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.
Did you leave your long anchor sling with your partner at the last anchor?
Are you an ultralight fanatic and don't wanna bring a stitch more gear than you really need?
Or maybe you're British, where making clever rope anchors is apparently a citizenship requirement? =^)
Here's a crafty way to make an anchor with the rope, complete with a convenient master point.
For this demo, I'm using two pieces of gear that are close to my belay stance. You can also make this with three gear placements, and stand many meters away from the gear.
(If you have two solid bolts and you want to make an anchor with the rope, another (simpler) option is the Alex Honnold anchor.)
Here's how to make it, step by step.
Place a two (or more) pieces of gear. Clip carabiners to them. Look at the distance between where you want to stand and one of your anchor points, and then pull up about 1 meter of extra slack rope.
Tie a bight knot and clip it to one of your anchor points, with a bit of slack between where you're standing and the gear.
Clip rope to your second (left) piece of gear. Pull some slack rope through this second piece to make sort of a “V” shape.
Tie a “BHK” (Big Huge Knot, aka multi strand overhand), as shown. This is your masterpoint.
Clove hitch yourself to the master point with that extra rope. DONE, give yourself a high five!
Belay your partner up from the masterpoint (not shown).
Here's how you can rig this with three placements instead of two.
