The Devils Lake top rope cluster Fu&k thread... (2nd Edition)

Chalk in the Wind wrote:  

Found this on a blog called dumbanchors. Carderock, MD. Piece of cord around a tree, dyneema sling girth hitched to it, climbing rope through the sling.

I'd say this is a little beyond a mere cluster.

Thats not carderock, that pic is a troll.

M M wrote:

Haha, getting midwestern TR climbers to argue about the worst possible set up is priceless. You guys would be great canyoneers.

Truth dat.

Maybe not toprope clusterfuck related, but today there was a group at the base of Many Pines Butress using their cams to hold up their hammocks in the rock. One of them crammed a brand new #1 in way too tight and got it stuck. Then decided to hang out in their hammock all day before trying to get it out. So if anyone is a goblin with booty gear, There's a brand new #1 right by the base of Algae and V8 

Hahaha that’s awesome.

Thanks for the heads up! Came out in 5 minutes. The crowds get dumber and my rack gets bigger ;-)

This was set by an REI guide. It might not be the worst I've seen, but it's still fun to look at.

Dirtbag Darvo wrote:

This was set by an REI guide. It might not be the worst I've seen, but it's still fun to look at.

Well, it's not going anywhere, but it's certainly not elegant or efficient.

The cams to keep the masterpoint from shifting into the cracks is not a bad idea.  A friends masterpoint shifted off a four foot wide pillar while doing a variation a little to right. the longer than expected fall was startling and caused a slightly sprained ankle. 

This thread isn’t dead yet, is it?

MP seems to think it is…

This thread will never die.

Rube Goldberg would be impressed!

Kyle Harding wrote:

This thread isn’t dead yet, is it?

It has only been a year since the last response.  That is nothing on the threads that were 16 years old.

Dead hell, the season starts anew 

Has anyone ever directed someone that's new to anchor building to this thread? I tell just about everyone about it and I include that it's full of great advice on what not to do. 

I stumbled on this thread as a newb to TR anchors and honestly my main reaction was “I have no idea what was going on in any of the photos.”

This lead to two things: 1. I made sure I could always describe out loud what was happening in my anchors (and that anyone else also would). 2. I took a class.

I still don’t know what’s happening in half these photos lol. 

tobias bundle wrote:

I still don’t know what’s happening in half these photos lol. 

I suspect the people who built the anchors don’t, either

Josh Lukas wrote:

Overheard from above: “Yeah this area you pretty much have to rap in”

Bonus points if you can name the climb and give alternate approach beta

oops just found this thread. This was mine from a few years ago... Any suggestions to improve it? the black rope is static and tied around the boulder twice with each end of the rope for redundancy then then a bhk tied in the middle. the rope clipped  to both the loops around the top was just to rap in after setting the tr. we approached from below and i soloed up the great chimney. Not really a lot of opportunities for gear at the top of coup d'etat. 

Slinging that block redundantly is good, and probably what I would do, too. The master point though is like 10+ feet below the lip, which both reduces the amount of climbing you can do and makes it way harder to set up. Also, the knot you’ve used is an actual cluster. Unfortunately the photo uploaded pretty low res so it’s hard to tell what’s going on, but it can just be a BFK. So my suggestions would be raise the master point a lot, and tie it with a better knot (or clean it up if it is already a BFK). If you’ve set it well you can just rap back down on the climbing rope, too, instead of having to hang another one on the side. 

Looks the top of Coup d'etat.  This set up has elimnated top throw from side pull to top.  HA!

Joseph Shilati wrote:

This was mine from a few years ago... Any suggestions to improve it?

Use a clove hitch on your second leg so you can adjust it easily.  Position the master point just over the edge.  You also get 10 more feet of climbing.  Maybe put some padding under the rope since there is nothing really preventing the rope from getting dragged back and fourth over the edge as you climb.  Coil any extra rope and put it in a spot you won't trip over it.