Anchor Building Practice

[rettro96]

Hi,

I am looking for any ideas for practicing building climbing anchors at home. I thought I may be able to build something with a peg board or piece of plywood to practice knots, equalization, and rigging different pro. Any ideas? Pictures? etc. Thanks

[rob]

That's cool, I used to do this stuff all the time. I'm assuming you're talking about actually rigging the anchor, not setting the pro, right? For practice setting protection, you should actually go find some rock.

 

For practice with the ropecraft part and equalizing, etc. I found the best thing was to just walk around the house and use whatever I found -- this was most like real-life where sometimes things are not in optimum positions. For example, create a 3-point anchor using a couch-leg, the lamp post and the cat (or whatever).

 

Creating a peg board is an interesting idea; I was way too lazy for anything like that.

 

Are you tying knots in the dark with your gloves on yet? That's fun.

[yasso1am]

 

For example, create a 3-point anchor using a couch-leg, the lamp post and the cat (or whatever).

 

 

Hilarious.

[rettro96]

Thanks for the tips. Yes my focus is really on ropecraft rather than setting of pro.

 

That's cool, I used to do this stuff all the time. I'm assuming you're talking about actually rigging the anchor, not setting the pro, right? For practice setting protection, you should actually go find some rock.

 

For practice with the ropecraft part and equalizing, etc. I found the best thing was to just walk around the house and use whatever I found -- this was most like real-life where sometimes things are not in optimum positions. For example, create a 3-point anchor using a couch-leg, the lamp post and the cat (or whatever).

 

Creating a peg board is an interesting idea; I was way too lazy for anything like that.

 

Are you tying knots in the dark with your gloves on yet? That's fun.

[Wastral]

Well, A guy I know Carl Stanky, used to practice tying the knots in the shower with the water on cold.

 

Not sure how much it helped him though.

 

Then again he also slapped a piece of plywood across his lap, grabbed the SkillSaw and nearly killed himself as said powered saw cut both of his legs 1 inch deep...

 

Genius in many flavors!

[Mtguide]

I've used the shower rod or the overhead water pipes in the basement to put slings or a rope over.(You don't, of course want to hang your body weight on anything like that--I just did it for practicing the knots). Now I have a great tree in my backyard with branches that provide several different anchor points. And it's high enough and strong enough to hang on in harness and slings while rigging an anchor or equalizing, etc.

 

Minus any of that, a pegboard sounds like a great idea, maybe you could make it fairly substantial, like a gym-type climbing pegboard (using fairly large dowels, say, like closet rod, about 1-1/4" diam.) and even mount it on a wall if you've got someplace suitable.

You'll probably have to use a double thickness of 3/4" plywood, or else use pieces of 2x6 mounted to a plywood backing, to provide holes deep enough for the pegs to hold securely, otherwise I think they might want to slip out. And you'll want to angle the holes down and in, so the pegs are angled up slightly, to help hold under your body weight. I'd put the whole thing together using substantial screws like outdoor decking screws with a larger aggressive thread. #9 x 1-1/4" GuardDog screws for holding a double layer of ply together, or use #9 x 2" for mounting 2x6 to a single layer of ply, driving the screws from the back of the ply. Use plenty of screws, spacing no less than 6" or 8' apart.

 

I'd probably size it to fit over a doorway, about 3' wide or so, and at least 10" to 12" high at minimum, about the size of a hangboard; but you can make it any size to fit what space you have available. Sand off any sharp edges left after your cuts to avoid splinters. If you're mounting it over a door, you can be assured that there's a big header over the door and a doubled stud on each side of the door to screw into. If you're going to mount it somewhere in the middle of a wall, you'll have to get a stud-finder to locate the studs in the wall so you've got something solid to mount to. And for mounting the board you'll want to use those same decking screws in # 9 x 3" or 3-1/2" size. A good cordless drill/driver or impact driver, Makita, Ridgid, Dewalt, whatever, will make the whole job easier, really pretty much indispensable. I'd hate to drive all those screws by hand, it'd take you forever.

 

Use sawhorses to cut your ply on, or you can just lay some 2-bys on the ground or floor to hold the ply up off the surface while you cut. And you only need to set the saw blade about a 16th or an 8th" deeper than the thickness of the ply, same with cutting your 2-by material. Much safer than cutting it across your legs...sheesh! Unbelievable; don't wanta climb with that guy... And, if you have access to one, it's much safer and easier to cut your dowels with a chopsaw or miter saw, than using a Skilsaw. If not, just use a handsaw. You need your fingers to tie knots and climb.

[Choada_Boy]

+1 on equalizing furniture legs and stuff around the house. It may sound dumb but it was a great way for me as a noob to get the hang of things before I had a rack.

 

Once I got some gear, I spent a lot of time at the base of crags fiddling in nuts and setting up anchors. Pick a spot and set something up. Analyze, break it down, pick a new, more challenging spot, and repeat. Great way to internalize the mechanics before you get on the sharp end.