Questions tagged [climbing-anchors]
Questions related to anchors used for climbing sports, such as rock climbing
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In hybrid ice screws, how are the tip and body joined?
Most ice screws are manufactured from a single material - mostly steel. In recent years, lighter ice screws with an aluminum body and a steel tip have made their appearance in the market:
How are the ...
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How to tie rope around a tree branch with a hanging loop for a punching bag?
I want to hang a punching bag from a tree in my backyard. Since I would only put it up when I need it, I think that using rope would be the best way to not damage the tree while having a "...
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Is there a reasonable way to build a toprope anchor if the only available natural anchor points are greater than 90 degrees apart?
I generally use the Joshua Tree anchor system for toproping, as taught to me by a professional guide. Essentially, a static rope is tied to two anchor points to make a "V" shape of 90 ...
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How to rig a haul bag so I can move it up/down while midair?
I have a fixed vertical line that can be ascended/descended. I need a bag (a bucket with tools, actually) when I'm hanging mid-air, and need to move it up/down. The bag is over 20 lbs / 10 kg so I ...
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Practice for roped climbing using a tree, is this setup safe?
So this is building up to taking my girls (7 & 9) on to joining a climbing club and to get more in to climbing in general on rock faces/quarries, at the moment we use a 15m tree to practice ...
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Top rope installation on an anchor
Let's suppose we have two bolts which are connected with a chain and a ring for rappelling at the top of a climbing route and we would like to install a top rope setup.
I hear on a monthly basis that ...
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Best uses for a twist-lock carabiner
I've been shopping for a tri-state self-locking carabiner for clipping into personal anchors but made a mistake and ordered a twist-lock 'biner instead :)
Since product return is a hassle during those ...
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Redundancy in rappel systems
What is the simplest setup for rappelling that is fully redundant?
The most common system seems to be rappelling off of both strands of a rope passing through two rappel rings on separate anchors. ...
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Can I make a safe climbing-anchor with a 2-ton working-load sling that was meant for lifting vehicles?
I'm new to rope-climbing, I have made some slings to use as false-crotches/cambium-savers/friction-savers that act as my "canopy anchor" when climbing. These were all made with lengths of my 11.7 mm ...
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What are the components of a good climbing kit for recreational tree climbing?
I've enjoyed climbing and cutting trees for many years. I now want to go to higher levels, but safety is a primary concern, because I am afraid of heights.
I'm about to order gear for recreational ...
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Can an overhand loop be used to shorten nylon webbing as a personal anchor?
Is it safe to girth-hitch nylon webbing through my harness tie-in points and then shorten the webbing via an overhand loop (assume it is too long) and clipping the non-bight part to the bolt in the ...
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Is it safe to use a nylon climbing runner/webbing that has a small fray?
I have a 120cm nylon runner that I want to use to tether me to an anchor bolt while cleaning the anchor. The runner has a small fray (pictures below). Is it safe to use?
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What to do when one point in a climbing anchor breaks?
Climbing anchors usually have 2-3 redundant protection points, which distribute weight. So if one point breaks, this will not be a catastrophic failure.
However, what should I do in practice if this ...
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When making an anchor with static rope around a boulder, what knot should I use
If I'm using a natural feature such as a boulder or a lump of rock as part of an anchor by tying a static rope around it, what are the best knots to use? I'm thinking that there would be different ...
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What's the proper way to establish a triaxial connection with carabiners?
I love free climbing but have never climbed with ropes. While reading through this question, I realized I would never have thought of these scenarios, but due to the answers on that post, the physics ...
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How to use a static rope as a tether at the anchor of a top rope climb?
I just recently returned from a course where we utilized a static rope to construct a top-rope anchor from a top-accessed ledge: the system was like that described in this answer - the resulting ...
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Is amsteel blue appropriate for a use as a runner? [duplicate]
Would amsteel blue rope be appropriate for use in anchor building for climbing or mountaineering? I expect it's not very abrasion resistant so it wouldn't be good up against some rock or an edge. But ...
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Lowering other members of a party on belay after rappelling
I, an experienced climber who knows how to rappel, would like to take some people on a scramble route that requires rappelling into a notch. The other people on the trip have standard top rope ...
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Can you clean new bolt holes with water?
When drilling new holes for expansion anchor bolts, you need to clean the dust out of the hole before you hammer in the bolt. People will accomplish this by either using a blow tube or a bellows and a ...
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Which option should you use for a multi-pitch climbing anchor after traverse?
I am going to do a climb that has a long lateral traverse
I drew up three options, and Option #2 seems to me to be preferable to the other options.
What do you think the best option is for this ...
user9194
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How much stronger is a vertical v-thread than a horizontal one?
I was out ice climbing with a group today and they were using three-point anchors using two vertical v-threads (abalakovs) with one backup ice-bolt. They said the vertical v-threads (one hole over top ...
- 53.5k
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Extending a two bolt anchor with one sling?
I took some kids out climbing last night at a small crag popular for top roping, but I wasn't too impressed with their choice of anchor placements, or lack of additional hardware considering their ...
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Top Rope Anchors - is a figure-8 on a bight stronger or just easier to untie than an overhand knot?
I've been learning to build basic TR anchors; a sling clipped to two bolts with a master point in the loop of a figure-eight on a bight. While learning this I struggled to get a tidy figure-eight ...
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How can I transfer my weight to a toprope anchor at the bolts?
I'm going to the crag with some friends in a few days and I plan to lead the first route, clip into a quickdraw on one of the anchor bolts and build a top rope anchor on the bolts. I've been ...
user9194
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Why static rope rather than webbing for toprope anchors?
I'm signed up for an AMGA single-pitch instructor course (to learn how to teach other people single-pitch climbing). One of the pieces of gear we're supposed to bring is a 30 meter static rope "for ...
user2169
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Is a single strand of webbing unacceptable for climbing anchors?
While browsing the DumbAnchors blog, I came across a post which points out the poor use of a single strand (not a loop) of webbing for building top rope anchors.
The blogger doesn't say why these are ...
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Why are these acceptable and safe anchors?
Everyone knows redundancy is chief when building climbing anchors. However, I have seen several types of anchors that don't appear to be fully redundant due to a single ring providing the master point....
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Is this anchor set up right?
I was just looking at an article about an expedition on Eiger.
I came across this picture.
Is this setup right?
For more info on the expedition: http://www.markseaton.com/stories/eiger.htm
Kudos ...
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Bolting Canyons, can your bolt be under water?
So I've been thinking about developing some canyons around here for canyoneering, but while scrambling up Red Rocks Canyon in Waterton and looking at all the large logs jammed rather high up in the ...
- 53.5k
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How long of cord do I need to make a three-point cordelette?
I was looking at buying some cord to make a three point cordelette (I am American, after all). I see that REI sells a pre-cut length of 7mm cord that is 6.4 meters (21 feet), but one of the review ...
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Learning Anchors - How is single cordelette loop anchor redundant?
I have climbed for a long time, but I want to switch to cordelette anchors for speed on multipitch. My main concern is in redundancy with the cordelette.
I mentally check the anchor for any problems, ...
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Rappelling from tree
My friend and I were on a tough sport climb and couldn't make it to the chains. Thus, we had one quickdraw still on a bolt and we didn't want to leave this behind, (a quickdraw on this same project ...
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What is an equalette anchor?
When setting up belay there are many ways to connect the anchors. One way is called equalette and is supposed to adapt to a certain extent to the direction of pull.
How is such an equalette ...
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V-threads (Abalakov): How many holes are too many?
V-threads, or Abalakov threads (after the inventor Vitaly Abalakov), can be tricky to make (especially left handed in the dark...), but when you miss the mark on your first attempt, or second attempt, ...
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Is it ok to use rolled aluminum descending rings in permanent anchors?
Rolled aluminum descending rings like the SMC Descending ring are light (11g) and cheap ($3) which makes them great for carrying and leaving behind on long descents, but in my mind they are disposable ...
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Should I be using Dyneema slings for lead climbing anchors?
I've seen a few of these comparisons around but I've always struggled to make sense of them.
At the moment I do quite a lot of Alpine style routes (lowish grade (HS), long multi pitch routes, ...
user2766
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Avoiding building a belay anchor too low down
Sometimes when I'm trad climbing it seems really tough to avoid an awkward belay, and a common type of awkwardness is when the belay device ends up too low. Below is a drawing of a situation I was in ...
user2169
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How should I choose between setting up a Cordelette or an Equalette climbing anchor?
I was going through anchoring techniques and I came across this well-received question:
Anchor without cordelette?
How should one decide when to go for a Cordelette or an Equalette?
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Why are unequalised anchors acceptable for fixed-point belay systems used while ice climbing?
The Association of Canadian Mountain Guides demonstrate Fixed-Point belay systems in this video.
Fixed-point belay systems as demonstrated make no effort to equalise the loading on the two anchors, ...
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Why should the angle in a rope attached to two anchors be 60 degrees or less?
This question asks how to set up a top rope anchor. It states that No angle of tension shall exceed 60 degrees. Why?
user2766
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Anchor without cordelette?
I have the John Long book on climbing anchors and also a couple of others that describe the subject more briefly (Pesterfield, Traditional Lead Climbing, and Freedom of the Hills). When it comes to ...
user2169