People are bad at lots of things. Safety included. Priorities get crooked, and mostly folks just plain aren't educated in how to stay alive. Climbing is a shining example of the "safety third" mentality. The moral of the story is to get out there and find someone who can tell you how to do it all without getting hurt hurt or dying. Also, even if you've done it a thousand times, be careful. A fraction of a second of distraction is all too often fatal. Look at the big picture, and listen to your gut. If it looks icky, it's wrong.

Feed the fire! Photos, comments, questions, or ponderings? Fire 'em off to janketyassanchors@gmail.com

Some photos are too small to show proper detail. Click to zoom.

Monday, February 8, 2010

The DGAF anchor

 

Really?  Shame on you.  This isn't even close to being equalized, despite the master point even being in reach of both anchor points.  

On a another point, the institutional standards for top rope anchors would call for two opposite and opposed carabiners on the master point.  I've seen a locked carabiner, loaded with body weight open up and spit out the load.  It was one of the most horrifying things I've ever seen.

My rules for carabiners are: 
  • clip carabiners: for single points of protection/anchors, racking gear
  • locking carabiners for anything that will hold body weight, ie belaying off a harness or a leader clipped into the master point at the top of a pitch. A master-point that will be within arm's reach at all times of the system, ie a leader belaying up a second climber.
  • Double, opposite, and opposed carabiners:  a master point that will not be supervised, ie top-rope (sling-shot) anchor.  These can be either clip or locking carabiners.
We've all learned since this post that tying knots in dyneema slings weakens them. Ya've been warned.

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    2 comments:

    1. AnonymousMarch 9, 2010 at 2:56 PM

      Not to mention, that runner (although hard to tell) looks like Spectra. Don't you lose about 70% of your strength by knotting Spectra?

      ReplyDelete
    2. AnonymousMarch 26, 2010 at 11:01 AM

      I leaned back to lower on toprope a couple of days ago and noticed, to my horror, that the opposite-and-opposed pair (one locker, one not) had rotated so the gates were on the same side...and the locking sleeve was holding open the gate of the non-locker. I'm considering double lockers on toprope setups now.

      ReplyDelete

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