In general the 3/8″ Rawl/Powers 5-piece bolt is persona non-grata here in variably soft schist. While we have had quite a large number of plated steel 5-pieces, typically mixed with stainless steel hangers, even the stainless versions have not shown a good track record. Since many of these bolts were put in over 15 years ago they didn’t have the benefit of the knowledge we have today. Now the climbing community knows that 3/8″ in medium to soft rock is not the best practice. Regardless, all the protection bolts on Junior’s First Bolt have been replaced with 12mm Bolt Products glue-ins donated by the ASCA.
Unfortunately, while enlarging the last hole the drill bit became stuck…regrettably in an unremovable manner. As a result the final bolt was moved approximately 7″ to the right and slightly down. The second bolt was also moved approximately a foot to the right as some hollow rock close the original placement was unclear as to whether or not it was superficial or structural.
