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Pulled a Piton

Original Post
Paul Hutton · · Nephi, UT · Joined Mar 2012 · Points: 740

I brought my follower up the first pitch of Battleship Direct. I had setup belay on this small ledge, where you can find a horizontally-driven metal plate with holes in it, and a small piton down by our feet. I had placed a cam and a hex also. There were clove hitches and alpine draws in the mix, for keeping us in direct. All of a sudden, he stumbles backwards and we see that little piton hanging off the end of his alpine draw. I'd never seen fixed hardware pull loose before. I thought I should broadcast to raise awareness on the matter. Be safe out there!

Pulled piton on Battleship Direct in Jemez Valley, NM. Wasn't a lead fall.

Forthright · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2011 · Points: 110

welcome to climbing outside the gym

Chad Umbel · · Las Vegas, NV · Joined Jan 2005 · Points: 540

Maybe next time you should try equalizing everything with that scarf.....

Tylerpratt · · Litchfield, Connecticut · Joined Feb 2016 · Points: 40

Yup, at the gunks you clip pitons all the time. My golden rule is "always back them up"

John Barritt · · The 405 · Joined Oct 2016 · Points: 1,083
chad umbel wrote:Maybe next time you should try equalizing everything with that scarf.....
That's funny right there......
grog m · · Saltlakecity · Joined Aug 2012 · Points: 70
NorCalNomad wrote:welcome to climbing outside the gym
LOLOLOLOL
John Barritt · · The 405 · Joined Oct 2016 · Points: 1,083

Almost forgot, "Hey! put that back!!!"

BigNobody · · all over, mostly Utah · Joined Nov 2013 · Points: 10
chad umbel wrote:Maybe next time you should try equalizing everything with that scarf.....
Fucking gold!
Eric Bratschun · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2005 · Points: 75

Counting the days until Patagonia launches its next new product line....

Assuming it's rated to be load bearing for bailing purposes of course.

Optimistic · · New Paltz · Joined Aug 2007 · Points: 450
Tylerpratt wrote:Yup, at the gunks you clip pitons all the time. My golden rule is "always back them up"
One example, from a recently replaced rap/belay station (Sixish is the route). Note that the eyes on both pins look pretty much normal...

sixish anchor
Lee Durbetaki · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Apr 2016 · Points: 5

Sing to the tune of "Found a Peanut."

Mickey Guziak · · Grand Junction · Joined Oct 2011 · Points: 625

I though the same thing about putting nails in wood until my house fell down...

Scott McMahon · · Boulder, CO · Joined Feb 2006 · Points: 1,425

haha awesome comments. Yeah I clip them just because they are there. Not because I think they will hold.

Nol Huther · · Burlington, VT · Joined Dec 2014 · Points: 1,652
Optimistic wrote: One example, from a recently replaced rap/belay station (Sixish is the route). Note that the eyes on both pins look pretty much normal...
How recently? I remember clipping some pins on the first pitch of Sixish- hanging belay, decided to back it up with a tricam and small cam. Glad I did...
Optimistic · · New Paltz · Joined Aug 2007 · Points: 450
Nolan Huther wrote: How recently? I remember clipping some pins on the first pitch of Sixish- hanging belay, decided to back it up with a tricam and small cam. Glad I did...
Well..."pretty recently" might be more accurate than "recently". Time moves at warp speed as I get older! They were replaced Sept 2015 (not by me, by the GCC). But the point is, as above, back those puppies up! With the angles, almost always easy to do...with the knifeblades often a different story.
Paul Hutton · · Nephi, UT · Joined Mar 2012 · Points: 740
Scott McMahon wrote:haha awesome comments. Yeah I clip them just because they are there. Not because I think they will hold.
Same here. I was trying to explain to my partner (with the shemagh) that since we're not on a hanging belay, this is last resort kinda stuff. He was adjusting his cloves to tension on everything while sitting on a ledge, which I told him was bad practice, as gear can be walked while fidgeting around. This was his first time on a trad route, which he only followed on.
Healyje · · PDX · Joined Jan 2006 · Points: 422

Just to be clear - ALL fixed pro needs to be maintained. Both bolts and pins can look perfectly fine looking at them and be complete shite in the rock.

At our crag I replaced 74 anchors and out of the 74 both bolts were spinners in 54 of them and some simply broke with a quarter turn of the breaker bar on removing them. Most of those anchors were placed in the 80-90's and the worst were placed in the 90's

After that I surveyed all the pins - a couple of hundred - and either declared them ok, reset them, replaced them or removed them as unnecessary due to modern pro. On the whole, the pins - most of them set years before anchors - way, way out performed the bolts over time like to the tune of ten bad bolts for every loose or bad pin.

Lesson: if it's fixed, it needs to be maintained.

grog m · · Saltlakecity · Joined Aug 2012 · Points: 70

But HealyJ, in the gym everything is safe so I apply those principles outside. Afterall, isnt fixed equipment set by the equipment fairy?

C Williams · · Sketchy, Blackvanistan · Joined Jul 2013 · Points: 1,556
grog m aka Greg McKee wrote:Afterall, isnt fixed equipment set by the equipment fairy?
Yes, she's old and cranky, climbs harder than anyone with a mountain project account, and does it with a rack of steel and hiking boots. Oh, and her wand is one of those chouinard alpine hammers.

To the OP, treat all fixed pro as suspect. You're in the wild now baby, no gym setters out here.
Rick Blair · · Denver · Joined Oct 2007 · Points: 266

About 5 years ago a partner of mine who weighed a little over 200 took a whip into a pendulum on a rusty ring pin where the ring was about and inch out from the rock. The thing did'nt budge. This was on the Matron in the Flatirons. If I see a pin that looks and feels solid, I will trust the hell out of it.

Healyje · · PDX · Joined Jan 2006 · Points: 422
Rick Blair wrote:About 5 years ago a partner of mine who weighed a little over 200 took a whip into a pendulum on a rusty ring pin where the ring was about and inch out from the rock. The thing did'nt budge. This was on the Matron in the Flatirons. If I see a pin that looks and feels solid, I will trust the hell out of it.
In situations like that with ring pins, or any pin protruding out a distance, I don't clip the ring, but rather tie-off/cinch the pin up tight against the rock.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

Fixed Hardware: Bolts & Anchors
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