Climbing Tips: Do This, Not That (Part 4)
Premium Members can read the entire article here:
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?
