SAC Anchors II lecture

Chris McGuinness11/08/06

(Original slides by Clint Cummins, modified by Chris McGuinness)

What we’ll cover

• 0. Knots

• 1. Placing Gear

• 2. Constructing Gear Anchors

• 3. Multipitch Climbing Sequence

• 4. Multiple Rappels

• 5. Where to go from here (transition from toprope/bolted to gear climbing)

What we won’t cover

• Actual climbing techniques (jamming, chimneying, etc.)

• Leading

0. Knots

• Overhand on a bight

• figure-eight on a bight

• water knot

• Double fisherman

• girth hitch

• clove hitch

• Munter hitch

• prusik

Double Fisherman

Clove Hitch

1. Placing Gear

• General concerns:

• rock quality (hardness, fractures / thin flakes / loose pieces, sand/dirt/leaves/moss/grass)

• surface area contact

• direction of pull

• ease of removal

Gear types

• Fixed:– Trees– Rocks (horns/boulders, tunnels)– Bolts + Pitons

• Removable:– Nuts (Stoppers, Hexes)– Cams (Camalots, Friends, TCUs, Aliens)– Tri-Cams

Trees• Preferably living• Ideally the size of your

leg• Sling as low down as

possible

Horns, Flakes, Tunnels

• Pay special attention to rock quality• Girth hitch feature securely, and be aware of the

possibility of the sling getting pulled up by the rope

Fixed Gear

• Inspect gear before just clipping– Pitons get old, rusty and can break– Fixed nuts are often not as fixed as they appear

• Generally a visual inspection, followed by a good tug while observing if the piece wiggles around is sufficient

Bolts

From ASCA (American Safe Climbing Association)

Hex nut - surface area

More Hexes

Stopper - sizing + orientation

Cam - placing or removing

Camalots - selecting size

Good - Strong + stable Not so good - unstable Bad

Friends - selecting size

good Not so good bad

Friend sizing - smaller crack

Too tight (hard to remove) good Not so good

Clipping gear in anchor or lead

• Orient biner so gate does not touch rock

• Do not load biner over rock edge - use sling

• Do not girth hitch sling directly to cable of nut or narrow bolt hanger - could be cut

• Do not load solid shaft of Friend over edge

• Avoid loading cable of TCU over rock edge - could be bent permanently

Tri-Cams

2. Constructing gear anchors• SRENE =

– Solid (invididual placements)– Redundant (independent)– Equalized – No Extension (if piece fails)

• Add: – Efficient (simple, fast)– Stable (robust to movement / changes)

Standard placement counts

• 3 strong placements, at least one multidirectional for lead anchor

• say 1/100 chance of random failure due to unobserved factors. If placements are independent, then:

• 1/10,000 chance of failure for 2 placements

• 1/1,000,000 chance of failure for 3 placements

# of anchor pieces - exceptions

• 2 “good” bolts:• good = 5/16” or larger, not rusty• suspect = surface/smooth rust or 1/4”• bad = corroded/pitted rust and 1/4”• 1-2 good trees (still use 2 slings/biners)

• more than 3 pieces? Too complex, unless some are weak; violates Strong rule, but is sometimes unavoidable

Joining pieces A: Clove hitch

Joining pieces B: slings

Joining pieces C: Cordelette

Joining Pieces D: Equalette

Joining placements in anchor• A. Clove hitches on climbing rope• +: strong, quick, no extra gear needed• -: questionable equalization, must retie if not swinging leads• B. Slings (with knots or clove hitches to adjust)• +: good for toproping, 1-2 points to clip on leads• -: reduces slings available for next lead, hard to equalize well• C. Cordelette• +: single point to clip, good for leading in blocks• -: requires carrying extra 1-2 pieces of gear, may not be long

enough to reach all placements• D. Equalette• +: Same advantages as cordelette, but better equalization• -: Takes additional time if limiter knots must be retied

3. Multipitch climb sequence

• Safety on approach (rope up on demand)

• Tie in and check knots/harnesses

• Bottom anchor if exposed ledge, leader outweighs follower, or ledge fall possible

• Location of belay anchor (to side)

• Clipping to belay anchor

• 2 Clove hitches, or Daisy chain + 1 clove

3. Multipitch sequence (cont’d)

• Stacking belay rope (and second rope)

• Lead belay position

• Feed out rope; some slack for quick clips

• Space to bring braking hand to side/back

Special risk - Factor 2 Fall

• Problems:

• A. High force on belay anchor - could fail

• B. Difficult to hold leader fall. Friction of rope running over biner makes 50% easier!

• Solutions:

• A. Clip rope through quickdraw on anchor

• B. Leader places 1-2 strong pieces early

4. Multiple rappels

• Four main risks:

• A. Rappel anchor fails

• B. Rappel off end of rope (sometimes due to uneven length ropes)

• C. Loose rock knocked by rope onto climbers

• D. Ropes hang up during pull

Munter Hitch

5. Where to go from here

• Transition from toproping / bolted climbing to gear climbing

• Practice placing gear• Practice crack climbing skills• Make a list of climbs you want to do• Find partners with similar abilities and

goals (or more experienced, occasionally)• Start leading easier climbs