Belay Anchors

[mzvarner]

So i have read enough books on this topic i should be a pro. im terrified of the thought of hangin off an anchor i have built (not that i place bad pro just scary the first few times.) any good links to building these things for some photos. and how do you guys do it. are you using cordelete ( what im leaning toward) slings the climbing rope, etc.

[Alpinfox]

If you've read several books about anchor-building, you should have all the didactic knowledge you need.

 

Now go get some practical experience.

 

Build some anchors 5' off the ground (with soft, safe landing beneath) and hang your body weight from them.

 

If possible, go with someone who knows what they are doing to critique your efforts.

[powderhound]

i think during one of my sleepless nights I found a thread on rc.com that was page after page of anchor pictures with a small description followed by,endless critiques and spray. might try a search over there.

[Mtguide]

I'm a firm believer in the old principle that one of the best ways to deal with any fear is to first, relax; then to confront it with direct action. So,if you've read all these books on building anchors, such as the ones by John Long and others,(one of the best and most up-to-date is the Falcon "Climbing Anchors Field Guide" by John Long and Bob Gaines, and it's the perfect size to throw in the pack and take with you) which are full of good photos, why not try that shit out? Grab your gear and a belay partner, go find a local crag, and spend some hours building some anchors, trying all kinds of variations.

 

First learn how to place all the various types of pro you have, whether cams, chocks, wires, tricams, etc. You won't find cracks or features just exactly like those in the books, but try to approximate some similar setups, and then test them out.

 

Start out at ground level if it makes you nervous to hang on something you've placed, until you've seen how well your handiwork can be trusted. And don't be in a rush about it; maybe just go by yourself for a while as you're learning to place gear, so you don't have some poor belay slave waiting on you, getting bored shitless as you fiddle with trying to get a chock or hex to fit somewhere. Make sure your placements are solid, yet quick and easy to remove, and make sure you understand why they work.

 

Once you feel confident that your anchors can be trusted, do some pitches on short, easy routes to get the feel of placing pro on route, developing your inventiveness as to what's needed in different situations. If you're at a crag where trad routes are described in a guidebook with the type of pro required, you can learn a lot by doing those routes within your level of skill, getting up as many as you can until you begin to understand why someone would have made the choices they did about the type of pro used. At the same time you'll be developing a fluidity and feel for placing gear, what it really means to figure out the various directions of pull resulting from a fall and how to equalize expected fall forces on an anchor, eliminating rope drag and potential hangups, eliminating wasted motion and getting a sense of what to carry for a route.

 

By the time you've done even a dozen routes, you'll be well on your way, continuing to build your own personal repertoire of improvisation and adaptability to the features and conditions you encounter. Continue to read, everything from books to the Tech Tips in Climbing magazine, to ideas from forums on cc.com and elsewhere, and then go out and practice that stuff, every time you see an new idea, try it out. Read and climb, read and climb, climb and then go back and read, climb some more.

 

One of these days, you'll be on a route somewhere, mind and attention nowhere else but right in the present, focused on the holds, cracks, placements right in front of you, and it'll strike you-- you're hanging off an anchor YOU put in, you're grinning from ear to ear,enjoying the hell out of yourself, maybe on a route YOU are putting up for an FA-- that with all the learning and practice along the way, you didn't just gain confidence in your anchors---you've learned to have confidence in yourself and the decisions you make as a climber. And the door opens a little wider...

 

Now, just so you don't get over confident, never forget to always check things out. Never just throw something in and take it for granted. Take nothing for granted until you're sure. Read "Traditional Lead climbing:Surviving the Learning Years" by Heidi Pesterfield. Keep your perspective, climb hard, stay safe. Best of luck.

 

 

[jared_j]

Great advice on this thread already. I would like to add two things:

 

1. The equalette, advocated by Long / Gaines, is an excellent tool that I use frequently. However, I had to learn by doing that there are a nontrivial number of situations where this is overkill / a hassle / too gear intensive / mucks up the whole anchor area. Examples include a lot of anchors you might encounter as a newer trad climber in moderate alpine climbing contexts - trees, slung chockstones that are massive, etc. Focusing your skill development on having a quiver of tools rather than a straight prescription will make your life easier and also help you be faster and more efficient.

 

2. Think before you belay! Once you've got an anchor set up, and you're belaying a second from the top, stop and develop a plan before you throw 'em on belay. Maybe everyone does this already, but I can remember several circumstances first starting out where I got things in a cluster in a hurry by just throwin' the second on, then bringing 'em up. Specifically, here's the questions I always ask myself:

 

- which side of me/the anchor are they likely to come up?

- where am I going to stack / flake the rope? How can I set up the belay so that the belay strand from the device feeds naturally to this area?

- How are the load and belay strands from the belay device positioned vis-a-vis my connection to the anchor? Will strands flow smoothly? Will I have to be constantly moving my hands around to manage things?

 

Maybe I'm just a dumbass who had to think hard about this stuff, and everyone else has just has it dialed better. I still ask myself these questions before starting, and it makes things work a lot better. I don't know that it is emphasized in the books a lot, which is why I mention it.

 

Have fun out there, man! Learning the self - sufficiency of trad anchor building is a real step forward in ones' climbing career.

[mzvarner]

thanks guys. im feeling much better about it now. i spent the morning at the local crag playing around. it is a scary concept to know that my partners and my own life will be hanging from what i build so its good to get some feed back that im not the only one thats a little scared to start with.

[mzvarner]

also, are there times when you would use a single piece like a big ass solid tree and just throw a sling around it and call it good or maybe a huge bomber rock horn or flake, or would you always back it up with at least one piece.

[jared_j]

There are times when I would belay solely from a large tree or large slung boulder/horn. There are also times when I wouldn't. How exposed are the tree roots? Is the boulder wedged in real good between others, or on a sandy downward slope in the direction of the potential pull of the rope? Are there any other immediate anchor opportunities?

 

Ultimately anchor placement requires some level of compromise / judgement call. There are a wide variety of risk tolerances among climbers. I have seen climbers build anchors that personally I found to be totally overkill, and some that seemed anemic to me.

 

You have to find your comfort zone. The reasonable way to do this, in my opinion, is to start out building anchors you know are totally bombproof or perhaps excessive. You can pare down from there over time as your preferences / tolerances allow. I think this is what most people do.

 

If you get on alpine climbs in the Cascades, there's a lot of belaying off of a single tree or a single horn / block.

[shaoleung]

Healthy trees with few/no exposed roots are great. Horns can be solid, but only if they're deep rooted too. Any rock that is not solidly pinned down or attached to the rock face is suspect.

 

If you doubt it, back it up with a piece or two... be thoughtful and remember that a solid nut can hold up a truck.

[matt_warfield]

If you have any doubts about your anchor or piece placing abilities, spend one day at least with an AMGA certified guide and you will learn a great plenty. It is more expensive than a book but worth the price in my opinion.

[JosephH]

Not sure how we ever survived without books and 'certified' guides though I'm sure a strong dose of common sense and thinking things through at every anchor played a large role in it...

[ivan]

If you get on alpine climbs in the Cascades, there's a lot of belaying off of a single tree or a single horn / block.

chickenhead anchor!

[JosephH]

Slings on horns and chickenheads - yep, that's what this is for (placed right/left directionally such that any pull on the sling tightens the slipknot around the horn):

 

[Jopa]

Is that sometimes referred to as the 'trucker's hitch'?

[catbirdseat]

I just call it a slip knot. When cinched up properly it makes the sling less likely to slide off the chicken head. A girth hitch works too, but you need a much longer sling for that to work.

 

One of the weak points of Ivan's chickenhead anchor is that it might fail if the belayer were to get pulled up from above. The solution is to simply belay from well below the anchor, such that there could be no possible fall large enough that you'd be pulled up enough for the anchor to fail. I had to do that once on Mixup where all I could get was a big horn with a cordellette looped over it.

[MarkMcJizzy]

I had to do that once on Mixup where all I could get was a big horn with a cordellette looped over it.

 

Wow, that's intense

[LostCamKenny]

Wow lots of great input here - I almost feel foolish trying to add my two cents. Regardless... No matter how comfortable you may feel with your gear you should keep in mind that he/she who follows you must be able to remove that gear. You always want to keep your follower in mind and not just place gear randomly. Think about where you are placing from and how easy/difficult it will be for your second to pull it out. Bomber gear is great, but don't overdo it. A great place to practice is at the Chemistry Slab out at Carver. There are several routes that don't exceed 40 feet in height that rate at 5.7 or easier. I can't count the number of times I've sewn up Smooth Operator, Spear Fishing in Bermuda, and Leaning Uncertainty - Leaning Uncertainty makes a great introduction to 5.7 trad!

 

The bottom line is practice WELL BELOW your level and don't rush yourself. Remember: You're not mindlessly clipping bolts. It's the real deal when you have to trust your own gear. With time and practice you'll be just fine. And don't be afraid to bail or hang on your gear when you know it's good - everyone has done it at some time or another.

[eldiente]

What are people using to tie up their anchors with? I normally use a 6mm cordellete, however I've also been using a 8' dyneema sling. Pros? Cons? The sling seems a bit less bulkly when on my harness, although I also notice that it is tougher to tie knots in the sling.

[billcoe]

9 times out of 10, for me it's the rope I am tied into. Why carry extra (and usually weaker) gear?

 

BTW, OP, best way to get it figured out is grab a mentor, an experienced person, and shadow them like you work for the gobment. Alternately and as good, take a class. Look into the Mountaineers, local college and/or the Mazamas (location dependant)

[JosephH]

Yep, I suspect most old guys like being tied in with the rope whenever possible...

[ropegoat]

I gotta give props to Jared J for the advice on organizing the belay BEFORE you bring up the second. I can't tell you how many people I've seen (and how many times through the learning process for myself) that this has really bitten people hard. If you are leading, your partner may be less skilled than you, and may struggle with the pitch. Offering a good belay from a disorganized belay stance can be both impossible and dangerous.

[LostCamKenny]

Yep, I suspect most old guys like being tied in with the rope whenever possible...

Gotta agree with ya on this one J... I clove directly from my knot to the anchor - its the fastest and seems like the least complicated way. Plus, there is no extra gear required.

[LostCamKenny]

What are people using to tie up their anchors with? I normally use a 6mm cordellete, however I've also been using a 8' dyneema sling. Pros? Cons? The sling seems a bit less bulkly when on my harness, although I also notice that it is tougher to tie knots in the sling.

 

Personally, I don't really care about the extra bulk of carrying more gear specifically for building my anchors, so I always carry 6mm cord for that purpose. The benefit to this - as I see it - is that if you ever need a length of cord for whatever reason you have it! The speed freaks will disagree with me but I stand but my practice - you'd never see me without my anchor cord! However, if I come to a set of bolts that I can mindlessly clip into for an anchor I will probably use one of my slings. But if it is a trad anchor that I have to build myself the cord is where its at!

[TarHeelEMT]

Yep, I suspect most old guys like being tied in with the rope whenever possible...

Gotta agree with ya on this one J... I clove directly from my knot to the anchor - its the fastest and seems like the least complicated way. Plus, there is no extra gear required.

 

Using a clove hitch, it's also fairly easy to adjust the length of the rope available without ever having to unclip.

[mountainsloth]

alpine equalizers are a very quick way of placing gear, and equalizing them into a single point. everyone should know how to properly equalize their own anchors with a cord, but alpine equalizers are super easy and quick to use.