Re-Bolting
Re-bolting: noun
Updating and replacing the aging hardware that’s already out there, and representing the bulk of the stewardship performed by the HDCA at Smith Rock and other high desert crags.
A lot of work!
Sometimes a bolt that looks bomber on the outside…
All bolts replaced by the HDCA are done so using the same hole in the rock as the original bolt, to the maximum extent practical. This minimizes impact to the rock, maximizes the aethetics of our climbing routes, and significantly increases the amount of time required to install one new bolt.
Rebolting is very similar to skilled manual labor that takes place on a vertical cliffside!
But why bother replacing the existing hardware and bolts on these routes?
…doesn’t look so great on the inside!
Re-bolting tools and materials are entirely funded by donations from our sponsors and the climbing community!
If you would like to contribute to our mission, head over to the Donation page of our website and help making climbing in central Oregon safe and sustainable for the future.
Thank You to everyone who has helped make our work possible!
Re-Bolting Clinics
The HDCA puts on annual re-bolting clinics in central Oregon where we teach you everything from bad bolt identification and the different types of bolts and anchors all the way through installing, removing and replacing different types of bolts.
If you’d like to come and volunteer with the HDCA on a re-bolting day, it’s highly encouraged that you attend one of these clinics first.
BUT! By taking a clinic you have no obligation to come turn wrenches with the HDCA in the wild. These clinics are offered with the sole intent of increasing the general level of knowledge of the central Oregon climbing community.
WAG Bag Stations at Smith Rock State Park and Trout Creek
We’ve all got to do it, but no one likes stepping behind a boulder at the crag only to find a pile of toilet paper. While digging a cat-hole used to be an acceptable management practice for human waste, most climbing crags are too highly trafficked to be able to sustainably decompose the amount of human waste that could be generated. The most accepted practice for human waste is the same as other trash: Pack it in, pack it out.
The HDCA has worked with local land managers to install convenient WAG bag stations for when nature calls while you’re at the crag! Boxes at Smith Rock SP, shown to the left, were built by students of
