S.S. hanger.
The pitch has a good 3/8" bolt at the 5.3 section, which was retro-bolted
since the '95 guidebook description by an unknown person (not me), and now
has a second bolt where the interim belay was.  Note:  I feel this
retro-bolt is reasonable since it is the only protection, save a very small
bush which would not hold a fall, over the entire pitch on slightly loose
rock.

Second Pitch:

The second bolt on the top of the ridge was pulled and replaced in a
slightly different location with a Fixe S.S. hanger and a 3/8" x 3-1/2"
Rawl 6 piece bolt.  When I pulled this bolt with a crowbar, the entire rock
around the bolt exploded with very little pulling!  I am glad I never fell
on any of the previous bolts of this climb.

The Hideout (5.4), Variation to Pitches 1 and 2 of Old Original

All three bolts, including the bottom belay bolt, were pulled and replaced.
These prior bolts were Star Dryvin bolts, which were easily pulled.  The
bottom belay bolt was replaced with a Metolius camo hanger and a 3/8" x
3-1/2" Rawl 6 piece bolt.  The two protection bolts were replaced with Fixe
S.S. hangers and 3/8" x 3-1/2" Rawl 6 piece bolts.

Third Pitch:

The two redundant bolts protecting the 5.3 traverse were easily pulled (the
rock exploded) and replaced with a single bolt in a slightly different and
better location (only about 1' from previous bolts).  The previous third,
now second, bolt on the traverse, was in good condition.

That was as far as I got on Saturday.  Many of the bolts I pulled had
Leeper hangers and 3/8" Star Dryvin bolts, which are easily pulled.  Even
the 2" and 2-1/4" single wedge bolts I pulled came out fairly easily or the
soft rock exploded - scary!