What's wrong with my Belay Anchor?

as a general rule i like to have a single tie-in point to any anchors... this lets you attach to it for rescue needs and makes it easier if there is only one leader for swapping things when your second arrives... easily done w/ cordalette or webolette, etc... a single universal tie-in is also helpful as you can often stack your rope over the anchor behind it... trad's funny though, everything is situational and there truly are no universal rules beyond sound placements in quality rock, you'll get the rest through experience, never hesitate to ask a partner's thoughts either... good luck bro

The important thing to realize that if that tri-cam suddenly became subjected to Al-Qaeda rpg attack or other wmd effect from the axis of evil that anchor may not hold up. This is something you should discuss between partners at every station when evaluating your situation .... what would Osama do?

Mark Nelson wrote:what would Osama do?

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Just remember - most of us are shuttling back and forth between this and work so pardon my post - I use a 7 mm cord - i dont know where the weight comes in ... especially if your carrying a rack - thats the least of my worries but definitely comes in handy when equalizing imho 'but what do I know ... Nice that your actually interested in what others opinions are ... just remember to take them with a grain of salt... Not EVERYONE on here knows what to do...some are armchair qb's... again imho.

Mark Nelson wrote:The important thing to realize that if that tri-cam suddenly became subjected to Al-Qaeda rpg attack or other wmd effect from the axis of evil that anchor may not hold up. This is something you should discuss between partners at every station when evaluating your situation .... what would Osama do?

Of course, as a basic precaution against enemy attacks, I naturally carry a liter of whiskey and a sawed-off 12 gauge with me on every climb.

...might not help to much in the case of a RPG or WMD attack, but it gives me a sense of security, and I think that is important, you know?

Shiloh wrote: Nice that your actually interested in what others opinions are ... just remember to take them with a grain of salt... Not EVERYONE on here knows what to do...some are armchair qb's... again imho.

Not that a disclaimer is necessary (should be a given on internet forums), but I agree with you that this is an important consideration. Most of the people on this site are more experienced than I, so I enjoy at least hearing what other people think.

A minor issue, but in horizontally-oriented placements, cams are generally more stable, if not stronger, when the outside lobes are on the bottom. That being said, since you're dealing with a belay anchor and not a placement on lead, you'll be right there to fiddle with the cam if it starts to move around.

Good luck!

Since we are on the subject, how does mine look? The placments are bomber, thats 3/4 drywall and 1/4 molly bolts on homemade hangers. This is my anchor building practice wall. Four point anchor with clove hitches on an equalette. Holds my weight fine, about 165lbs.

I guess i'm the only one who still ties in with a rope ? I like a 10mm way more than an 7-8mm.
Does NO ONE do this anymore ?

sure, the rope is just fine.

The question was whether or not the anchor as intended would be adequate to climb in flatirons terrain; other than cleaning up the biners, I didn't have a problem with it.

I'm in the process of trying to get into trad...I've never climbed trad, but I've been reading up on anchors a decent amount lately. That being said, this anchor didn't look the greatest to me...but maybe that's because I'm used to books stressing the importance or redundant, bomber anchors and I'm not used to real-life pro?

The two problems I saw were
1) The left draw has its gate against the rock, and
2) The tricam should be clipped to the sling instead of the the cam's biner.

I feel like if that left nut popped, the entire system would shift to the right and transfer the entire load onto that single cam since there's no way for the system to shift to equalize the weight with the tricam.

It's intended as a load distributing anchor.

tooTALLtim wrote: If you have a cordelette, and connect your pieces together and tied a overhand

a simple overhand at the masterpoint can bind up really tight if you load it or hang in it. Alternatively you can get a longer codelette and tie a "figure 11", a figure 8 but instead of one wrap around the bight you make many. it can make it easier to untie. This is probably ticky-tack, but I also feel like a nice wad of cord sucks up force under load
Tim- I like your style with the custom knotting of the cordelette to suit desired length, I use it too and it kind of cracks me up a little when I build BOMB anchors and then get weird looks for my euro death knot

I still tie into the rope with clove hitches. I tried to change my archaic ways last summer but just couldn't get use to it. Anyhow your anchor looks fine to me.

Esh, personally I wouldn't have used it.

1st- To me it's too tight and bunched, I like to be able to take a quick glance down at my anchor and be able to know right away if something is wrong.

2nd- While overall it is equalized, if the nut pops the other 2 pieces will be shock loaded due to lack of limiting knots. The other two pieces are improperly equalized (one being clipped directly into the others biner). The rightward movement of the anchor, if the nut pops, will proly cause that pink tri-cam to go as well (or at least unevenly load the cam).

3rd- I would have skipped the quickdraw on the nut (gate is on the rock) and undoubled the runner and clipped directly into the nut. Proly would have skipped the pink tri cam and gotten another cam in further right. Clip the runner into every piece, tie limiting knots at each piece, as low as possible, then run a 3-way sliding x, and/or one big knot on a bight then clipped the masterpoint with a locker and tie in with a clove hitch (some people disagree with the clove hitch, in which case you can use a figure eight on a bight). You can skip the lockers at each piece. (You could also use a runner on two right pieces equalized to a limited sliding x at a master point then clip the nut to the master point of the other two separately equalized pieces into another limited sliding x.

4th- I'd skip dynema for the anchor as well. Like other have said it's best to carry a 7mm cordlette specifically for building your anchor. It will take knots better than the runner (as water knots in dynema can slip and aren't recommended, nylon is ok) and give you length to play with.

Bryan T wrote:masterpoint with a locker and tie in with a clove hitch (some people disagree with the clove hitch, in which case you can use a figure eight on a bight).

99% of the time I tie into the master with a clove hitch, and you have me curious now as to what the disadvantages are or why some disagree with this method???

Wade Frank wrote: 99% of the time I tie into the master with a clove hitch, and you have me curious now as to what the disadvantages are or why some disagree with this method???

Me too.

In some drops with a static, the clove will slip, which is what led to that conclusion. The dynamic is fine with a clove as your master; I can add my pas as a secondary when working at the anchor.

Whats wrong with you anchor?!?!

YOU PUT IT TOGETHER!

Luke to Zuke wrote:Whats wrong with you anchor?!?! YOU PUT IT TOGETHER!

Awesome. Super helpful.