Better living through safer anchoring

Dylan, I thought about using these carabiners WALMART STEEL CARABINER but the DAMN brand revolving super safe locking carabiners were a bit cheaper and also I liked the green color more than the yellow zinc color. In addition, I wasn't going for friction reduction (though that is an excellent thing to think about in future upgrades to my Super Anchor System), but rather better equalization. Let me explain:

I have read that shifting even a millimeter or two in any direction (if you're dumb enough to still be using a normal anchor system) will make the equalization vanish. Using the revolving super safe locking carabiners will allow the Super Anchor System to travel from left to right a bit when the belayer moves from side to side, or if you get off-route too far when you are TR'ing.

Phil, let me pick apart your comment phrase by phrase:

Phil Lauffen wrote:The acid that is doubtless all over that rope

There is no acid on my rope. I told you earlier that I have not even bought these components. But when I do, I trust that REI (or whichever Ukranian or Ebay rope seller I choose to buy from) will have been very careful and will only be selling me a newly manufactured rope that meets UAII certifications and is safe.

Phil Lauffen wrote:will definitely make you dead

LOL but I think the joke usually goes "you will be doing the dying, gumbo" LOL

Phil Lauffen wrote:Better back up the entire 'cord'

Again, did you not read the OP? The Super Anchor System is redundant because of the barrel knots. Also a second rope would make it too heavy.

Phil Lauffen wrote:with another even thicker one.

Finally, some logic in your argument. I thought about this and did some research. I was actually quite amazed that the 11mm ropes that I considered using for my Anchor System were rated with the LESS number of KN than some of the thinner ones. Go figure!

Mr. Swami, I hope that my gym gets the Tradding holds. They have a crack but tell me that it must be used with a Top Rope, even if I get my Sport Leading Belay Tag. I really want to learn Tradding before I head out to climb up the Honnald Dome in Yosemite.

Steve, The bearpaw is redundant by my definition. Each hole is redundant to the other one. Please don't be ridiculous.

Thanks for everyone's interest! Keep the ideas coming so that I can make the Super Anchor System even better and safer!

Glenn Schuler wrote: A placement for a single Nalgene bottle with an equalized sling is way more common

It was BPH Lexan, much stronger than what you can get nowadays.

Phil Lauffen wrote:The acid that is doubtless all over that rope will definitely make you dead. Better back up the entire 'cord' with another even thicker one.

I think he got into a whole different kind of acid.

This is a great setup other than it costs more than $500 and weighs around 4 pounds.

Oh wow, I wish I had seen that before my last trad trip.

I almost bought the material to make a couple quad anchor setups, but a lot of the old tradsters didn't like them, and I didn't know who to trust. This is obviously such an improvement.

I have a few questions and concerns though:

1) You have 3 attachment points, so how do you use this if the anchor is 2 bolts? I mean, I know I should always back the bolts up with a piece of gear...

2) I've heard that knots weaken cords, sometimes halving their rating. I'd be worried that the 8 knots here would therefore leave an anchor that could only hold 1/256th of its expected rating.

3) Have you actually tested it? I I remember one example online where everything was rated to 20 kN, but the ANCHOR FAILED AT ONLY 10 kN.

4) Have you tried using it while multi-pitching with 6 people at the same time? I tried Nutcracker with a group of coworkers that were nervous beginners. Does your anchor have enough spots to clip into? Nutcracker is very busy and I wouldn't want to take more than an hour trying to clip everyone in.

Congrats again on the great anchor. I'm not trying to be overly critical, but maybe this anchor might not be best for all situations.

Burcheydawwwwwwg wrote:A f&cking screamer!!! I'm seriously about to shet myself, eyes are watering

Of course!

J Marsella, thanks for improving the safety of this anchor system. Would a double action locking carabiner like they use for rigging and other rope work not be a further improvement in case marmots or chipmunks start messing with your anchor? Perhaps steel or would that make the anchor too heavy?

I really like where you are going with this.

Wait - where does the GoPro attach to the anchor?

There is an obvious, glaring deficiency in your S.A.S.S.Y anchor.

Those cameralots only have tiny little single points of contact on each lobe. Have you thought about using rectangular lobes so you can get several inches of contact surface against each side of the crack?

Alternatively, you could make the cameralots with 12 lobes, instead of 4, so you would get a lot more contact surface.

With so many cameralots falling out of the crack from too little contact, this would increase your safety factor by 6.24 x 10^6

This is a splitter anchor setup, perfect for any rig. Is there a way to set up a home testing machine to confirm that all the components are up to their stated strength before using them on a TRADD lead in the wild? And shouldn't there be a sun shade in place to minimize UV degradation while in use?

Abram Herman wrote:This is obviously not re-fucking-dundant, I don't know what you're thinking. If you're using three Caminoalots they could all have been manufactured in the same batch in China, and if there were a missed QC inspection in that batch with a catastrophic failure method then your anchor is toast, and you're as good as dead. You should obviously be using at least one Caramelot, one Frenz, a Big Brother, and probably a pink tricam just to be safe.

No, you got it wrong, the bad Caminoalot's were made in the good 'ol US of A. Trust the China ones! ;-)

Abram Herman wrote:This is obviously not re-fucking-dundant, I don't know what you're thinking. If you're using three Caminoalots they could all have been manufactured in the same batch in China, and if there were a missed QC inspection in that batch with a catastrophic failure method then your anchor is toast, and you're as good as dead. You should obviously be using at least one Caramelot, one Frenz, a Big Brother, and probably a pink tricam just to be safe.

Abram is right. Three Clots is not enough. Every anchor should be bolted. Sure, it takes more time, but let's not sacrifice safety for speed.

Will S wrote:There is an obvious, glaring deficiency in your S.A.S.S.Y anchor. Those cameralots only have tiny little single points of contact on each lobe. Have you thought about using rectangular lobes so you can get several inches of contact surface against each side of the crack? Alternatively, you could make the cameralots with 12 lobes, instead of 4, so you would get a lot more contact surface. With so many cameralots falling out of the crack from too little contact, this would increase your safety factor by 6.24 x 10^6

Oh my, I can't believe that no one has looked into this yet. Amazing idea!

Peter Beal wrote:shouldn't there be a sun shade in place to minimize UV degradation while in use?

Great point!

What you think about mixing some SPF-50 with plasti-dip and coating all the components with it?

I don't see those solid steel ladder carabiners but I'll let it slide. This time.

Will S wrote: Great point! What you think about mixing some SPF-50 with plasti-dip and coating all the components with it?

Probably two coats would do it. Okay, I'd go with three. Helps with abrasion too.

You'd probably want to make sure you have each component marked with your name so nobody steals this sweet setup.

J Marsella,

I suggest that you make the super anchor your profile picture, lest we doubt your commitment to the principles of SRENE/ERNEST/safer anchoring

Bravo indeed.

Super, it will be a bit expensive and, sure, it will weigh more than the obsolete rope anchor that so many people condone (I am sure there is a logical fallacy associated with their thought process)-- I used weighmyrack.com to calculate the weight and it will be more like 3 lbs and 6 oz. Please be more accurate if you plan to deride my innovation & progress.

Nerdlet, I considered the two-bolt anchor situation. After reading enough Mountain Projects, I know the following to be true:

• Traditional climbs cannot, by definition, have bolts; and
• Sport climbing is neither; and,
• My Super Anchor System is ONLY for TRADDING (and Traditional TR); therefore,

It should not be used for sport climbing routes or the attached two-bolt anchors. To be clear-- the only anchor I have personal experience with is the big pipe at the top of the climbing wall that the Top Rope wraps around-- my anchor system is still in the design phase; though I tested it with Photoshop and after linking the different layers, and no matter how hard you pull on the bearpaw with the mouse, the anchor remains intact. I think that your 1/256 strength rating concern, while valid, doesn't seem to arise in testing.

Seth, steel cable won't work because you can't tie barrel knots in it. Please be realistic and keep on topic.

Dhayan and Peter, I use Da Brim (link) on my helmet when I climb in the gym to keep the Fluorescent rays off of my harness and chalk-bag, so I suppose that it will likely work to protect the Super Anchor System when tradding outside. I attach my GoProfessional to my hemlet (it came with a pretty cool mounting bracket) and you can see some of my videos here (link) , but there are some other peoples' videos mixed in, too.

It seems that there are many many engineers on these forums-- perhaps someone could work with Will and start a GoFundMe for making prototypes of the square camelots! Exciting innovation! I think the dodecaCamelot seems too unwieldy, though, at least for a beginner.

I am also new to this tradding and was wondering how to make a 9:1 howling system if my partner can't climb the hard crutches? Perhaps a diagram would help all of the other "gumbos" in my pot?

Learn to trad climb indoors and now this..I am sure the good ideas will pour forth more profusely if climbing ever becomes an Olympic sport....Thanks to all this has been an entertaining thread, it' now time for another beer....

You don't use multiple gopros?