Photos of BEAUTIFUL HARDWARE pt2

I didn't take a picture before I removed two of the bolts on this one, but there were originally 4 bolts, two or which I removed and replaced hole for hole, the other two I was pretty proud of the patch job.

Chase Webbwrote:

I didn't take a picture before I removed two of the bolts on this one, but there were originally 4 bolts, two or which I removed and replaced hole for hole, the other two I was pretty proud of the patch job.

Great work. Nice texture on the patches. Which putty did you use to get that light brown color?

I did this one with a two-part stick epoxy that was gray once mixed. Once it is well mixed an pliable, you can press in into hole and match the contour of the rock. I've found that if you spray water on it and mix it in, it becomes a bit more viscous and in my case, I used a bit of sand from the area and mixed that into the surface of the wet epoxy, blending it in as well as possible. I've had good results with this method in medium sized crystal granite as well.

Nice Chase.
JB weld 2 part epoxy putty is the jam for grayish rock, maybe what you used? it mixes to grey, but I'm sure there is plenty of others that do too. 
I'll take my hammer and smash up an appropriate color rock into whatever size aggregate I need if there isn't good medium lying around.

Peter Thomaswrote:

The comment was a little harsh, but certainly not wrong. I agree that the excess glue is unsightly. We should take pride in doing good work and leaving anchors as clean as possible. When people leave a mess or a lot of glue, it makes me wonder how well the bolt was placed, and if other shortcuts were taken. The excess glue doesn’t add any value, and detracts from the anchor.

I’ve mostly used Simpson products for glue-ins so I have more sympathy for making a little bit of a mess! I usually just go back later and paint/chip off excess glue that’s unsightly. That being said your pictures look amazing, and I’ll admit they look cleaner than many glue-ins I’ve placed. Any good tips for notching and keeping the rock clean with more liquidy epoxies?

This is the same crag as before with another replacement. I need to go back and put a longer chain on the anchors, but I’m very happy to have a bolt in the more solid layer! Notice the cracks formed by the right bolt in the old anchor. I considered removing the remaining wedge anchor but it tightened back up and the rock seems okayish?

On the previous thread, I saw a number of anchors featuring two ramshorns side by side, but my inclination is to use this setup. Having never deployed ramshorns in the wild, are there considerations I’m missing?

Intended use is for new single pitch in a very low traffic area.

That's my go to anchor JW. Much better than 2x horn IMO. Only 1 wear component.

JW Does having your carabiner running into the wall not gouge the rock? Or are you consistently throwing in anchors on overhanging panels?

Any reason for a ramshorns over something with more wear material like a mussy hook if you’re already doing opposite and opposed?

Tal Mwrote:

JW Does having your carabiner running into the wall not gouge the rock? Or are you consistently throwing in anchors on overhanging panels?

Any reason for a ramshorns over something with more wear material like a mussy hook if you’re already doing opposite and opposed?

I intend to be mindful about where the carabiner sits. Ideally, it’ll hang in space.

As for wear, I have no concerns at all about the single ramshorn wearing out in the next 20+ years. If I am mistaken, I’ll replace it.

Thank you for the questions. I appreciate the opportunity for additional reflection.

J Wwrote:

I intend to be mindful about where the carabiner sits. Ideally, it’ll hang in space.

As for wear, I have no concerns an all about the single ramshorn wearing out in the next 20+ years. If I am mistaken, I’ll replace it.

Thank you for the questions. I appreciate the opportunity for additional reflection.

Depends on the area of course. High traffic sandy areas can require replacement of steel hardware really fast.

As to the question about the carabiner, if you've placed the bolts well in relation to each other, the carabiner shouldn't actually get loaded while lowering. So there *shouldn't* be concern about it gouging the rock.

I thought this anchor being promoted as “more common” as Smith was pretty interesting!

J Wwrote:

I intend to be mindful about where the carabiner sits. Ideally, it’ll hang in space.

As for wear, I have no concerns at all about the single ramshorn wearing out in the next 20+ years. If I am mistaken, I’ll replace it.

Thank you for the questions. I appreciate the opportunity for additional reflection.

Thanks for the response - that sounds great. I’ve toyed around with the idea of opposed hooks like that for a bit but haven’t had a set up I’ve loved yet.

I’ve never used a ramshorn or seen one in the wild - what do you guys like more about them vs hooks? I’d imagine they’re easier to source in stainless than hooks, is there anything else?

Also - Nathan that looks really slick - no need to worry about the unclipping risk you see with hooks it seems like. And it seems like you could set it up perfectly to avoid unnecessary wear on the hooks while TRing with the right horizontal offset on the low bolt. Might have to play around with this one! Anyone know if there’s any risk on twisting with the rope in that? Since the rope is running vertically through horizontally oriented anchors in the TR setup?

Anchor from a new mixed route today. Painted because visual impact is the major concern here. CT sleeves—really liking these.

There wasn’t a good opportunity for a vertical arrangement, so I settled on horizontal. The picture makes it look like they’re spaced a little too far apart, but they’re not. I didn’t use the ramshorns because it’d be a bit of a faff to thread those with gloves on (Just guessing; I haven’t tried.) I’ll save them for rock climbing routes.

Tal, I haven’t used ramshorns yet either. I just bought a few to try out. I think they’re a nice option for a single-wear point on a vertical anchor. To be honest, I just think they look cool.

Raumer Superstar

Bolt Products 8mm Twist Bolts

Fixe (always so pretty)

Titan Climbing

Nathan Pwrote:

I thought this anchor being promoted as “more common” as Smith was pretty interesting!

And the TR set up.

An interesting anchor indeed, and I wouldn’t hesitate to lower off it. However, I think it’s worth pointing out that even when clipped into both opposing mussys you are still relying on their single shared screw-link… in this case the system is not actually redundant.

I wouldn’t want to encourage this set-up to become a standard due to this fact. Many better anchor options exist, even if they require a few additional components.

Breaking the mussys up separately by using a slightly longer chain on the left with a second screw-link to connect to that L mussy would solve every problem… and what would be the downside? A $5 added expense?

For high-use areas the set-up below (or similar)  that was posted a while back by Doug Plourde (and others) is ideal. Swap out the bottom rings for mussys or steel biners or not! IMO this is THE new modern standard. These types of vertically offset anchors do offer a couple benefits over a horizontal anchor whenever possible or practical to install.

Here is another beautiful example from Alex Fischer:

the search is over

Past Userwrote:

Here is another beautiful example:

the search is over

Or just beginning when those carabiners go missing

Past Userwrote:

An interesting anchor indeed, and I wouldn’t hesitate to lower off it. However, I think it’s worth pointing out that even when clipped into both opposing mussys you are still relying on their single shared screw-link… in this case the system is not actually redundant.

Tal - there should be no issue with rope twist in TR mode, as long as the horizontal offset is not too great. In the photo you can see there is still slack in the lower mussy hook anchor, indicating the rope is not receiving any horizontal tension, so twisting shouldn’t be an issue!

Jim Day - beautiful glue craftsmanship! Let’s keep up this standard :) 

And Past User - I see no issue relying on a single 50kn (20+ cross loaded) stainless Quicklink that receives no wear from the rope! More of a working load limit than our single climbing rope or belay carabiner! But I am also a fan of the anchors you posted! 

Past Userwrote:

An interesting anchor indeed, and I wouldn’t hesitate to lower off it. However, I think it’s worth pointing out that even when clipped into both opposing mussys you are still relying on their single shared screw-link… in this case the system is not actually redundant.

I wouldn’t want to encourage this set-up to become a standard due to this fact. Many better anchor options exist, even if they require a few additional components.

Breaking the mussys up separately by using a slightly longer chain on the left with a second screw-link to connect to that L mussy would solve every problem… and what would be the downside? A $5 added expense?

Stainless steel quicklinks >=8mm in diameter are so ridiculously strong and reliable that it shouldn't be necessary to have 2 for an anchor to be considered redundant. They are fine as a single point of failure. Much like the rope, or a big tree, they just don't break due to excessive force. Just make sure they're screwed all the way closed.

Jabroni McChuffersonwrote:

Or just beginning when those carabiners go missing

In a higher traffic area I would definitely fix these carabiners. However, this place only gets traffic from experienced trad climbers. It's full of carabiners like this that are not fixed to the anchors and they don't seem to go missing. So this anchor setup is appropriate in this area