Pinnacles 3/9/02 - solo

Son of Dawn Wall rebolting

I was finally able to finish fixing up this route.
My last rebolting trips had been to Desperado Chute-Out instead.

I arrived at the West Side gate within 3 minutes of the 7:30
opening time, and was pleased to find it open.
I hiked routinely to the SE corner of Machete.
Wearing my softer hiking boots, I was able to solo up the
normal Old Original route (5.5) to the top, wearing my pack.
Down to the notch, where I fixed one of my 9mm ropes to the
ring bolts at the notch above The Hideout, and rappelled down
the gully.  10' from the chockstone belay, I ran out of rope,
so I tied on the second rope and reached the belay.  I kept my
hiking boots on to save time and climbed back up the gully
and rib with a Jumar belay.  Then I soloed back down; there is
only a brief 5.2 chimney section.  Checking the time (10am; 1
hour earlier than my previous visit), I made the 2 rappels to
the chain anchor above the 3rd pitch.  I fixed both my ropes
there, and headed down.

I had already replaced the upper crux bolt last year.
So I started with the bolt below it.  I torqued off the bolt
before I got a chance to try the crowbar on it.  So I drilled
a new hole nearby.  I skipped the next bolt down, because
it was not as hard there, and there was a pair of bolts close below.

The upper of the pair was a nail-in like a Star Dryvin.  
The nail on this type pulls easily, as do the two steel liners.
The outer lead sleeve had been a problem for me in the past,
but this time I brought a 3/8" lag screw, which screwed in
nicely and extracted the lead cleanly!  The hole was slightly
oversized in the outer part, but I had to deepen it by 1"
for my 3" bolt, and the rock was solid, so it was a good choice
for replacement in the orginal hole.

Next I pulled the lower of the pair, breaking off the nut.  But
there was enough of it sticking out that I could grab it with
my vice grips; I was able to twist it and break it off deep
in the hole.  I did not replace it, since the other bolt was
only 1.5' higher on fairly easy ground.  It is a spot where
people might rappel from if they can't do the 4th pitch and
only have one rope (Dennis and I did this), but I am not
sure this justifies an extra bolt/anchor.

The next 2 bolts were straightforward pull or break-off
and replacements.  They had pretty flimsy hangers.  The
lower one was above the long runout, so I used one of my
non-camouflaged hangers on it (so leaders would see how
far they had to go).

In the middle of the runout lower crux, I was poking
around checking the holds, and I found a broken-off plant
in what looked like a 3/8" hole.  Immediately below this
I found a definite broken bolt.  So there had originally
not been a runout here!  I wonder if the bolt broke
during a fall?  The bolt was the same type as others on
this pitch - 1/4" with a lot of exposed threads,
a nail whose head is in the bottom of the hole, and a
split shaft which expands when driven onto the nail.
A crowbar is usually effective in removing this type of
bolt, but the nail is often left behind in the hole.
I could see the nail and a piece of the split shaft
in this hole.  I found some solid rock at the same
level as the broken bolt and placed a new bolt.

The second bolt on the pitch (start of the former runout)
had the usual "bail biner" on it (Eiger oval, you guessed it...).
I pulled it cleanly, but the rock around the hole was
fractured/hollow sounding, so I drilled a new hole nearby.

Same story for the first bolt on the pitch, where I placed
the last (7th) bolt I had brought with me.

At the belay anchor below, there was a new Fixe bolt.
I replace the hanger on the other good 3/8" bolt, and
placed new lap link chains on both these bolts.  I pulled
a short 1/4" nail-in bolt and removed all the old slings
and chains.  This left the 2 good bolts plus a 1/4" buttonhead
at this anchor.

Checking my watch (4:30), I left almost everything at
this anchor, jumarred back up, retrieved my big pack,
and did the 2 raps to the ground.  After packing up,
I started hiking down at 5:09, which I knew was plenty
of time to plod out with my heavy pack, and not have
to worry about another $100 fine.  I made it to the
parking lot with spare time to change into my sneakers
and wash my hands in the restroom.  Out the gate by 5:57.

The bolts on Son of Dawn Wall are now good enough for
even guys like me to lead without having to worry about
them breaking on a fall.  Prior to this, bold guys
like Dennis Erik had quaked while aiding the second pitch,
been very concerned on the 3rd pitch, and had to back off
the 4th pitch.  So it was a good project to work on,
where I felt the bolts were fairly bad and could be
significantly improved.  The donation of money for
bolts/hangers got me started, and I had a lot of fun doing it.

I suppose the really amazing thing is that my Fish 3/8"
drill bit has lasted through the entire time, and even
back several years of Pinnacles first ascents and granite
bolts before that.  Fish doesn't make/sell this type of bit
anymore, so if it ever breaks, I am going to be very bummed.
(I don't even bother carrying a spare bit anymore, as all
I have are the old 5.10 bits which required a box-end rachet
to turn).