SAC Anchors II lecture Chris Mc Guinness 110806

SAC Anchors II lecture Chris Mc. Guinness 11/08/06 (Original slides by Clint Cummins, modified by Chris Mc. Guinness)

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 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