Better living through safer anchoring

nerdlet wrote:I think J.L snuck in a subtle thread-killing trump card with his comment, which still has me laughing at the absurdity of it. There were some pretty funny comments from everyone for sure, but I think he wins.

He's not a slow guy for sure, but I see no need to cup him that hard either.

I definitely thought of his advocacy for strong primary placements when I constructed a two-point anchor of a #5 and #4 camalot the other day. You aren't too worried about that conventional third piece when you've got the boat anchors in play.

edit: Yeah, just review the original post and anchor schematics if there's confusion over who rules this thread: J. Marsella. The deserved slow hand clap recipient indeed. My hat's off. Well, it's on. But my shirt's off, and that's truly something to behold. Not in a good way.

don'tchuffonme wrote: Mind = blown. When's that knot-finishing book for indoor climbing coming out?

Harsh and good. Fuckin internet rules and stoners drool

i love this photo, one idea is to use a figure 8 to connect the ropes instead of the blocking knot for extra strength, also, would there be any danger of rigging it up with pulleys without the swivel.

Tweaked a couple things.

More cowbell version. Pink tricam edition.

This guy wants to order a few!

Just a tag

Dang how did I miss this? Even scored a comment from Largo? You had me at the screamer... GOLD

Everyone here has way too much free time, especially J.Marsella.

Colonel Mustard wrote: He's not a slow guy for sure, but I see no need to cup him that hard either.

As you get older, you'll need more support. Besides, the J.L. account is clearly not a real human; it just failed the Turing test. It is obviously an algorithm for dispensing anchor building advice to internet forums in an attempt to sell books.

Colonel Mustard wrote: edit: Yeah, just review the original post and anchor schematics if there's confusion over who rules this thread: J. Marsella.

Hat's off to J.M., the whole thread is a hilarious, but c'mon, this is not a MP first. Now if we can just start a thread to make fun of satire threads...

Jason Todd wrote:Tweaked a couple things.

What?! No upward pull protection?

Tim Lutz wrote: It's the Caitlyn Jenner of Super Anchors now, but I hear it is only super, super bomber when placed in the Bay Area

What you're trying to say is that it's a "splitter" anchor, right? mountainproject.com/v/split…

Seriously who is John Long?

Lol. Burchey! What cave you just climb out of?

Burcheydawwwwwwg wrote:Seriously who is John Long?

Seriously, you're still joking, right?
bfy.tw/7POq

I remember when I saw him at a climbing presentation (Pasadena maybe?). Even on crutches, he looked like he could pick me up and toss me out the front door if he got the inkling.

S

a

f

e

t

y

dance

you can dance if you want to
...
you can act real rude and totally removed
And I can act like an imbecile

PS (total non sequitur) Rich G- looking good in Brave New Wild!

The anchor looks great! I would remove the pulleys and bull knots and just put an overhand knot in the cordlette/static rope, and place the bight into the cams or biner. This would keep the same redundancy if one side were to break, but cut down on the weight, complexity and cost

This thread should get a sticky for sure

OP claims that this anchor has No Extension, but clearly it will extend until the barrel knots hit the pulleys, shock-loading the anchor. We all know what happens to anchors when they're shock-loaded, even with a drop of just a millimeter or two!

Furthermore, knots reduce the strength of cord, often by 50% or more! Do you want to anchor with half-strength cord!? Didn't think so.

Both of these problems can be solved by simply clipping the rope directly to a single cam. If you add more pieces, you're adding more things that could fail. KISS.

Fun stuff on this thread. Pretty civil, actually.

One a brief, serious note, so long as you understand the difference between practical and theoretical "safety," you will avoid overbuilding and theorizing about systems that are largely needless and can become a crazy time suck. Very few recreational climbers encounter really sketchy belays on common routes - at least these days. Time is well spent learning how to place bomber primary pieces quickly and efficiently, which is key when you climb multi-pitch. Crap anchors are encountered in the mountains and on obscure routes and it's great to know the fancy rigging arrays. But knowing what "good enough" means is also important.

Hardest thing to teach is judgement. Most of us learn the hard way.

JL

well said JL...

I think all the silliness (intended or otherwise) is worth the good lessons we learn from those with long track records (JL here and folks like RGold and Jim Titt elsewhere).