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Worst belay anchor you've ever set up?


Swedish_Chef

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Mine was a #2 knifeblade and a sling around a small rock horn. I watched quite nervously as my 190 lb partner followed the pitch. When I lead the next pitch he discovered that the rock horn (like everything else) was actually loose.

 

So let me hear all about stinky micronuts, pound-in tent poles and tied-off horsecock. [big Grin]

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rapped off two desert varnish plates in the infamous solar slab descent gully. the ropes did not reach the next ledge so we broke off another varnish plate from a nearby face, wedged it in a crack, slung it, and rapped off that to the ledge.

 

if you come to my SLIDESHOW NOVEMBER 6 at GRANDVIEW SCHOOL IN VANCOUVER [Roll Eyes] I might just show a picture of that!

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Back in the days of 45 meter ropes (hey, remember?), I climbed a pitch on orbit (maybe the 3rd pitch) and reached a belay with two rusty 1/4" bolts with no nuts or hangers at a 6-inch ledge. I looped these studs with cable and yelled to my buddy not to fall (weighed 'bout 40 lbs more than I did back then). Sure enough, he couldn't hear me and fell off. Fortunately the pitch has enough rope drag that I didn't even feel his weight (although he fell 5 feet with rope stretch).

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After climbing 'Gandalf's Grip' out at Broughton's Bluff with one of DFA's trad-inclined friends, we discovered that there was no rap anchor at the top. Not knowing exactly which way to hike off and not wanting to tackle whatever muddy trail led down from the top in our climbing shoes, we looked for some natural feature to rap from. Fortunately, there was a tree very close to the lip of the crag. Unfortunately, the tree was about 1" in diameter, and growing in a rather thin layer of dirt and moss. It didn't seem to be going anywhere, though, so we used it, and, hey, it worked!

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While rappelling Field's chimney on the Diagonal (Long's Peak, CO) in search of a butt pack launched off the top of the Diamond with car keys, wallet, etc., one rappel anchor was a solid but cone-shaped spike that was about 1 foot above the base of an otherwise anchorless ledge. The rappel was achieved by basically rolling off the ledge, since any upward force would slip the sling off the spike. Then there was the approaching lightning storm.....

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well... this is an almost....

 

A friend I was climbing with got pretty sketched out by some really loose 4th class one time... so I threw down the rope and set up a quick anchor around a horn. I pounded on it, wiggled it... solid...

 

I was just about to put said friend on belay and I thought to myself "hmmm maybe I should test it one more time... just barely tapped it .. and sure enough it came loose and started bouncning down the cliff missing now super sketched out friend by a few feet.....

 

needless to say found a better anchor shortly there after...

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One time while belaying a partner up the second of a two pitch route,he yelled down that the primary anchor was a little sketchy so he had to back it up. Upon arriving to the top (which was, at the time an affair that pushed my personal limits) I found that the sketchy anchor was a branch off a small tree a litle less than 2 inches in diameter. But in his mind it was offset by a backup, which was another sub inch and a half branch off the same tree.

 

After finishing the route we walked off,while having a discussion.....

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Second mid rappel anchor off of the Temple. Looked pretty bomber to me. My partner went down using the rope as a handline first. I went next....

 

About a 1/3 of the way down the sling broke...

 

And I broke bones in both feet....helicoptered off....now recovering.....

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we'll this one was bomber once i got it in, but my partner took a crevase fall on cadaver gap and we only had pickets (as it was really early) and the snow was fluffy and as i arrested the fall adn started to tak ethe picket out i realized that the picket wouldn't hold(even in deadman position). so i dug and dug and dug...(while holding my partner in the crevasse, and finally hit glacial ice and proceeded to pound the pickett into the ice untill my knuckles were bloody and it was secure...i was soo scared banging that picket in i was shaking... [Eek!] but it was the most bomber picket i ever saw...could barely get it out and had to chop it out with the adze...

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