SAS Rebolting Initiative

Compared to other parts of North America, the amount of suspect protection bolts and anchors in the Squamish area is relatively low. Up to now, this rather fortunate state of affairs is the result of legions of volunteers who have contributed their time and money toward this end. In an effort to complement these efforts SAS has recently began two initiatives.First, we have built up and are currently maintaining an online database of suspect and non disputed bolts (rusty, spinning, etc) and anchors in the Squamish area.  We expect this database to continue to grow and encourage anyone with suggestions to submit them via our website.Second, we have contracted two local and experienced guiding companies to begin replacing some of these questionable bolts with modern stainless steel bolts meeting the UIAA/EN 959 standard. In phase 1 of the initiative, the following climbs have been re-bolted:

• Merci Me (Grand Wall) and alternate rap anchor
• Dream On (Apron)
• Beat the Clock (Murrin Park)
• Savage Beagle (Chek)
• Mothers Milk (Chek)
• Kigijushi (Chek)
• Cupola Rebuff (Chek): Chains on anchor
• Timber Queen (Chek)

A full report from the contractors can be found here. Images can be viewed here.  In this re-bolting work every effort was made to minimize visual damage to the rock including pulling existing hardware (rather than chopping), use of existing holes for new bolts when possible or camouflaging the old holes with epoxy, and overdrilling the new holes to facilitate future replacement.Going forward, SAS is planning to begin phase 2 of this initiative in Fall 2010. We welcome any comments, concerns, and/or suggestions of other bolts/anchors to replace.  We will, of course, consider re-bolting classic climbs. In addition to support our recent Climbing Strategy Report we are also targeting the re-bolting of climbs that will work to disperse people further away from the front country and overly popular climbs and thus open up new opportunities.