Alpine Tips
How to avoid edge loading carabiners
Sometimes when anchor building, carabiners can become loaded across the edge of a rock. This makes the carabiner much weaker, not good! Here are two ways to solve this problem.
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Scenario: you’re building a multi piece gear anchor. You place a cam in the perfect spot but . . . Bummer, the racking carabiner is being loaded over the edge of the crack or some other non-optimal way.
(This might also happen when sport climbing: if route developer drilled a bolt in the wrong place, and your quickdraw carabiner is loaded over an edge.)
Why is edge loading a carabiner bad?
It can dramatically weaken the carabiner, as in breaking around 3-4 kN rather than the rating of 22+ kN!
The carabiner gate might start rubbing and opening against the rock, which you never want to have happen.
Not good! Whaddya do?!
(Apologies for the not-so-great photos, they’re screen grabs from a video I made about this.)
Here are two ways to handle this.
Method 1: basket hitch
Basket hitch a sling to the cam sling or thumb loop. Now the sling is loaded over the edge of the crack, not the carabiner. Much better!
You could put a girth hitch on the cam sling instead of a basket hitch. (The girth hitch is less strong, but certainly strong enough for any load you're going to encounter and recreational climbing.)
Simply push the racking carabiner off to one side and ignore it; you don't need it for the anchor.
Method 2: Tie an overhand knot in the sling and clip below it
If you don't have enough material to make a basket hitch, try this.
Tie an overhand knot in the sling (or one leg of the cordelette). Pass a loop of the sling through the cam sling or thumb loop, then clip it below the knot as shown below.
Now, the purple sling is loaded over the rock edge, and not your carabiner. Nice!
Want to see my video demo of the overhand knot trick?
How about the test results of how bad edge loading actually is?
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Snapgate or locking carabiners on anchors?
When and where is the best use of locking carabiners on an anchor? On the gear or bolts? On the masterpoint? Is it a multi pitch anchor, or a toprope? Can I use lockers on “half” of the anchor? It's a contentious and important discussion, so let's take a look.
This article was written with collaboration from AMGA Certified Rock Guide Max Lurie. Connect with Max on Instagram, @alpinetothemax and his website.
A common question for climbing anchors: should I use locking carabiners on the bolts/gear?
It's an important topic, and there are some strongly held opinions on this, so let's have a closer look.
Short version:
For multi pitch climbing, using snapgate carabiners on the bolts or gear is acceptable.
For top rope climbing, it's a generally accepted standard in the guiding and teaching world to use locking carabiners on the anchor and master point.
We all get to choose an acceptable level of risk. Try to understand the realistic, and not imagined, risks of your methods.
Before we get into the details, let’s look at some bigger-picture concepts:
If you have a single life-critical connection, then a locking carabiner is good practice. (For example, the rope and your belay device, and your rope or tether connection to the anchor.)
If your anchor is “unattended”, like for a toprope, then locking carabiners can be more important.
If your anchor is “attended”, like a multipitch climb with someone next to it the whole time, with hands and/or eyes on the anchor, locking carabiners are generally not required.
It's helpful to understand the difference between perceived risk reduction and actual risk reduction.
The argument of, “I want to reduce my risk as much as possible, so I use lockers everywhere on my anchor”, is a bit simplistic. How far do you take that? Do you use lockers on the first couple of quickdraws when you’re sport leading? Steel carabiners are much stronger than aluminum ones, so do you use steel carabiners? I'm guessing the answer to both of these is no for just about everybody.
It's good to have a solid understanding of the capabilities and limitations of your gear, and let those guide your decision rather than emotion, hearsay, and “that's-the-way-I-learned-it”.
Be aware of generally accepted best practices among guides and industry professionals. Also be aware that what might be standard practice in one industry, such as using triple action lockers for say tree/arborist work, does not necessarily mean it's also good practice to use that same gear for recreational climbing.
The snapgate crowd says:
Totally fine to use them on the anchors.
The failure of any single non-locker would not cause catastrophe.
What's the realistic mechanism of failure for a snapgate carabiner? Any mechanism that could cause them to both fail at one time is so incredibly unlikely that using them is acceptable; each carabiner is connected to a separate independent strand of the anchor.
On a multi pitch anchor that is “attended”, any potential problem can be hopefully noticed and fixed right away.
Side note, it makes no difference whatsoever which direction the carabiners face when clipped to the anchor points. They can both face right, face left, face each other or face opposite, it makes no difference. The concept of “opposite and opposed” carabiners applies at a masterpoint, not when clipped onto the the bolts.
There's another way to think about it. If you build a trad anchor with, say, 3 cams, most people would be fine with using the snapgate racking carabiners already on the cams.
If you wanted lockers everywhere, and built a three piece anchor on a multipitch, you’d probably have to carry about six extra lockers (three for the leader and three for the previous anchor) which is . . . maybe a little ridiculous?
So, if you’re cool with using snapgates on your cams when building a gear anchor, logic says you should also be comfortable with them when building a bolt anchor.
What are some of the arguments in favor of using lockers everywhere?
How about using lockers on the bolts for a top rope anchor?
What does an AMGA Certified Rock Guide have to say about this?
How does the economics principle of “the law of diminishing returns” factor in?
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Protect your fixed rope from abrasion with a sling
If you have a fixed rope (either for a rappel or anchor) and it's loaded over an edge, you risk damaging it. Here's one method to easily move the load onto a sling and away from your rope.
I learned this #CraftyRopeTrick from AMGA Certified Rock Guide Adam Fleming. Connect with Adam on Instagram, @adam.fleming.climbs
Anytime you have a fixed rope that's loaded over a ledge, (for a rappel, rigging rope, or maybe something else) you run the risk of abrading your rope. The chances or damage increase if the rock is abrasive and/or the edge is fairly sharp.
Here's a trick that saves your rope, using gear you probably already have. Use a “sacrificial” sewn sling, cord, or tubular webbing.
If using a sewn sling, you can tie an overhand knot in each end of the sling, creating two redundant strands.
Consider using (old school) 1 inch webbing. It's pretty burly, inexpensive, and is a good application for this trick.
Keep the amount of rope that's isolated by the sling fairly short. If both sections of the sling are cut, the load is going onto your rope, and you don't want that to be shock loaded. (In the photo, it's a bit too long, whoops . . .)
Inspect this sling carefully after you're done and toss it if it shows any abrasion. That's why a nylon sling or cord might be better than Dyneema; it’s less expensive.
Want to see a video I made on how to rig this? How about some other options to protect your rope from abrasion?
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Protect a fixed rope with a rebelay
If a fixed rope is loaded over an edge, it might get damaged. Here's a simple technique to save your rope: the rebelay.
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When rigging a fixed rope, it's very important to protect the rope from being loaded over any sharp or abrasive edge.
Repeatedly loading the rope (from rappelling, taking falls when top rope soloing, and especially ascending) could damage it. Ropes often get loaded over edges on big walls, because the belay is usually on top of a ledge and not beneath it.
One way to protect your rope: the rebelay.
Rebelays have long been used by cavers, who know how to take good care of fixed ropes. Rebelays can also be useful in some climbing applications, such as big walls, instructional settings, or rescues.
A rebelay is simply adding an additional anchor(s) below the potential abrasion point. This secondary anchor can be SOLID gear you place, or a bolt.
Tie a bight knot (a butterfly works great, because it's usually easy to untie after loading) and clip it to this rebelay point.
Now, the weighted rope is on the rebelay, and not the primary anchor. All of the rope above the rebelay is slack, so it can't be damaged if it runs over an edge. Nice!
Want to learn how make a rebelay with gear, how to ascend past one, and see a video on rigging it? (Sure you do!)
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Rope anchors: the Alex Honnold anchor
Here's a fast and simple method to build an anchor using the rope, typically on two good bolts. (Alex says it's his favorite, so that's what I'm calling it. =^)
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Did you realize halfway up the pitch that you left your long anchor sling with your partner down below? Whoops! Better have a Plan B.
Here’s one of several options: use the rope.
Did Alex invent this anchor style? No, climbers have been using this for decades. But, Alex said in an interview that this is his favorite style of anchor for roped multipitch climbing, so that's what I'm calling it. =^)
(Note: one of Alex's regular partners told me that Alex typically belays with a Grigri and not a plaquette style device like shown in the photo, but the basic anchor set up is still the same.)
This anchor is a fine choice when you have a pair of decent bolts.
Note that the belayer is not on the equalized portion of the anchor. They’re clipped directly to one bolt, and indirectly attached to both. The belayer has redundancy, but not equalization.
With properly placed bolts that can each hold well over 20 kN, this shouldn’t be a problem.
This is one of LOTS of ways to make an anchor with the rope. Here are a few more.
Benefits of building an anchor with the rope:
Typically uses the minimal amount of gear. No need for extra slings, cords, or untying slings with knots when you’re done.
Uses the strong and stretchy rope, which you always have. Strong and stretchy are good things to have in an anchor! (Even if you prefer making anchors with a sling or cord, you might not always have those, and it's good to have some alternatives.)
Downsides to building an anchor with the rope:
It works best if you’re swinging leads on a multipitch climb. If one person is doing all the leading (aka block leading), or if this is the last anchor at the top of a climb and you’re transitioning to rappel, it may be better to craft an anchor from a sling or cordelette so you have both ends of the rope to work with. (Even if you plan on swinging leads, your partner might decide they don't want to take their turn and you might have to go again, so keep that in mind.)
Rope anchors can make many self-rescue techniques more challenging, because the end of the rope is a component of the anchor. Yes the belayer can can simply untie and they're out of the system, but then they may have a harder time using the rope for anything useful.
If the next (or previous) pitch is a real rope stretcher and you might need every bit of it, this may not be the best choice. (Rare, but it can happen.)
When the leader pulls up the rope on the second, the rope pull comes tight first onto the anchor and not directly onto the second climber. This can create a few meters of potentially unwanted slack when the second breaks down the anchor. The second can clip to one bolt or piece of solid gear with a tether before they remove the anchor, as a possible solution.
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What’s a “series” anchor?
Traditional anchor building teaches trying to “equalize” the load. However, with solid bolts or ice screws, it may be faster and more convenient to build what’s called a series anchor, where all the load goes to one component and the other is a backup.
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Peer review on this article comes from Sean Isaac. Sean is an ACMG (Association of Canadian Mountain Guides) Certified Guide, a former professional climber, and author of the “Ice Leader Field Handbook” and “How to Ice Climb” (2nd ed.) Follow @seanisaacguiding for tech tips. Thanks, Sean!
Series anchor onto vertical bolts. Edelrid Aramid sling on left, rope on the right. (Belay connection to second omitted for clarity.)
On your first day of Climbing 101 class, you probably got the concept of equalization drilled into your head - always try to distribute the load (more or less equally) among all components of the anchor. This is still about the only technique taught in most every how-to book I’ve ever seen. Overall, this is still a valid approach, especially with trad anchors, made with stoppers, cams and maybe pitons.
However, it’s not an absolute rule when it comes to using two reliably solid pieces, such as bolts or ice screws.
There’s a whole other genre of anchors, known as a “series” anchor, where all of the primary load goes to ONE anchor component. The second component of the anchor is used only for redundancy, as a backup in the extremely unlikely event that the first bolt were to fail. There’s no attempt at equalization/load distribution. Redundancy, yes. Equalization, no.
So, how can we get away with ignoring equalization, one of the cardinal rules of anchor building? Because modern bolts and hardware are so ridiculously strong (well over 20 kN for each one when properly placed in good rock) that there’s no requirement to try to equalize forces. In many cases with good bolts, it can be faster and more convenient to build a series anchor.
Series anchor overview
As a general guideline: if you have two unquestionably strong bolts, consider a series anchor. Anything other than that, consider a distributed anchor.
Series anchors are best made with two components; three or more is tricky.
Series anchors work on horizontal, vertical or diagonal bolts or ice screws. The vertical or diagonal are preferred. These can be hard to find in North America.
Series anchors are more common in Europe. They are endorsed by the German Mountain and Ski Guides Association (“Verband Deutscher Berg und Skiführer” or “VDBS”). Here's a detailed article covering series, and other interesting anchor flavors.
If you have vertical bolts, make the master point on the bottom bolt. If the bolts are horizontal, make the master point on the bolt where your second will approach the anchor.
A series anchor does not provide a shelf, so all of your clip in points get kind of scrunched together.
You can make a series anchor with a sling tied with a double loop bowline on a bight, a double loop figure eight, or with the rope.
An advantage to using a sling is that you can easily transition to a fixed point lead belay on the next pitch. (That is a whole other topic, which I cover extensively in this article.)
How strong a ring loaded bowline in Dyneema?
Double loop bowline in Dyneema sling being ring loaded, breaks around 20 kN. From HowNot2 (about 6:30 in the video). A belay loop usually breaks around 15 kN, so think about that for a moment . . .
The series anchor is definitely not a new concept! Check out this classic photo from the early days of Yosemite climbing, which I caption as” “I’m so happy to still be alive after jugging this rope connected to a few RURPs strung together by clove hitches . . . (Photo by Dave Diegelman, climber, Dale Bard, Sea of Dreams, El Capitan, 1978)
Photo credit: Dave Diegelman
When considering how strong an anchor needs to be, it’s good to keep in mind the realistic forces it might be required to hold. Petzl did some very nice studies on this, showing what real world realistic forces are when you measure actual climbers instead of static weights in a drop tower. I have a whole article in that that, read it here.
Below is a great diagram from Petzl. If your French is a little rusty:
gray dot = force on the top piece of gear
blue dot = force on the climber
black dot = force on the belayer
The three different columns indicate different fall factors: 0.3, 0.7, and 1.0.
Even when catching a significant fall factor 1, the force on the bottom anchor is only about 2 kN, quite low! That’s good!
If you are belaying up your second and keeping the rope reasonably tight, the force should never get above 1 or 2 kN. Given this, trying to equalize that load between two bolts that can hold 40 kN combined may seem unnecessary.
FALL FORCES IN CLIMBING. IMAGE: HTTPS://WWW.PETZL.COM/US/EN/SPORT/FORCES-AT-WORK-IN-A-REAL-FALL
Let’s look at a few ways to make a series anchor.
Method 1: Series anchor with sling and double loop bight knot.
Typically made with a a 120 cm sling, with a double strand bowline on a bight, shown here. (A double loop bunny ears figure 8 works too.) Don’t worry about ring loading the bowline, it’s fine and it’s been tested. See the video below to learn how to tie the bowline on a bight. It’s a new knot for most folks. Can be on horizontal (photo 1) or vertical (photo 2). Vertical is better, but you gotta use what you have.
Using a sling:
makes block leading easier
simplifies self rescue
allows you to do a fixed point lead belay
Method 2: Series anchor with the climbing rope
You get some minimalist style points. You already have a nice strong dynamic rope, so use it if you like.
Downsides are the opposite of the 120 cm sling:
block leading is harder
self-rescue is more difficult
fixed point lead belay is trickier
Can be on horizontal (photo 1) or vertical (photo 2) bolts.
Here's a another version of the example just above. This one might work well for the very top of a route where there is a walk off, or a large secure ledge, because there's not much place for the second to easily attach when they arrive.
The set up as shown in the photo is not very ergonomic because the masterpoint is low. But you could extend the clove hitch from the harness, and the butterfly knot, if you want to conveniently stand at most any distance from the bolts that you want.
(Inspiration credit, IFMGA Guide Dale Remsberg, from his Instagram post.)
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Horizontal hangers - clip the ring, not the hanger
Most bolt hangers are vertical, and it's fine to clip those. However, when you have a horizontal anchor hanger, such as this one from Fixe, it's good practice to clip the welded ring, and not the horizontal hanger.
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While by far the most common type of bolt hanger is vertical, you may find horizontal hangers (usually with a welded steel ring) that look like this. (These are from the Spanish company Fixe; other companies might make them too.)
The reason for the horizontal hanger is so the ring hangs perpendicular to the rock. This makes it easier to pull your rappel rope.
To be honest, I'm not a big fan of these. The rings can’t be easily replaced when they get worn out, and a downward load can put some strange leverage on the bolt and hanger. A vertical hanger, a quick link, and a welded ring or another quick link does pretty much the same thing and is much easier to replace.
But you will find this flavor of anchor in the wild, so it's good to know what to do with them.
With these Fixe horizontal hangers, it's best practice to clip the ring, and NOT the horizontal hanger.
While most of the time it's not a big deal if you do clip the hanger, with certain carabiners in some configurations, the carabiners can get twisted and torqued in a strange way. Also, if you clip the hanger, it gets loaded from one side, which can cause the hanger to rotate and maybe loosen. So clip the ring, and you’ll be fine.
More reasons to clip the ring:
Depending on carabiner shape, makes it easier to “clip it and flip it”, so you can arrange your carabiner gate facing down and out.
Will never load your carabiner at a strange angle.
Accepts a carabiner of any shape and size.
Allows the ring to be used to more easily set up a rappel, either by you or someone else, (more on that below).
Still need convincing? Check out the photo below.
It's a comparison of the old and new style of Fixe hangers. You can see that the hanger on the right is just barely big enough to hold the ring. In fact, you can't even fit a large carabiner next to the welded ring!
That should tell you that the manufacturer does not want you to clip the hanger! They even designed it that way, so it's hard to do it.
What are even more reasons to clip the ring?
How about a list of the most common objections, and my answers to them
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"Alpine Equalization" Don't clip the thumb loop
A common tactic in building fast alpine anchors with minimal gear is to directly clip one cam to another, without using slings between them. However, there's a right way and a less than ideal way to do it - don't clip the thumb loop. How bad is this? We broke some cams to find out!
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I first heard of this potential issue from AMGA Certified Rock Guide Ben Wu on this Instagram post. Connect with Ben on Instagram, @benwooster, or on his website.
While the “textbook” way to equalize a gear / trad anchor is to use slings or maybe a cordelette, there are some alternatives.
One of them is so-called “alpine equalizing”. Here, you try to share the load between two pieces of gear, typically cams, by clipping one directly to the other. If the crack is cooperative and you can move the cams up or down the crack slightly, you can often get pretty decent load sharing.
However, there's a right way and a not-so-right way to clip the cams to each other.
In the photo on the right, the top cam is clipped to the thumb loop of the bottom cam. If the bottom cam fails under load and transfers all the load onto the top cam, you’re now cross loading the thumb loop in two opposite directions, which it’s not designed to do.
So how bad is it?
Gear-breaking mad scientist Ryan Jenks from HowNOT2 and I tested this. We found that the thumb loop can start to deform at around only 2 kN! The ultimate failure point was around 12-ish kN, which means you're probably not gonna die. Check the video below for all the details!
But you ARE likely to mess up your cam, it's not good practice and there's definitely better ways to clip, so don't do it!
To quote Ryan in the video below, “It's not dangerous, it's dumb.”
The photo on the left shows a better way to alpine equalize: Clip the top cam into the SLING of the bottom cam, not the thumb loop. Another alternative, clip one carabiner into another.
Want to see the video of the break test of cams clipped like this? (Of course you do!)
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Chain link fence for anchor practice
Looking for a convenient and sturdy place to practice climbing anchors in town? Look no further than the nearest chain link fence.
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Want a convenient and sturdy place to practice anchor building, or maybe cleaning and lowering from a sport route? Look no further than the nearest chain link fence.
Want to learn a few more tricks for anchor practice on a fence??
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Vertical anchors 101
While vertically oriented chain anchors are still uncommon in many areas, they offer a few advantages over horizontal anchors. Learn some of the benefits of vertical anchors, and check out some ways to rig them for top rope, multi pitch, and rappel.
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This article was written with editing assistance from Silas Rossi, IFMGA Certified Guide. Connect with Silas at Alpine Logic.
Vertically oriented chain anchors tend to be more common in Europe and Canada than in many parts of the United States, but they are catching on. While they can be rigged for one pitch top rope climbs, they really shine on multi pitch routes, where the rappel (descent) is the same as the ascent.
The photo above shows a “all in one” vertical chain anchor made by the Spanish company Fixe. Note that the hangers, chain and ring are all welded together. While these are popular, they have the small drawbacks of a fixed length of chain, and no way to replace individual components.
An alternative is to build your own vertical chain anchor, using quick links to connect components. Doing this allows adjustment of the chain length to better fit any rock bulges or pockets, and allows easy replacement of individual parts as needed. If you do this, try to use CE climbing rated quick links, that test to about 40 kN, not hardware store links with a questionable lineage and no CE rating. Secure the links with Loctite and pliers. Here's an example of a vertical chain anchor made from separate components.
Fixe recently updated this anchor. There’s now a ring at the top bolt hanger, instead of the welded chain link. See photo below. The example shown in the rest of the photos on this page is the older model.
image: fixehardware.com/index.php/fixe-plx-duplex-ss-1-2-traditional-anchor.html
Where to clip?
It's best practice to avoid clipping the horizontal hanger on the bottom. Most of the time this will be OK. But in some cases with certain styles of carabiner, they can get twisted and torqued in some strange ways. I've never heard of one breaking, but it's usually better to clip the ring or the top vertical hanger.
(There is a long-standing climbing myth that Fi\xe actually recommends doing this. However I’ve looked through their technical documentation and can't find any recommendation, so I think this is not true.)
What are the advantages of a vertical chain anchor?
Simplifies clipping to an anchor that’s redundant and very strong. This is especially helpful when rappelling; clip your tether to any component of the anchor and you’re attached to two bolts instead of one.
Efficient use of materials. It can be less expensive (compared to two hangers, four quicklinks and two chains) and the route setter does not have to deal with cutting chain links or carrying unneeded heavy hardware to the crag and up the route.
Gives the route setter more flexibility in where the anchor goes, especially important in rock with pockets, protrusions, erosion, etc. Choosing to use a vertical anchor can depend on the rock structure and geology.
Zero twisting of the rope when lowering or rappelling, because it’s only going through one bit of anchor hardware. Plus, because the ring always hangs perpendicular to the rock, you're probably going to have an easier rope pull with less friction.
Lower visual impact. This is a concern in some areas.
However, using these anchors can be a bit of a head-scratcher for climbers who are used to a pair of horizontal matched bolts and chains. What should I use as a master point? Can I REALLY trust that ring? The doozy for many people, is it really redundant and/or equalized?! And sheesh, can I ignore all of this confusing hardware and just clip a quad or cordelette to the bolts?
Let's address some common concerns about vertical chain anchors.
“It's not redundant.”
Yes, you’re fully relying on the single ring at the bottom. But it's made of 10 mm welded stainless steel rod. Hownot2.com tested two of these rings. One broke at 90 kN and the other broke at 47 kN. You can see the ring results here in their YouTube video. (Steel ring testing starts at 6:00.)
You can hang (4? 5?) Toyotas from it, and it’s WAY stronger than all of the things you normally rely on that are single point and not redundant, such as your belay loop, your rope, your harness, all of your carabiners, probably the bolt that you just took several huge falls on . . .
Plus, both the ring is right there in the open and easy to inspect, as opposed to a bolt in the rock.
“The load isn’t equalized.”
Correct, it's not. When using the ring, all the load is pretty much on the bottom bolt, with the top bolt backing it up. A modern, properly placed ⅜” (10mm) bolt, or better yet ½” (12mm) bolts should hold more than 25 kN. There's really no need to try to equalize the load between bolts this strong.
“Clipping to the ring clogs it up, so another team can't use it to rappel.”
This often can be true in a more traditional anchor that might have a small chain link or quick link at the bottom. However, with this anchor, and the giant ring, it's not a concern. Even if you're clipped to the ring, there's plenty of room to thread the rappel over the top of your carabiner. Plus, there's a simple technique for a “down” team to pass an “up” team - the up team adds their locking carabiner to their anchor, and the down team clips their rope to it for a rappel. See a full article on that here.
“You’re clipping metal to metal. Clipping a carabiner to a rappel ring can damage it.”
Clipping a couple of locking carabiners to each other and an anchor when you're standing right there to monitor them is totally fine. Plus, your soft aluminum carabiner is never going to put any nicks or scratches on the much harder steel ring. (It's like using a plastic ice scraper on a car windshield; the soft plastic is never going to hurt the much harder glass.)
“What's up with that funky horizontal hanger on the bottom?”
The horizontal hanger allows the welded steel ring to sit perpendicular to the rock, which usually gives an easier rope pull after you rappel. If you had a normal vertical hanger at the bottom, the ring would lie flat against the rock which increases friction, not good.
“This causes tri-axial (3 direction) loading on the carabiner, that’s bad.”
Yes, technically the master point carabiner (see below) is being potentially loaded in three different directions. But, under realistic recreational climbing scenarios, any potential load is going to be very small, like 2-3 kN, and well within the capabilities of the carabiner.
I have a whole article on the issue of tri-axial loading, and Black Diamond did some testing on it. You can learn more here.
There are three basic uses for a vertical chain anchor: 1) rappel, 2) top rope, and 3) multi pitch. Let's look at a few possible rigging examples for each of these.
1 - Rappel
There are several ways to rig this. A convenient one is to clip a master point carabiner into the ring, and then have you and your partner clip to the master carabiner. This moves both tethers below the ring, which can make threading the rope through a bit easier.
That's a big benefit to vertical chain anchors. You don't have to build your own anchor with slings or a quad, or have any concern with clipping two tethers to two different non-redundant bolts.
Because of the single ring, you get zero twisting when you pull your rope. =^)
2 - Toprope
While vertical anchors are perhaps better suited for multi pitch and rappelling, you can of course use them for toproping. (While it's usually fine to lower the last person through the ring, typical climbing etiquette is that you don’t set up a top rope that directly weights the ring. Hopefully you know this already.)
Is someone rappelling the route while you're toproping? Consider this solution: be polite, take a break, and let them rappel on your rope. Generally, it's good practice to yield to the team that is coming down.
Top rope method #1: Clip two opposite and opposed carabiners onto the ring, clip the rope to the carabiners, and lower off. (If you're concerned about the whole load on the single ring, you could leave a quick draw on the next lower bolt, and run the rope through that as a backup.) But remember, that ring is rated at 50 kN.
Top rope method #2 (easy-to-clean): Clip the carabiner on the chain above the ring. Rig the rope through the ring and through the carabiner, and lower off. Here's a link to the procedure and videos on how to do this correctly.
All of the load goes to your carabiner, not the fixed hardware. The last person climbing the route cleans the carabiner and lowers off through the ring. This can be a good approach if the last person climbing doesn’t have the required experience to safely re-thread the rope through the ring and lower off. If you're doing this a lot, a steel carabiner can minimize the wear on your gear. Because the rope is already through the ring, the carabiner does not have to be locking.
Yes, the last person is being lowered through the fixed ring. This is generally considered the best practice, at least in most climbing areas in North America. But hey, if you prefer to rappel, you're welcome to do that instead.
Depending on anchor configuration, this could potentially twist your rope when you lower your partner. In the photo below, notice the carabiner is clipped to a chain link that lies flat against the rock. Doing this orients the carabiner 90°, so it's facing out, same as the ring. This minimizes twists when lowering.
With the whole anchor pretty much in a straight vertical line, you're unlikely to get much twisting no matter how you rig this. If the bolts were more offset, like around 45° angle, then twisting may be more likely to happen.
If you do have twists in your rope, here’s a great way to get them out.
3 - Multipitch
Note: In the next three photos, the extra rope between the leader tie in and the belay device is omitted for clarity.
One approach, maybe the simplest: clove hitch the leader to the ring and belay the second off the ring. No slings, no cordelette, no quad required.
“But wait”, I can hear some of you saying, “doesn't this obstruct the ring for anyone else who wants to rappel past you?” Not really. There's still room to thread the rope, and besides, the rappelling team doesn’t have to actually thread the ring. Learn more at this article.
The leader can also connect to one of the chain links.
Another option: clip a master point carabiner into the ring, and then add two additional locking carabiners to that for the leader’s connection and the belay.
If you have a spare HMS carabiner, this is a good way to go. It has a couple of benefits: 1) slightly less cluster and a bit more room to move around at the anchor; and 2) the ring is a bit more accessible for any other parties rappelling who may need to access it.
Finally, if you want to use the fixed point lead belay, this anchor is perfect for that. Here's one way to rig it.
And, after all that, if you’re happier with a quad . . . you can do that too!
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Quad anchor - 240 cm sling with bowline on a bight
If you have a 240 cm length sling, it can be annoyingly long to use on a two bolt anchor, especially rigged as a quad. Here is a clever way to rig it so your master point is high, and it's very easy to untie after loading: tie it with a bowline on a bight.
The standard quad anchor works great for many anchor setups where you have two reliable bolts or ice screws. Why is the quad cool?
Good load distribution
Minimal extension
Fully redundant
Quick to set up and break down; no knots to untie at each anchor
Super strong (would you believe 40+ kN?!)
Two independent and load distributed master points, which can be very handy
To make a quad, you have several options of materials and length. The original material, suggested by John Long in his book “Climbing Anchors”, was a cordelette. While there's nothing inherently wrong with this, it is big and bulky.
Modern sewn slings are a better choice. There are three lengths you could use for a quad: 120 cm, 180 cm, and 240 cm.
120 cm: too short, unless the anchors are very close to each other.
180 cm: the ideal for most cases, not too short and not too long.
240 cm: tied in a standard configuration is usually too long, putting the master point down low by your waist instead of up by your chest.
However, a 240 cm sling is a very handy piece of gear for lots of other things, and many people choose to carry that instead of a cordelette. You can sling it around a tree, you can equalize multi piece gear anchors, and if you use the clever rigging method shown here, it works great for a pair of bolts.
Rather than the standard method of tying an overhand or figure 8 on a bight to make your loops, instead tie a bowline on a bight. Advantages:
It uses up more material, which usually gives you a higher and more ergonomic master point. In the photo above, notice there are four strands on each anchor carabiner rather than the typical two.
A bowline on a bight is much easier to untie after loading, so at the end of the day you can easily untie your sling and give the material a rest.
This isn’t a standard climbing knot, but it's easy to tie once you get the hang of it. Here's a nice video that shows one way to do it.
Does it matter which way carabiner gates face on an anchor?
Does it makes any difference which way carabiner gates face when you're building an anchor on two bolts? The short answer is no, it doesn't. Clip them in any direction that is convenient. The concept of “opposite and opposed” applies to carabiners on the master point, not when they’re clipped to bolts.
This might be the shortest article on my website. The answer is no.
Carabiner gates can face:
both to the left
both to the right
toward each other
away from each other
It makes no significant difference in the strength or security of your anchor for recreational climbing. The load in every case is along the spine of the carabiner which is the strongest configuration.
There are lots of things to pay attention to when climbing. This is not one of them!
The only time the direction of carabiner gates matters is when you put two of them together, called “opposite and opposed”.
In that case you want to see an “X” made by the gates when they’re open, and you want the spines on opposite sides. Just like the diagram below.
IMAGE CREDIT: HTTPS://WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM/P/CCXMVXDB58S/ / RICHARD DELANEY, ROPELAB, USED WITH PERMISSION
Backside clove hitch: transition to "self-thread" lower
The “backside clove hitch” offers several options for efficient transitions from climbing to descending. Here's one way to use this tool: the second is lowered with an ATC on the anchor and the rope through the anchor hardware. This sets up the rope perfectly for the leader to rappel.
Note - This post discusses techniques and methods used in vertical rope work. If you do them wrong, you could die. Always practice vertical rope techniques under the supervision of a qualified instructor, and ideally in a progression: from flat ground, to staircase, to vertical close to the ground before you ever try them in a real climbing situation.
Transitioning from climbing up to rappelling down can be a complicated and time-sucking part of your day.
The standard method looks something like this:
Each climber uses a tether to clip to the anchor.
Each climber unties from their respective ends of the rope, and (one) threads the anchor.
Each climber rigs for a rappel separately.
This can be awkward at tight stances and often takes a lot longer than necessary, especially with less experienced folks.
There are several techniques to increase efficiency for this going-up-to-going-down transition.
Here’s one: lowering the second climber to set up the rope for the first climber to rappel.
The leader arrives at the top anchor, builds an equalized anchor with a master point (say a quad).
The leader clips their climbing rope with a clove hitch to the master point.
When the second arrives at the anchor, instead of clipping to the anchor hardware with a tether, instead they clip with a clove hitch on the backside of the leader’s clove hitch connection.
This frees up the second’s end of the rope.
The second unties, threads the rope end through the anchor hardware, and re-ties into the rope.
Next, you rig a lowering system for the second, typically with an ATC on the anchor.
Now , when the second is lowered, half of the rope moves through the anchor hardware, which perfectly sets up the next person to rappel. Hence the name, “self thread lower”, schweeeeeeeeeet!
(This is closely related to the backside clove hitch transition to rappel, which I cover at this article.)
Like many things in climbing, this is a much better show than a tell. Watch the two video clips below to see how it's done.
Why lower instead of rappel?
Low angle, blocky, rope grabbing terrain that makes throwing a rope problematic.
High winds, which could cause some big problems if you throw your rope.
You may not know exactly the distance to the next anchors. Lowering can ensure the first person gets there and does not find themself dangling in space at the end of the rappel. (Then you probably need to do the #CraftyRopeTrick of an extended rappel, which we cover in this article.)
Maybe a beginner climber who’s not comfortable with rappelling.
Many climbers are hesitant about being lowered from above. Interesting that these same climbers have no concerns with top rope climbing, when you are lowered from below, so what's the real difference? Yes the rigging is a bit different, and you need to practice that for sure, but in the end it's functionally about the same.
For this to work:
You need to know your descent and be SURE you're able to make it to the lower anchors or ground with at least half of the rope left. (If you just climbed the pitch and the belayer did not pass the middle mark, you should be fine).
On a multi pitch rappel, you need to be sure that the first person down can safely secure themselves to the anchor, which might be a concern with a beginning climber.
Assuming these requirements are meant, you can see from the videos below what an efficient technique this can be.
It might appear that this technique puts extra wear and tear on the anchor hardware, because it seems you're lowering directly through it, which is generally not best practice. Turns out, this is not the case. Almost all of the friction from the lowering is happening on your belay device, and the rope is simply redirected through the anchor hardware that's higher up.
From AMGA Rock Guide Cody Bradford:
Sadly Cody is no longer with us, but his excellent Instagram account is still up, highly recommended for many other climbing tips like this. Rest in peace, my friend.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CbqClsZhOXc/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Nice YouTube short from Summit Seekers Experience showing this technique:
Anchor forces from lowering
Say you’re lowering your partner from a top rope anchor, with the rope running through one carabiner. As your partner descends, what's the load on the anchor? Is it your partner’s bodyweight, 2x their bodyweight, or something else?
The illustrations in this article (shared with permission) come from the excellent website RopeLab, run by Australian rigging expert Richard Delaney. RopeLab has a ton of great material for anyone who wants to dive into ropes, rigging, and mechanical advantage, check it out! There's a fair amount of quality free information, but getting an annual subscription unlocks the entire website. You can also connect with Richard on Instagram and his YouTube channel, where he has loads of concise, informative videos.
These diagrams come from a RopeLab online mechanical advantage quiz, which you can find here.
You’re top rope climbing with your partner. They’re climbing, and you’re on the ground belaying. The rope goes from your harness, up to the anchor master point, and then back down to your partner.
In this common configuration, the load on the anchor can change depending on:
who is holding the rope
if the climber is resting and not being lowered
if the climber is being lowered, through typically a carabiner or two
For example:
Your partner finishes the climb, and calls for take and lower. You lock off your belay device, they lean back, weighting the rope, and you lower them to the ground.
What’s the force on the anchor when you're lowering them? Many people think it has to be twice the weight of the climber. Say the climber weighs 100 kg. You, the belayer, need to counterbalance that force with 100 kg of your own. So that means a 200 kg load on the anchor, right?
Well, turns out it's not quite that simple. Let's look at a few examples to see how this works!
Question 1 - A person (weight 1 kN) is holding their own weight, on a rope that goes through a 90% efficient pulley on an overhead anchor. What is the theoretical force on Anchor A?
IMAGE: ROPELAB.COM.AU
Answer: 1.0 kN
If you’re statically holding your own weight like the diagram, the anchor sees the force of your body weight. It doesn't matter if it goes through a 10% efficient pulley or 50% efficient carabiner, the force on the anchor is going to be the same.
(To add another interesting variable to this, if there's any sort of ledge or friction between you and the anchor, that will further reduce load on the anchor. But for now let's assume the climber is free hanging.)
Question 2 - A climber (weight 1 kN) is LOWERED with the rope running through a 90% efficient pulley. What’s the theoretical (including friction) force on Anchor B?
IMAGE: ROPELAB.COM.AU
Answer: 1.9 kN
The anchor sees the force of the climber, plus the force of the belayer to hold the rope, minus the 10% friction at the pulley. So, the force on the anchor is not two times the weight of the climber. (Yes, top roping through a pulley doesn’t happen in climbing very often, and it can actually be a bad idea if your belayer weighs much less than you do, but we’re using it here as an example.)
Question 3 - A climber (weight 1 kN) is LOWERED with the rope running through a 50% efficient carabiner. What’s the theoretical (including friction) force on Anchor C?
IMAGE: ROPELAB.COM.AU
Answer: 1.5 kN
When lowering, the anchor sees the force of the climber, plus the force of the belayer to hold the rope, MINUS the 50% friction at the carabiner. The friction from the carabiner significantly reduces the load on the anchor. This is why a belayer who’s a lot lighter than their partner (usually) doesn’t get lifted off the ground when they lower their partner from a toprope.
Here's another way to think about it:
When you’re raising something, friction can be your enemy.
When you're lowering something, friction can be your friend.
Here, friction at the anchor reduces the load on the anchor AND transfers less weight to the belayer for them to manage. That’s a good thing!
What are some practical uses for this in the real climbing world?
Rappelling, and lowering yourself, put the same load onto the anchor. If you top out on a 1 pitch climb and find yourself at an anchor you think is sketchy, rappelling might be less risky than being lowered.
Being lowered by your partner will always put more force on the anchor then rappelling or lowering yourself.
Any additional friction in the system, such as the rope running over rocks or ledges, will further decrease force on the anchor.
Top roping through a pulley increases load on the anchor, and can make it more difficult to catch a fall because of the reduced fraction. Don't do this.
It's easy to test systems like this yourself. Just get a barbell plate of a standard amount (a round number like 10 lbs/kg helps) and an inexpensive digital scale like the one below. This scale is about $10.
Anchor hardware systems: "closed" vs. "open"
Anchors with a “closed” metal chain or ring at the bottom require MANY steps when transitioning to a lower or rappel. For single pitch routes, “open” anchor hardware like a hook or carabiner lets the last person to simply clip and lower off; more efficient and lower risk. See some examples, and learn why a major American climbing organization favors the open anchor.
Traditional anchor hardware, at least in most parts of North America, has typically been some combination of chain links, quick links, and/or welded rings.
One term for these is a “closed” hardware system, because the bottom link (where the rope needs to go for you to rappel or be lowered) is closed.
Examples of CLOSED anchor hardware:
Quicklinks with chains
Quicklinks with rings
Fixe vertical anchor. These are great for multi pitch climbs, but not necessarily for single pitch routes. Strong though it is, when that big ring at the bottom wears out the entire anchor may need to be replaced.
However, for single pitch routes, an increasingly popular anchor is an “open” hardware system, also known as a “clip & lower”.
Examples of OPEN anchor hardware:
Anchor (aka “Mussy”) hooks.
“Captive eye” carabiners, which are theft proof (unless you’re a scumbag with pliers.) Many rock gyms have these on all the perma-draws. Those are galvanized steel for indoor use. Stainless steel is strongly preferred for outdoors.
To be clear: generally, it’s best practice with any kind of anchor hardware, closed or open, to toprope on YOUR gear and use the hardware to lower off only for the LAST person. More on that below.
Because the anchor points are “open”, and often facing away from the rock, it is remotely possible to unclip the rope if you were to climb above them and fall at some weird angle. It appears that this was a factor in a tragic accident in the United States in 2023; more on that below. If you stay below the anchor and put a steady load on it as you would when lowering, it should not be a problem.
The best use of open hardware: lowering off one pitch routes. A multi pitch route, closed hardware is preferred, because you were only attaching to the anchor or rappelling down. To rappel you need one end of the rope available, which you thread through the anchor and pull rather than clipping. So, there's no reason for open hardware on a multi pitch.
Note the anchor hooks and carabiners both face outward, not opposite and opposed. There’s a reason for this, more on that below.
Close up of stainless steel captive eye carabiners. About $6 each. Not CE rated, but 3/8 inch / 10 mm marine grade stainless steel, with a breaking load of nearly 5,000 pounds / 2,250 kG. That’s #SuperGoodEnough for a lower off anchor! These particular ones have gates that are quite stiff, which makes accidental backclipping much harder. That’s good!
I got these from usstainless.com.
Ram’s horn / pigtail open anchors
Another style of open anchor hardware is a “ram’s horn”, aka pigtail. More common in Europe, but still quite rare in the United States. They are being used in a few areas, so I thought I’d mention it.
These are typically made from 10 of 12 mm stainless steel rod, and cost about $10 each. They also come in titanium, which wears out faster than stainless steel, but is good for coastal areas. And no, it doesn't twist your rope.
You can get them from team-tough in the US or in Europe from bolt-products. (Reminder: there are no affiliate marketing links on my website. I post links like this as a convenience.)
Simply flip the rope and around each horn and lower off. Does it look sketchy to you? Could the rope magically unclip itself from both horns at once? Pretty much impossible; it’s close to getting-hit-by-lightning unlikely.
Apparently in Europe it's quite common to have just a single horn to lower from, but personally I'm not too excited about that. Here's an accident report from the Austrian Alpine Club about this failing during a rappel, which I'm pretty sure was from just a single point, and not two separate pigtails. The club mentions there have been several accidents related to these but I don't know any other details. Remember, Americans like moi prefer redundant anchor points.
Again, the best use of these is LOWERING from single pitch routes, not as rappel anchors. (Using these doesn’t make much sense to me on multi pitch rappel anchors, because you're already untied from the end of the rope, so a closed ring seems lots more secure.)
From the article:
“After a few serious climbing accidents, we (Austrian Alpine Club) have to advise against using pig tails (see picture) for abseiling. In the event of jerky loading and unloading, the rope can detach completely from the steel bracket!”
Here's another accident report from Austria, not sure if it covers the same incident or not. It's in German.
“The sow tail, which is designed as a deflection hook, is a system that is open at the top and requires correct insertion of the rope as well as the subsequent downward load. If the rope is moved up over the sow tail, it can be unhooked. This danger must be taken into account, especially if the belay with pigtail is positioned below the climber's tie-in point.”
Note the photo below where these are used as a pair. This makes it more secure than just a single one.
image: https://climbingboltsupplies.com/products/bolt-products-rams-horn
Here's an outstanding video from our friends at HowNot2.com showing different ways to rig anchor hooks, some potential problems, and lots more. A good instructional segment starts at 8:30.
Check out this YouTube video by Bobby Hutton (part of the team at HowNot2.com) for more on the ram’s horn. Note in this video he has a very interesting vertical arrangement to the anchor points, rather than two horizontal components. Check the video to learn the benefits of this system.
OK, got it. So what? What’s cool about open hardware for single pitch routes?
My buddy Ryan Jenks at HowNot2.com has a great blog post on this, so I'm gonna borrow a few paragraphs from him (used with permission, of course.)
“Closed systems require climbers to untie their tie-in knot to connect the rope to the anchor to clean a route. This can be dangerous if a climber misses a step or gets confused. Speaking of steps, closed systems require a lot of them. Cleaning a route with a closed system anchor demand knowledge, focus, memory, and organization. Missing any step can be catastrophic. Closed systems make it impossible for the rope to come out of the anchor, this is their main benefit.
Open systems require less knowledge and memory because they remove at least 8 steps when cleaning a route. We think that makes them safer. Open systems also ease traffic jams on popular routes because it is much faster to clean them. The disadvantage of open systems is that it's not impossible for the rope to come out, it's only extremely freakishly unlikely.”
Ryan also put together this great spreadsheet/list on his blog post of comparing the steps involved with different systems. Hint, fewer steps are usually better!
image: https://www.hownot2.com/post/mussy-hooks
Let's talk about anchor hooks, the most common flavor of open anchor.
Below is a photo of some hooks recently retired from one of the most popular single pitch routes probably in all of the United States, “5 Gallon Buckets” at Smith Rock Oregon. Yikes, those look pretty scary, don't they? (Sidenote, I‘ve lowered off these exact same hooks.)
I'm using the term “anchor hooks”, because that’s preferred by the American Safe Climbing Association, rather than “Mussy”. See their comments on this below.
Here's why anchor hooks are great.
They cost about $9 each.
They’re attached with a simple quick link to the bolt hanger, so the bolt never needs to be touched. Just open the quick link and put in a new hook. Fast and easy to replace.
Even these worn out hooks both break tested over 60 kN!
Very long lasting. I have no idea how many thousands of people have lowered off these hooks, but they lasted for many seasons on a very popular route.
Side note: Anchor hooks are typically placed so both gates are facing OUT from the rock. Yes, this means they are not opposite and opposed. Why? See next paragraph.
photo credit: https://www.mountainproject.com/photo/122999681
A cautionary note on anchor hooks
In autumn 2023, there was a fatal accident in Alabama. It involved a beginning climber who was cleaning an anchor hook anchor, that had a locking carabiner added to minimize wear on the hooks. The carabiner was removed, somehow the rope unclipped from the hooks, and she fell.
Short version: for anchor hooks, do NOT add a carabiner on the anchor for the rope. If you do toprope through your own equipment, extend quick draws or slings BELOW the level of the hooks, and put the rope through your own gear that way. This reduces, but does not eliminate, the risk of the above accident happening again.
Also, NEVER have someone clean an anchor who is not 110% solid on the correct procedure. The proper learning sequence should be: 1) instruction on the ground, until the person can demonstrate several times in a row the correct sequence. Then, 2) doing it with an instructor off the ground, hanging at the actual anchor, where they can be directly supervised. (This means NOT yelling instructions from the base of the cliff!)
Here’s an analysis of the accident from IFMGA Certified Guide Karsten Delap.
Here's another video from Karsten showing a few different methods of building an anchor with your own gear, and transferring to the anchor hooks when it's time to lower off for the last person.
So, why are anchor hooks usually placed with both gates out, and not opposite and opposed? I asked the American Safe Climbing Association, and they said:
“Anchor hooks are placed with gates out for a couple reasons. If opposed the inward facing hook tends to gouge into the rock and scar it up, along with orienting strangely to wear much faster on the nose or even get pushed into the bottom of the wiregate. If they are extended with chains to lay flat and opposed the rope gets pinched behind the hooks and wears unnecessarily/grooves the rock.
If the hooks are placed in very overhanging terrain this ceases to be a problem, but the opposition of the hooks still causes more friction on ropes and the hooks themselves, so we feel that because they are being used for lowering and the climber will always be beneath them gates out is the ideal configuration.
Obviously this all is dependent on the climber never being above the hooks - trying to clip into the system from the top of the cliff then downclimbing to set a toprope being a particularly dangerous scenario. There are many ways to dangerously misconfigure any anchor system and there will be no way to protect against all of them, but it is important that when a equipper places any type of anchor they consider how they are normally accessed. We have some guidelines on our Lower Off Initiative page detailing what to do if climbing above, etc.
Also, just as a matter of language, we refer to the CT wiregate hook as an "Anchor Hook" and the old style ones with the crappy gate as a "Mussy Hook", this is commonly misused but we stick to it as there is a difference and the Anchor Hook is purpose built for climbing applications with a stainless steel wiregate.”
Since we're talking about strength of horrendously worn out anchor hooks, let's look at the breaking strength of a NEW anchor hook, a steel carabiner, and a ram’s horn. (Data from HowNot2.com)
Keep in mind this is for a single pitch top rope anchor, where the forces will hardly ever be more 4kN.
New anchor hook: about 72! kN
Steel “gym” carabiner: about 49 kN
Ram’s horn: about 22 kN
Your climbing rope will break in about 14 kN, so anything stronger than that and you're good. In summary: way more than #SuperGoodEnough!
Here's a visual I like. 1 kN is about 100 kg, or 220 pounds. The way I like to think of it is the average weight of an NFL football player. There are 11 players on offense and defense playing against each other, so any point during the game there's 22 players on the team. Imagine 22 NFL football players all hanging from ONE 8 mm Dyneema sling that's rated to at least this amount. Or in this case one Ramshorn. To really get ridiculous, think of 72 football players all strung together, hanging off of an anchor hook.
Yep, that's plenty strong enough for your climbing.
The American Safe Climbing Association (ASCA) fully supports open anchor hardware for single pitch routes.
“The ASCA is committed to standardizing clip-and-lower style anchors on high traffic, single pitch routes across the country. In 2022 we provided over 5500 Lower-Offs through our Lower-Off Initiative. The majority were ClimbTech anchor hooks, but some ss and titanium went to wet/coastal areas. Along with the hooks, we supplied over 6000 quicklinks for attachment to existing anchors.”
Here's a photo from their website. (Note the hooks are both facing OUT away from the rock.) The ASCA started what they call the “Lower-off Initiative”. Hint hint: donating to a great organization that's actively trying to save your life is a great idea.
I asked them on Facebook to clarify their stance on lowering on open anchor hardware. Is it for everyone or just for the last person? Here's what they said:
“Our general recommendation is that everyone except for the last climber toprope/lower off personal gear, and the last climber in the party lowers off the fixed hardware. That being said - the gear we provide is robust and long lasting so don't feel bad if you go straight through the steel because you have concerns about a toproper not making it to the anchor or being proficient enough to move the rope over to the fixed lowering hardware. Our goal is less accidents.”
image; https://safeclimbing.org/lower-off-initiative
Use a rigging rope for top rope anchors
Are you setting up a top rope where the anchor points are far away from the edge of the cliff? Using a second rope, called a rigging rope, to set this up is an excellent choice. Here are a couple of different ways to set it up, and lots of reasons why this is better than using old-school tubular webbing.
You’re setting up a top rope at a single pitch climbing area, where you have easy access to the top of the cliff. The anchor points (a solid tree and a boulder with some good cracks for gear) are about 5-10 meters back from the edge of the cliff.
How can you quickly rig a simple, strong and speedy top rope anchor with a master point that extends over the edge?
The old-school way method for many folks was to use webbing; usually a big length of 1 inch tubular, or maybe even start girth hitching or connecting every sling you and your partner have, to extend the master point over the edge.
This is also known in some circles as the “Joshua Tree System”. Joshua Tree is a wonderful climbing area where this rigging is especially handy, because good anchor points are often far back away from the actual edge of the cliff.
A better solution: have a second rope with you that you only use for anchor rigging and safety near the cliff top, aka a “rigging rope”.
A typical rigging rope is static (minimal stretch), 9 or 10 mm, between 20 and 30 meters in length. Even so-called “static” ropes have a little bit of stretch; they are actually about 25 percent dynamic. So it’s not like you’re climbing on a steel cable, a common misconception.
You‘re not likely to find static rope sold by-the-foot at your local climb shop, so ask ‘em if they can special order it for you. (Support your local climb shop before you buy online.) Consider buying a 60 meter static rope, cutting it in half and sharing the other half with a climbing pal.
Another option is to get two different lengths of maybe 12 or 15 meters each. If you only need a shorter length, you can bring one. If the anchors are farther apart, you can tie the ropes together to extend them. That way, you don't need to bring an extra 30 m of rope in your pack for every rigging project.
Consider a canyoneering rope. They are static, and come in various shorter useful lengths, like 30 meters.
Cost is approximately $3 per meter, so you’re looking at $70- $100. Yes, it's expensive, but as they say, buy once, cry once. Every time you set up a top rope like this, it’ll be well worth it.
Why use a static rigging rope instead of 1” webbing?
Overall, using a rigging rope is faster to set up, easier to inspect and adjust, and has fewer individual components.
Static materials are good to use here. With a standard dynamic climbing rope, as the rope is weighted and unweighted. it stretches and unstretches under load over the cliff edge, which could potentially damage it.
Static ropes usually have a very durable sheath. Webbing has no sheath.
Kernmantle (German: “kern”= core, “mantel” = sheath) rope is generally quite abrasion resistant, while tubular webbing is definitely not. When loaded over an edge with a sideways sort of pull, rope will tend to roll, whereas webbing tends to slide. Sliding is going to lead to more potential abrasion.
Static rope works with a Grigri, which is a great tool to reduce your risk when you're working around a cliff edge. Can't use a Grigri with webbing. With a Grigri, always have a stopper knot or hard backup bight knot below the device, as a Grigri can creep downward under a light load.
You can tie many more knots (and use friction hitches) in rope than you can in webbing. With webbing, you're pretty much restricted to a water knot or an overhand on a bight.
Here's another slightly different way to set up a rigging rope. Here, each END of the rope is tied to a solid anchor. You walk to the edge, tie a BHK in two strands, and use that for your top rope master point. You will have an extra loop of rope. Just set this on the ground or coil out of the way and don't use it.
Notes . . .
Don’t stress out about getting perfect equalization between the two arms. Most of the time, you’ll have a stout rope with each strand attached to an unquestionably strong anchor. Try to get each arm of the anchor as close to equal load sharing as you can, but there's rarely a need to make them an exact match.
It's good practice to always secure yourself if you are within 2 meters of the edge of a cliff. After you set up one leg of the anchor, you can put on a Grigri or friction hitch to approach the edge and tie the BHK.
It's good practice to tie a hard backup bight knot below your Grigri or fiction hitch, and clip this backup knot to your belay loop with a locking carabiner.
Be nice to trees. Try to avoid damaging the bark, especially if the tree is regularly used as an anchor. Consider padding the tree with an empty backpack, or maybe an old piece of carpet. If you have an option to use a rock, you might want to do that instead.
If the rope is being loaded over a rough or sharp edge and you’re concerned about it getting damaged, you have a few options. Quick and dirty, put a backpack under it. If you plan ahead a bit, you can take a section of cut up garden hose sliced lengthwise, and put that around the rope as a protector. What works best, and are still fairly inexpensive, are commercial rope protectors. If you find yourself setting up top ropes a lot, these can be a good investment.
If you still don't like the rope being loaded over a sharp edge, then maybe you should go climb somewhere else. =^)
Here's an example of a specially made rope protective sleeve. If you top rope a lot on rough rock, this can be a good investment. Under $20.
image: https://www.amazon.com/MONSTER-Rope-Protector-Armor-1-6/dp/B08NPNYN82
Finally, here's a great video from our friends at Smile Mountain Guides with a more detailed tutorial of how to set it up.
Retreat anchors - sport climbing
If your ambition sometimes exceeds your ability, a sudden storm is rolling in, or you discover your rope is too short to reach the anchor, it's probably time to think about bailing off of that sport route. There are a few considerations for gear, and one crafty rope trick you can use to reduce your risk.
Note - This post discusses techniques and methods used in vertical rope work. If you do them wrong, you could die. Practice vertical rope techniques with a qualified instructor, and ideally in a progression: from flat ground, to staircase, to vertical close to the ground before you ever try them in a real climbing situation.
Takeaway:
Dos: Lowering off of a single snapgate carabiner is probably gonna be fine. If you're not comfortable with that, use a locker or put some tape on a snapgate.
Don’ts: Avoid using quicklinks, because they can be hard for the next person to open and complicate others using the route. Don’t lower off the hanger, nad for sure don’t lower off a sling!
Not comfortable lowering off of a single snap gate carabiner? Make a “cheapskate locker” with a few wraps of tape securing the gate. Stick the tape end to itself to make a tab for the next person to clean more easily.
Is this a little harder for the next person at the route to clean? Yes.
Is making it convenient for the next person more important than your comfort and level of acceptable risk when lowering off one bolt? No.
Ever bailed from a sport route? If not, it's probably going to happen someday, and when it does, you’ll need to have a retreat strategy.
When you bail from a route, be at a one pitch sport climb or an alpine multipitch, the objectives are similar: Get to the ground in one piece, with each anchor point strong enough but not overbuilt, and leave a minimum of gear behind.
Reasons to bail on a sport climb include:
“Ambition exceeding ability” - the climbing is too hard for you to complete
It’s getting dark, rainy, lightning, etc.
The route is longer than the rope you’re using, meaning for a one pitch sport route, the middle mark of the rope goes through your belayer’s device before you make it to the anchor. Hopefully you have both an attentive belayer who notices this, and a good middle mark on your rope. (Next time, bring a longer rope and read the damn guidebook!)
Hopefully, you’re on a modern sport route that has properly stout bolts and hangers. If you trust a bolt to take a lead fall on, you should certainly trust it to be gently lowered from, right? One encouraging thought: the maximum force possible on an anchor when lowering is not much more than double your body weight, 2 kN (about 450 lbs), which should be well within the strength rating of even a poorly placed bolt.
If you happen to be on a bolt that looks sketchy, you can reduce the force on the bolt by rappelling instead of being lowered. This puts only your bodyweight on the bolt. Because of the pulley effect, lowering puts approximately two times your bodyweight onto the anchor. Hopefully the next bolt lower down inspires a little more confidence.
What if you’re bailing from one pitch sport route, and more than half of the rope has already been used? Well, that means you can’t lower off from that point and make it to the ground or the previous anchor.
First, make SURE your belayer is tied into the rope end or at the very least has a knot in the very end (aka a “closed rope” system) so they can't drop you. There are a few different ways to handle this, but this is probably the easiest one: Lower to one bolt fairly close to the ground, tether yourself to that bolt, pull your rope, and then lower off again from that lower bolt. Yes, this requires you donate one more carabiner.
Are you bummed you're leaving gear behind? Of course you are. Think of it as the price of a lesson in humility and judgment, and try to do better next time.
Safety note: Do not thread the rope directly through a bolt hanger for either lowering or rappelling! The sharp edge might damage your rope, and if you rappel, the extra friction might make it impossible to pull your rope down. Please, never consider doing this and always leave behind a $5 carabiner instead. (Scroll to the bottom to see one possible solution if you come across anchor bolts with no hardware.)
You can lower from basically four gear options:
regular carabiner
locking carabiner
quicklink / maillon
taped gate carabiner
1) Regular carabiner. Most of the time you can pilfer a carabiner from one of your quickdraws, leave it on a bolt, and lower off that.
This is probably going to be fine most of the time, because if you have a smooth lower under a constant load, it would be quite difficult for the rope to do anything weird in the carabiner. But the load may not be constant: you may have to start/stop, bypass ledges or vegetation, stop and clean gear, etc. All of these could cause some strange carabiner jiggling, cross loading, or some other unwanted some rope/carabiner weirdiosity. So because of this, many people are more comfortable with something that can be locked.
If the bolt you’re lowering from doesn’t give you a warm fuzzy feeling, then leave another carabiner on the next bolt down. In the highly unlikely event of the top bolt failing, you should be caught by the next one. Yes, this does involve leaving behind a second carabiner. (That's never happened in the entire history of climbing as far as I know, but hey, it's cheap insurance.)
2) Locking carabiner. Not only is this a secure option, it makes it easy for the next person up to clean and remove it. That's a big bonus, so this is a fine choice. (Don't crank the gate down too hard.)
3) Quicklink / maillon. These offer an inexpensive locking lowering point, but they have a couple of downsides. The locking sleeve on the quicklink is probably going to cinch down, maybe get rusty, and be hard to open without pliers, which makes cleaning it problematic. It's more courteous to leave the route in better shape for the next person by lowering from an easy-to-clean carabiner instead.
Plus, depending on the size of the hanger, the next person on the route may have a hard time clipping their quickdraw past the quicklink. If you come across a quicklink (or something similar) on a hanger and you can't remove it, it's best practice to clip your quickdraw directly to it or under the link, as shown below.
Plus, quicklinks are a bit heavy and a single use piece of gear, and for that reason alone many people choose not to carry them.
If you clip a quickdraw on TOP of a quicklink in the same hanger, it can lever the carabiner and actually break it yikes! See this Instagram video of it actually happening in real time.
Photo from instagram.com/zacwronski/ showing a carabiner that broke after being clipped on top of a quicklink, yikes!.
image: instagram.com/zacwronski/
4) Taped gate carabiner (aka cheapskate locker). Here's a simple and inexpensive option that only requires a bit of forethought. If you have a tiny roll of tape on your harness, a strip or two stuck inside your helmet, or a premade “bail carabiner” with some tape already wrapped around the spine, you can tape the gate of the carabiner closed. This is known in some circles as a “cheapskate locker.” (Thanks to IFMGA Guide Jeff Ward for the “pre-made bail carabiner” idea, wish I thought of that one!)
Although you might think this looks a little sketchy, the cheapskate locker has been used by big wall climbers for decades, and is “super-good-enough” as an improvised lowering point. Provided you have the tape, this is a low cost, secure, and easy-for-the-next-person-to-clean method.
Please be courteous for the next person up the route who is going to clean this: fold over the end of the tape on itself to make a little tab, so it’s easy to unwrap.
When I posted this on Instagram, I had a fair number of comments criticizing it for being “hard to clean”. To those people I say:
Someone’s right to choose the method and level of risk tolerance when lowering off a single bolt is more important than slightly inconveniencing the next person up the route, IMHO.
If you seriously think this would be hard to clean, perhaps you need to work on your clipping skills.
Dealing with this carabiner should not be a surprise in most cases, because you hopefully spotted this from the ground before you started.
I’ve come across a taped gate, quicklink, etc. on hangers many times. I’ve never had an issue. Simply clip a quickdraw under the quicklink / carabiner (most all modern bolt hangers have room for two carabiners.) Keep on climbing, and clean it when you lower off and have two hands free.
If you want to clean it on the way up, clip the rope to your draw, and call for a take. Remove the tape or locking carabiner. Again, hopefully the previous person was courteous and left you a little tab of tape to easily unwrap it.
Did your redpoint get ruined? Boo-hoo. (Look on on the bright side, you bootied a carabiner. =^)
Pre-made bail carabiner: Wrap a few inches of athletic tape around the spine. Use it as a regular carabiner for any purpose; the tape is always there when you need it for a cheapskate locker.
Make it easy for the next person to remove it by folding the tape onto itself to make a little tab.
A suggestion from Petzl:
While a bolt failing during a body weight lower is very, very, unlikely, here's one way to reduce your risk if you're concerned about it.
If you add a friction hitch to the rope going down to your belayer, and slide this along as you’re lowered, it might prevent you from taking a ground fall if the top piece fails (extremely unlikely) in some way. If you're doing this, you should only take a fall down to the next piece/bolt below you, because it isolates the increasingly larger loop of rope that’s being created as you descend. One more reason to carry a prusik when you lead.
Would a fall on this be terrifying? Yes!
Might the prusik melt and damage your rope? Possibly yes!
Are both of these better than the alternative? Yes!
This may be little hard to visualize, so have a look at the nice illustration below from Petzl and hopefully it’ll make sense. According to the diagram, Petzl has tested this, and it works. (Note the diagram shows a quick link on the top bolt, but as mentioned above, a carabiner is recommended.)
image: petzl.com
Finally, a tip on not exactly bailing from a sport route, more about what to do if you come across a pair of bolt hangers that don't have any rings / chains / rappel hardware.
This happened to me at Smith Rock. My partner and I climbed a route that was brand new; so new that the route developer had not yet put chains at the top. We finished the route, and found just a pair of bolt hangers. After some head scratching, we decided to clip one carabiner to each hanger and lower off. This got us to the ground, but the rope was very difficult to pull, and we had some nasty rope twisting, because the carabiners were lying flat against the rock instead of perpendicular. Lesson learned! (Here's a longer article that explains this phenomenon.)
Here's one of many ways to deal with this, assuming you have a cordelette.
Pass a bight of your cordelette through each of the bolt hangers, making a big letter “M”.
Bring the loops together, tie them off in an overhand knot, and add a cheapskate locker. The cord is doubled up going through the hangers, which should give a little more peace of mind. While certainly not ideal for a long-term anchor, it’s definitely strong enough, and fully redundant, to rappel on. The cost is about $10 for the cord and $5ish for the carabiner; less than leaving behind two quickdraws.
Here’s a close up of the cheapskate locker.
Multi directional placement with two opposing stoppers
Rigging two opposed stoppers is a good trick to make a single multi directional placement. This is typically rigged with a clove hitch, which to be honest usually doesn't work too well. Here's an improvement: wrap the sling TWICE around the top carabiner, and then tension it. The double wrap holds the tension, letting you more easily tie it off.
Rigging two opposed stoppers/nuts in a vertical crack it's kind of an old-school trick, which dates back to the Paleolithic era before cams were invented. But even today, it can be a good tool for those times when you need a multi directional placement and are low on cams, or want to preserve them for further up the pitch.
Basically, it can make one good placement out of two lousy ones!
When might rigging opposed stoppers be helpful?
The first piece when leading a trad pitch, to prevent an upward pull from zippering out your gear.
Setting up a belay anchor that needs to take a potential upward pull, such as a fixed point lead belay
Top rope soloing, where you need to set an anchor to take an upward pull
Clipping a Micro Traxion or Tibloc for simulclimbing
You are starting out in trad climbing, have a small rack of expensive cams, and prefer to use them for lead climbing and not anchor building
This “opposing two stoppers” trick is typically done with a clove hitch. However, many people find the clove to be tricky to tie and snug down, and that the clove doesn’t maintain tension very well between the placements.
Here's an alternative that I prefer. The #CraftyRopeTrick here is to pass the sling TWICE around the top carabiner, with the second pass going BETWEEN the strands of the first pass. Then pull down to tension the sling. This double wrap maintains sling tension, making it much easier to tie a final half hitch to secure the whole thing.
Caveats . . .
You need a good stance and probably both hands to do this.
Although you’re using two pieces, because there's only one downward piece, this essentially counts as one placement. (In other words, this is NOT a two piece anchor.)
As shown here, this technique uses two stoppers, three carabiners, and a sling. (You can save one carabiner by girth hitching the bottom stopper, yes it's strong enough.) Often simple placing a solid cam can serve as a multi directional placement, plus it's faster and uses less gear. This is simply one more trick in the toolbox for more advanced climbers.
Questions, concerns, grumbles . . .
“Does this create a 2:1 ‘pulley affect’, doubling the load on the top piece of gear?” No. Because of the half hitch at the end, it doesn't. It’s a bit hard to describe, but give it a try and see for yourself.
“Does this create a vector/outward load on the gear which greatly increases the force on the placements?” It doesn't. The only force on the gear is going upwards or downwards.
“What if you did this in a horizontal crack?” Then you would have some odd vector angles on this anchor and it would probably not be so strong. But, if that's your only placement option, then you might have to do it.
“Good luck doing this on lead.” Yes, this does take a good stance and probably two hands to rig, so you're probably not gonna do it in the middle of some hard pitch. But as part of the anchor when you're hopefully on a ledge, usually not a problem.
Like most climbing techniques, it’s a better show than a tell. Check the video below to see how it works.
The offset quad anchor
The quad anchor, typically tied with a 180 cm Dyneema sling, is an increasingly popular choice for bolted anchors or ice climbing. Here's a variation, the offset quad. This gives you two clipping points at two different levels, which can be helpful in certain situations.
The standard quad anchor works great for many anchor setups where you have two reliable bolts or ice screws. (While you can use a longer cordelette, many people find that a 180 cm or maybe 240 cm Dyneema sling, that’s 10 or 11 mm and fairly new, to be a more compact and lightweight option.)
Here's a simple variation: the “offset quad”. Rather than the standard method of tying it with four loops of the same length, you tie it with a long lower loop and a shorter upper loop. This can be helpful in certain climbing situations, such as:
Climbing with more than two people
Low anchors, where you may want to connect to the lower loop and belay your partner off the higher loop, because it's more ergonomic
Big wall climbing, where multiple staggered clip in points can be helpful
Rigging a redirected lower, where you are lowering on a tube belay device and you need to redirect the brake strand through a higher point. Learn more about a redirected lower at this article.
Rigging a belayed rappel, where you want to redirect the belay through a higher anchor point. (Thanks to a clever Instagram reader for pointing this one out to me, I didn’t think of it.)
Small cautionary note: Check that the angle on the top two loops is ideally less than 90°, otherwise you can start multiplying the load on your anchor points. If the anchors are far apart and/or your sling is a bit short, perhaps you should consider another rigging method, like a standard quad.
Give the offset quad a try and see if it works for you!
Here’s a video from IFMGA certified Rock and Alpine Guide Karsten Delap showing how it's done:
Top rope directional for ice and rock
For top rope climbing on rock and especially ice, having a directional placement off to one side of the anchor has many benefits. Learn them here from guest author, ACMG Guide Sean Isaac.
Photos and article (used with permission) are from Sean Isaac. Sean is an ACMG (Association of Canadian Mountain Guides) certified Alpine guide, a former professional climber, and author of the “Ice Leader Field Handbook” and “How to Ice Climb” (2nd ed.) Follow @seanisaacguiding for more great tech tips.
Using a directional protection point in top-rope ice climbing can significantly reduce risk and increase climber enjoyment. A top-rope directional should be used more often than not for many reasons.
One of the main ones: keep the belayer’s side of the rope away from the swinging ice tools of the climber. When rock climbing, it’s annoying when the belay rope slaps the climber in the back of the helmet, but in ice climbing this can be a major hazard. The climber can catch the belay rope behind them as they swing, which can result in either dropping the tool or putting a pick in the rope (I’ve seen both examples happen).
In addition, a top-rope directional helps to:
Keep the rope in line with the route and between ice tool placements (less chance of hitting the rope)
Keep the rope out of wet ice
Prevent a pendulum swing into hazards: ice pillars, hanging icicles, rock corners/dihedrals
Create two separate climbing lines from a single top-rope anchor
Keep the rope away from loose rock or sharp edges
Prevent swinging out away from the rock on steep mixed routes
Prevent climbers from going higher than you want them to (i.e. over a bulge, too close to an ice anchor, out of sight, etc)
Prevent the two strands of rope from crossing and twisting around each other
Almost any type of protection can be used as a top-rope directional including: ice screw, V-thread, tree, bolt or rock gear.
Some common concerns . . .
“Isn’t that some sort of American Death Triangle (ADT) vector, which increases forces on the main anchor and the directional?” It's not an ADT because the force doesn’t come to one point. Actually, having the directional decreases force on the main anchor, because the directional takes some of the force. For a good ice screw that can hold at least 10 kN, it’s not a concern.
“If the directional fails, doesn't it shock load the main anchor?” The directional should never fail. (If it's a warm day or the anchor is in direct sun and you're worried about the screw melting out, then making a V thread might be a better choice.) In the highly unlikely event that it fails, you're going to take a swinging lateral fall onto a very stretchy dynamic rope. Which could certainly be exciting, but not an issue for the main anchor.
Does it twist the rope? As long as the directional is below the elevation of the main anchor, the rope doesn’t get twisted. (In the small chance it does, try this simple trick to remove the twists.)
A caution: Be sure your rope is long enough. If you add a directional, this increases the length of rope required to lower to the ground. For an ice anchor directional of just a few meters as shown above, that shouldn’t be a problem. However, if it's a rock route with bolted anchors that are exactly placed, for say, a 30 meter climb, you might need more than a 60 meter rope if you add a directional. One more reason to always close your rope systems with a stopper knot.
If the directional is critical to avoiding a specific hazard, then a locker draw (below) can be a fine idea. (There are lots of other uses for a locker draw, learn them at this article.)
