Anchor Maintenance: The Upper Narrows
During the week of June 2nd, the anchor crew spent a “relaxing” week replacing aging hardware at the Upper Narrows in South Willow Canyon, located in the Stansbury Range of Utah’s West Desert. This pocket of quality limestone west of Salt Lake City offers a great escape and some fantastic climbing.
Our focus during this visit was on the fixed anchors most in need of attention. Some routes had already seen previous upgrades, including ½’’ stainless steel bolts and hangers — in those cases, we simply tightened bolts and realigned hangers. The bulk of our effort went toward replacing original hardware composed of mixed materials, such as plated steel bolts paired with stainless hangers.
During extraction, we encountered numerous rusty, wet bolts across many routes. The rock in the area is extremely porous, which accelerates corrosion — especially when stainless hangers are combined with plated bolts. We’ve seen similar moisture retention behind the rock at Hard Rock in American Fork.
With permission from first ascensionists and local climbers, we made careful updates where needed while preserving the original character of the climbs. For example, the route ATV was slightly reworked to better accommodate the natural line left of the original bolts.
Routes like TKO and the Texture–TKO linkup still need a return visit to complete all necessary updates. The Narrows will see Round 2 in the near future.
In the meantime, enjoy the upgrades!