route Development & Bolt replaCEMENT At the city of rocks
The City of Rocks has a large variety of aging fixed anchors from many different route developers through the years, but many of these anchors were not initially designed for rock climbing applications and were an improvised solution for fall protection.
Climbing at The City of Rocks is diverse and rich in history, with many different developers contributing to the resource, and high rates of visitation continuing year after year. Dave Bingham in particular has contributed massively though the years, in the form of new routes, guidebooks, and a great deal of hardware replacement.
This short film shows a bit of Dave’s volunteer stewardship and he also shares some of his history at the City.
In recent years the park has eliminated climbing route maintenance work from the duties of its staff, and the community of American Safe Climbing Association volunteers has stepped up in a big way. By collaborating with the park to establish an efficient permit system and taking on this dauntingly large task with many hundreds of bolts slated for replacement, we are making progress in a way that ensures high-quality work is done and new hardware is installed that will last for a very long time.
For almost 20 years the ASCA rebolting effort has been stewarding the City. Even in prior years when the park employed a climbing ranger who would work on route maintenance as part of their routine duties, we provided top-quality bolts free of charge so we could be sure the best gear was being installed when replacement work was done. Many dangerous bolts at the City have been replaced, from recalled and brittle aluminum Kong hangers to 1/4” taper bolts that were very unlikely to hold a fall if the unlucky leader were to slip off above them.
If you have spent some time at the City recently you will notice a lot less old, spinning hangers on routes and a lot more bomber 1/2” stainless bolts in their place. We have also installed hundreds of durable steel clip-and-lower style anchors on popular routes to reduce accidents while transitioning between belay and rappel systems and increase efficiency in often congested areas.
The ASCA has invested more than $20,000 in high-quality stainless steel anchors at the City of Rocks, and volunteers have spent thousands of hours doing the hard work to steward this amazing resource for climbers. Whether it’s volunteering your time or donating funds, we need your help to continue this work. There are many more bolts at the city that need replacement, and there is a lot of work to do in the coming years. Thank you for helping us care for the climbing resources in this special place.
If you are interested in making a larger donation we could use in a matching campaign during our end of the year fundraising effort, or if you have any questions about our work at the City and at other climbing areas around the country, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me.
Cheers and climb safely out there,
Nate Liles
Development Director
American Safe Climbing Association
nate@safeclimbing.org
970.485.1783