SAC Anchors II lecture

Chris McGuinness
11/08/06

(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