Single Bolt Anchors ??

[rcwild]

Safety Standard -- Bolts

Single bolt anchors are NOT standard. Not even with modern mechanical bolts. An argument could be made for using a single glue-in anchor, but not mechanical, especially when the single bolt is placed directly in the water course. The hydraulic action of the stream, along with debris carried by the stream, will compromise the bolt in a very short period of time. As a result, the bolt will create a serious safety hazard.

Remove any mechanical bolt you find in the watercourse. Consider whether or not the bolt is actually needed. Is there a natural anchor available? If bolts are really necessary, place TWO up on the wall out of the watercourse.

Skill is required to place bolts correctly. Invest some time to learn how to do it right. Consider not only your own safety, but the safety of those who will rely on your bolts in the future.

[ratagonia]

I'd like to try to pierce a few more myths. I've heard people say:

"Bolts are so much better now than a couple years ago, that only one is necessary".

Expansion bolts are anchors made for concrete, and they have not changed significantly in the last 20 years. The problem is not strength, the problem is the reliability of the placement. This is VERY difficult to inspect for. Even a placement that is originally good can go bad with internal erosion, impossible to see. The solution to this is redundancy, and TWO GOOD bolts is considered an acceptable anchor. ONE is NOT.

Glue-in Anchors are much better, but they are rarely used because of the gear required to set them.

"I place a single bolt, then I back it up to a tree or rock, so that's a good anchor, right?"

While YOU may be smart enough to back it up to a tree or rock, the next group that comes down the canyon may not be. THEY will rappel off the single bolt, and YOU, the bolt-placer, have some responsibility for their safety. If you make a BOLT anchor, your obligation is to make a complete one.

BUT, if there is a perfectly good tree or rock anchor available, why are you placing bolts, anyway? Unless the canyon is a heavily-travelled trade route and use of the boulder/tree is having adverse environmental impacts, there is no reason to place a bolt at this drop. Please DON'T.

Tom

[Eshi-1]

Thank you Rich and Thank you Tom,

I hope EVERYONE in the San Gabriel Chapter and everyone who ever gets to the San Gabriel Mountains reads this.
A few of us have started replacing bolts in Little Santa Anita (lower part only for now) and there is so much more work to be done in the canyons.

I am working on a list of canyons that could use help in this department and a list of gear needed. Ones I am ready, I will start doing all the canyons systematically. Hopefuly, 2-4 per month.

If you can think of any canyons to ad to the list, let me know (post here or email me directly).

If you can help with financing the bolting, that's even better (This can get to about $20 per drop). Email me what you think you can do (Don't post that here:).

If you want to help carrying the gear on the bolting days, let me know too. This stuff is very heavy.

We all need safer canyons.

[rcwild]

This thread is about the appropriateness of using a single bolt as an anchor in situations where using bolts is deemed necessary.

Posts about whether or not bolts are necessary and/or acceptable have been moved to a new thread titled To Bolt or Not to Bolt (http://www.canyoneering.net/forums/showthread.php?t=777)

[koentje]

This thread is about the appropriateness of using a single bolt as an anchor in situations where using bolts is deemed necessary.

Posts about whether or not bolts are necessary and/or acceptable have been moved to a new thread titled To Bolt or Not to Bolt (http://www.canyoneering.net/forums/showthread.php?t=777)

Oops, sorry - just skipped over the earlier mails I must confess... I thought it was just another bolt vs natural anchor discussion :o

For the record: IF placing a boltstation (any sane person will ofcourse use a good natural anchor when available) one should carefully consider the situation, the rock, the normal and anticipated waterflows etc etc.
Based on all these factors one should proceed with the appropriate type of anchors in the appropriate spot.
In a canyon that is visited regularly that boils down to unobtrusive stainless steel glue-ins without chains or webbing linking them, always a pair of them and NEVER into a watercourse or in a spot where a flash flood can/will damage them.

This takes time, effort, a lot of skill and is not to be taken lightly - those anchors should be there for most of your lifetime and botching the job will haunt you forever (and make you the ridicule of the community if people find out who did that :-)) !

The only times I've left behind "so-so" bolts are during first descents that you know nobody is going to repeat anywhere soon and speed is important. At the time of placement I knew they'd hold us, but if I'd come across an anchor like that an hour later I'd put another one next to it, I'm not suicidal :-).

Putting an anchor like that in a canyon that sees regular traffic is stupid, a waste of time, money, potentially dangerous and puts the door wide open to "bolt gardens".