Alcatraz

[Slot Machine]

On the crisp morning of November 11th, 2013, Mark B, Dorothy and I ventured through Alcatraz Canyon.

Sporting the current Alcatraz fashion.
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The famous bumper rappel.
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Dorothy on a tall downclimb. Mark snapping photos.
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After doing Not Mindbender recently, and only being somewhat impressed, I wondered how good The Roost could actually be. Boy, did I underestimate…

Alcatraz is one of the finest slots on the planet. Deep, dramatic and exquisitely sculpted, its continuous narrows seem like they will never end. Though physical and challenging, I never had a moment where I wished to escape. It was a wondrous journey, and a canyon I hope to revisit many times in the future.

I’d read that there were some unnecessary bolts in Alcatraz, so we went prepared to remove them. Before you object, dear reader, let me first describe the location of these bolts.

The first two bolts were located in a very scenic hallway, about 10 feet from the canyon floor. Their placement was inexplicable because no serious obstacles where anywhere in the vicinity of the bolts. We saw nothing bigger than a 5 foot downclimb within 100 feet downcanyon.

The third bolt was above a 20 foot chute. It looked tricky. We unearthed a chokestone upcanyon and extended webbing from it. This proved to be a huge waste of time.

We removed the bolt above the drop, patched it, then Dorothy and Mark rapped off the chokestone. It soon became obvious that the drop was an easy downclimb/capture. I removed the webbing from the chokestone and downclimbled the top half of the drop. I then surrendered to my teammates who helped me to the floor. Very safe and very easy.

Mark removing a bolt while balancing on my shoulder.
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Me applying epoxy. I'm perched about 6 feet from the ground, pinned between the walls.
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One of the holes we patched. Dark and blurry.
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The hardware we removed.
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Here are the tools I elected to bring:
1 adjustable wrench
1 flathead screwdriver
1 pair of Vice-Grips
1 tube of epoxy putty
1 pair of latex gloves

A lightweight and versatile kit, each piece proved somewhat useful. It only took minutes to remove the bolts and patch the holes. Once the epoxy was set in each hole, I smoothed the surface with a very wet rock, taking care not to smear epoxy on the canyon wall. I then patted sand/mud on the epoxy and left it alone. After the next flash we will see how good our handiwork is. Hopefully nobody will see it at all.

Special thanks to Tom Jones for sharing his bolt removal knowledge and wall patching technique.

Special thanks to Dorothy for waiting patiently while Mark and I removed the bolts and repaired the walls.

Extra special thanks to the strong and talented Mark B for tilting at windmills with me.

Bob

http://amazingslots.blogspot.com/2013/11/angel-slot.html

[hank moon]

Special thanks to Tom Jones for sharing his bolt removing knowledge and wall patching technique.

And special thanks you for doing that good work. The few...the proud. The MBCs.

Nice pix and TR, too.

hank

p.s. inexplicable bolts in a dynamic environment :)

[Mountaineer]

Thank you! Great report, and nice job.
Like the shirt, love the pose. :haha:

[Kuya]

Nice work Slot Machine! Loved the TR, Now i definitely wanna go check this canyon out! Thanks for your good work with the removale of bolts.

[pikan]

Nice TR Bob! It's now on the list!

[Sombeech]

:lol8: Maybe we need to order a fresh batch of Bogley Tuxedo shirts

[Iceaxe]

:popcorn:

[Slot Machine]

p.s. inexplicable bolts in a dynamic environment :)

Excellent point, Hank. Perhaps a monster lurks beneath the sand. Do you know of such a monster in Alcatraz?

Normally there are some signs of wear & tear around bolts. Places where webbing has rubbed the surrounding stone smooth, or places where ropes have rubbed. At the first two bolts there were no such signs. The bolts looked like they had never been used.

[Mountaineer]

The bolts looked like they had never been used.



:facepalm1:

[MrAdam]

Good job Bob! Thanks for removing those bolts, they were 100% unnecessary.

We used the same expoxy and sand method of patching bolt holes holes when we chopped the bolts in Illusions last November. When I went back 10 months later, 7 out of the 10 patches we made held up. You would not have been able to tell there was a bolt there unless you were actually looking for it and knew where it used to be. The other 3 patches had been noticably worn down from flash floods and most of the sand had worn off, but again, were not blatantly obvious unless you were looking for them.

The bolts that showed up in Parker Canyon here in AZ are scheduled to be chopped in the very near future!

[SRG]

I’d read that there were some unnecessary bolts in Alcatraz, so we went prepared to remove them.
:2thumbs::hail2thechief::nod::2thumbs:

Thank you.

[hank moon]

Excellent point, Hank. Perhaps a monster lurks beneath the sand. Do you know of such a monster in Alcatraz?

Normally there are some signs of wear & tear around bolts. Places where webbing has rubbed the surrounding stone smooth, or places where ropes have rubbed. At the first two bolts there were no such signs. The bolts looked like they had never been used.

Reminds me of a resin anchor in Pine Creek, near the end. The drop it was set above disappeared a few months after placement.

Bolt's still there, though.

[deagol]

awesome shirt & awesome job..
:2thumbs:

[Byron]

Great job, Bob...normally I get a crappy attitude about bolt cutters, but in this case it was certainly justified. Gotta wonder why someone would waste their time doing that. Perhaps they brought the bolts and just couldn't help themselves. Like a 12 year old with a slingshot, staring at the windows of a vacant house.

[Taylor]

Nice work! Might need to pick up a sweet tux t-shirt for my own canyon adventures. Scored yourself some hardware for your efforts too. Did you find any more garbage in there or has it been cleaned up?

[Slot Machine]

^ Thanks for the kind words everyone ^

Byron, I'd bet there is something interesting beneath the sand where we removed the first two bolts. I just wonder if it is more challenging than the keeper pothole rappel towards the beginning of the canyon (a place that I could imagine a slingshot kid placing a bolt).

Todd, the canyon was pretty clean. We removed about 10 feet of webbing, but saw little else. No sign of tuxedo man's group.

[deagol]

....... No sign of tuxedo man's group.

I think we can thank Captain Kirk & his group for cleaning up after Tuxedo man.

[Scott P]

How much water was in the canyon?

[Slot Machine]

Not much, just a few random pools. Shoes will get wet for sure, but your shorts will stay dry.

[nelsonccc]

I would imagine the bolts were placed at some point because there was a drop there. The canyons change dynamically all the time. Hank mentioned the Pine anchor which is a perfect example. Might be the next time you go thru Alcatraz you'll be putting the bolts back in for a new drop...FYI, I've never done Alcatraz and I'm merely commenting that what you perceived as unnecessary may have made perfect sense at another time.

[Slot Machine]

Might be the next time you go thru Alcatraz you'll be putting the bolts back in for a new drop...

*snorts* :lol8:

You're right, the bolt removal kit + rope gun combo was no good. I highly doubt that we could adapt to future conditions. Can't be too careful out there!!

The second time we do the canyon, we will be certain to bring a bolt installation kit and a bunch of cripples. :2thumbs: :nod:

*pets the trolls hair back*

[ratagonia]

Reminds me of a resin anchor in Pine Creek, near the end. The drop it was set above disappeared a few months after placement.

Bolt's still there, though.

And with shifting of the rocks and debris, it is now back in service as a rappel anchor.

As I remember, the hole opened up the WEEK after Brian and I put in that glue-in bolt. (But maybe that is just because it makes the story better)

Tom