Alpine Tips
Climbing Tips: Do This, Not That (Part 4)
Five more quick tips on best practices, with links to my detailed articles. This post covers: 1) rappel anchor backups, 2) route hardware bolting tips (stainless steel!), 3) using “rack pack” carabiners, 4) a crafty Klemheist hitch variation, and 5) how to rack an adjustable tether so it won’t trip you up.
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Backup that single strand rappel anchor
At some point in your climbing adventures, you’ll probably come across a rappel anchor like what's in the photo below on the right.
Do you want to rely ONLY on a single strand of skinny cord in any part of your climbing system? I didn't think so. So don't settle for that in a rappel anchor.
If you find an anchor like this, you can back it up by simply tying another piece through the existing ring / quicklink.
This is one more good reason to carry some spare 6 mm cord. It's useful for all kinds of things. For a stout tree like this, you need about 2 meters of cord for each strand.
(For the redundancy police, who may be concerned about that single point, non redundant rappel ring, don't worry about it. It's rated to 30+ kN and it’s never gonna break.)
Use modern hardware when maintaining or establishing a route
I volunteer for the High Desert Climber’s Alliance, my Local Climbing Organization (LCO) in central Oregon, and assist with their bolt replacement projects at Smith Rock State Park.
The photo below shows some side-by-side hardware from a recent project: we pulled the old crusty expansion bolt and hanger on the right, and replaced it one of these beautiful stainless steel glue ins on the left.
Use stainless steel in just about every outdoor environment. (The exception might be titanium in a coastal area.) Stainless steel corrodes much more slowly. This applies to the “internal” hardware that’s in the rock, as well as the “external” hardware, like hangers, quicklinks, rings, and chains.
The old argument of “galvanized (non-stainless) is cheaper and/or easier to buy” doesn’t apply anymore. Online stores such as HowNOT2 offer a huge variety of top quality bolting supplies, and they buy in such quantity that the stainless steel hardware is about the same price as galvanized. (HowNOT2 basically sells it at their wholesale cost.)
HowNOT2 also has a great selection and prices on the best epoxies for glue in bolts, which are insanely strong and will usually last much longer than expansion bolts. In many cases, glue ins are preferable.
Finally, if you want a deep dive into anything to do with installing bolts, check out the latest edition of the Bolting Bible, also by HowNOT2. It's the most comprehensive resource available on the topic, and it's completely free.
Use color coded “rack pack” carabiners for your cams
For decades, I racked my cams on whatever small wire gate carabiners I could scrounge up. There's certainly nothing wrong with this, and it works fine.
However, now that most cam manufacturers (generally) make similar colors in similar sizes, it satisfies some strange OCD compulsion of mine to match the racking carabiners with the color of the sling.
My gear rack feels more grown up! =^)
This also has a more practical application: you can glance down and more quickly grab the correct size off of your harness.
The cost is pretty much the same, so why not get the color-matched carabiners?
How can you tie a Klemheist hitch to easily ascend a rope?
How about a trick to easily shorten your Connect Adjust?
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Climbing Tips: Do This, Not That (Part 3)
Quick tips on best practices, with links to my detailed articles. This post covers: anchor shelf on a tree, “casting” (not throwing) a rappel rope, block leading tip, proper tails on flat overhand knots, and a caution on girth hitched rappel rings. (Premium Members can read all of ‘em.)
Premium Members can read the entire article here:
1 - Cast, don’t throw, your rappel rope
Try to avoid tossing one big coil of a rappel rope and hoping it's going to pay out smoothly down the cliff face. Most of the time it won't.
Think of casting a fishing line. There's a weight (lure) on the end. The line is carefully spooled on the reel. The weight is cast over the water, and the line smoothly follows it from the reel. No snags, no snarls.
“Casting” rappel ropes uses the same concept. Create a weight with one end of the rope, and flake the rest of the rope carefully. Toss only the weighted end, which should carry down the rest of the rope. Only toss one strand of rope at a time.
Doing this might take a little more time initially, but it is usually a good investment because it saves you from declustering the ropes later on.
2 - Block leading - don’t “trap” the leader
Block leading refers to the practice of one leader leading several pitches in a row. If you do, this, be sure that the leader attaches to the anchor in a way that allows them to easily get out of it.
In the left photo, the leader clove hitched themselves to the master point carabiner, and then added the Grigri between the clove and the gate. This “traps” the clove hitch, making it pretty much impossible for them to get out of the anchor to lead the next pitch!
A better choice is shown on the right. Here the leader is connected to the master point carabiner with a carabiner and a clove hitch. Now the leader can easily unclip and continue with the next pitch.
3 - Caution with girth hitched rappel rings
If you come across a girth hitched rappel ring, be very careful how you clip it.
If you clip it on the BOTTOM of the ring, it's safe.
If you clip on the TOP of the ring, when you weight the ring it's gonna completely detach from the cord/sling and Yer Gonna Die (YGD)!!!
There was a recent serious accident in the North Cascades related to this exact issue. (Link in my article) \
Please do not set up anchors like this. If you find one in the wild, be careful.
I recommend avoiding any sort of girth hitching a ring around a sling like this. The more standard methods shown in the photo below are more secure and easier to check.
When rigged like this, you can clip a tether to any point on the metal connection and you're gonna be safe.
Why is about 30 cm the ideal length of tail for a flat overhand bend?
When you put a cordelette around a tree and you want to use the shelf, how is that different than a two point anchor?
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Climbing Tips: Do This, Not That (Part 2)
A series of quick tips on best practices, with links to my detailed articles. This post covers: quad anchor tips, pre threading your haul pulley, the twist-free Munter rappel, how to cut webbing, and a caution on ‘open” slings. (Premium Members can read all of ‘em.)
Premium Members can read the entire article here:
1 - Quad anchor - keep the knots low
With a quad anchor, if you’re using a cordelette or longer sewn sling like a 180 cm or 240 cm, it's good practice to tie the knots low down as shown. This will give perfect equalization, but minimizes extension if one arm of the anchor fails.
2 -The (mostly) twist-free Munter hitch rappel
Rappelling on a Munter hitch usually makes evil pigtails/twists in your rope. This can be a serious problem when you pull your rope, because the twists can get caught at the anchor.
However, if you flip your rope back over the carabiner like the photo below, this greatly reduces the rope twists.
3-Don't put rubber bands or tape on an “open" sling
Almost all quickdraws have some sort of a little rubber band thing on the bottom carabiner. This makes it easier to clip.
Some people think that doing the same thing on a “open” sling or alpine quickdraw might also be a good idea. Don’t do this!
If you clip that bottom carabiner back onto the sling, it can configure itself so the entire load is resting only on the rubber band and not on the sling! Yes, there have been two accidents that I know about caused by this.
It's a little hard to describe, but if you play around with it, you can figure it out.
The same applies to a personal tether. Do not put tape or a rubber band on a sling that you use for your tether. If you want to make it a bit easier to clip, use a girth hitch, or maybe better a clove hitch, to hold the carabiner in place.
How can you set up your haul system faster, and never drop the rope or your progress capture pulley?
Why can it be helpful to cut tubular webbing at a 45° angle instead of a 90° angle?
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Climbing Tips: Do This, Not That (Part 1)
A series of quick tips on best practices, with links to my detailed articles. This post covers: anchor hooks, extending a quickdraw, using a rebelay to protect a fixed rope, “alpine equalization” with cams, and how anchor hardware can twist your rope. (Premium Members can read all of ‘em.)
Premium Members can read the entire article here:
1 - Anchor hooks: gates facing out
In a typical anchor with carabiners, it's usually good practice to place them opposite and opposed. However, with anchor hooks (aka Mussy hooks), it's typically best to have them both facing OUT, away from the rock.
Why is this?
The American Safe Climbing Association has installed thousands of these anchors throughout the US. They recommend gates out. Click the article link above to read the longer reasons; here’s the short version:
“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.“
2 - How to extend a quickdraw
A steep or reachy sport route may require extended quickdraws.
It's good practice to extend them as shown in the photo below. Of these two, the quick link is more secure. Or you could have a locking carabiner in the middle (left photo) to add further security.
The methods shown below are not so great. In the left, the carabiners could be twisted and unclipped in a fall. On the right, the rope can rub over the top of the dog bone, not good.
3 - Protect a fixed rope with a rebelay
If a fixed rope is running over an edge, it's quite easy to damage the rope, especially with a larger load.
An easy way to fix this: a rebelay. To make a rebelay, make another anchor point (by placing gear or clipping a bolt) below the edge that's being loaded. Pull up a bit of slack, tie a bight knot, and clip that bight to the lower anchor. Now, when the rope is loaded, no force goes to the section of rope over the edge.
For “alpine equalization”, where should you clip the cam?
What anchor rigging can cause rope twisting, and hoe can you fix it?
