Junk Show Anchors

What's the all time crappiest anchor you have come across? 

This beauty even has a couple of coffin nails ready for use.

Carabiner for scale. It was not part of the anchor.

No pics, but two come to mind.  In JT, both.  Top of Papa Woolsey was wrapped with about 30 feet of cable and secured with one of those bolt together horseshoe clamps.  Top of Lazy Day sprouted bolts and no exaggeration, 25 feet of chain.  I guess the dogooder did not want to go any further down the slab due to safety concerns.

Russ, I recall the mass of cable and the horseshoe clamps that was placed and subsequently removed from atop Papa Woolsey. I have a photo of that somewhere.

Benjamin Chapmanwrote:

Russ, I recall the mass of cable and the horseshoe clamps that was placed and subsequently removed from atop Papa Woolsey. I have a photo of that somewhere.

There was something similar that would show up on that great looking crack on the left just as you drive into Indian Cove, on the left... maybe named Crank Queenie?  Looks good, not that great.  Wire on some horns.  Yikes.

Drop in bolt installed in a crack. 

Head/Bashie in bolt hole

All the anchors I saw at the suburban crag in Vegas are total pieces of shit, the highest concentration of poor anchors in such a small area I have ever seen. 

Half the routes should be chopped because if you cleaned all the loose holds there would be no way up. We climbed the other crags on that pile too, there were a few routes at the urban crag that were okay but it's not worth your time. If the sandstone is "wet" just go to a museum or something. 

The fossilized creatures in the rock there were pretty cool though. 

Most of the bad stuff I've seen is just old tat, rusted out leaper hangers or absolute shit show equalizations. I pulled some rappel tat off Headbanger's Ball on the Lost Horse wall this year that came off with a gentle downward  tug. Found an anchor earlier this month that contained 2 bolt hangers, 5 quick links, 4 types of cord / slings and no discernible effort of equalization.

The most terrifying I've lowered off was a bail anchor I found after getting off route on the Elephants Head. Got up what was supposed to be a 5.7 pitch and found the beginning of a 5.13 A3 roof. Other's had obviously made the same mistake, and the bail mankery was real. One one side there were two nuts, equalized by girth hitch and placed downward into a flake. Both came out the moment I touched them. The other side had a pile of tat draped around the shallow 90 deg. corner of the crack I had come up. I, already psychologically gripped, said fuck it, fixed the nuts, clipped it all and got the hell out of there.

Jordan Allen wrote:

Lichen Us? This ones bomber...

Yup! It passed a bounce test so it got to stay. Pretty cool placement. 

Benjamin Chapmanwrote:

What's the all time crappiest anchor you have come across? 

This beauty even has a couple of coffin nails ready for use.

Carabiner for scale. It was not part of the anchor.

Could the chain have been reused?

Ryan Never climbs wrote:

hell yeah bobby! that thing made me lol! 

did you find that drip n bolt there.

something similar was on the South face of watkins 

Yup same route. 

Late to the party.
Maybe not the worst I’ve ever seen. But this is what happens if you miss the standard raps on el cap.

Whats that piton even attached to?

Samuel Ammermannwrote:

Whats that piton even attached to?

Very old-school bolt hanger. Something like this but without it being cut off:

Marc nailed it. But instead of using a thicker LA pin they opted to punch a small hole in a blade to put the bolt through that. The whole thing flexed whenever weight shifted. Also of note the stopper used like a rivet hanger is an RP so the wire isn't swaged together like regular ones. Still strong. Just felt funny at the hanging station. 

Bobby Huttonwrote:

Drop in bolt installed in a crack. 

Head/Bashie in bolt hole

Saw a picture of an aid route with a row of these with copper heads. Use what you brung I guess.

Bobby Huttonwrote:

Would whip!

Benjamin Chapmanwrote:

I don't know why, but this gave me déjà vu of New Jack City.