worst anchors ever....

In a canyon, I once rapped off a sling carefully spread over a one inch vertical sandstone edge. Friction was the only thing holding it from falling and friction was the only thing keeping it from sliding off sideways too.

The sling only stayed in place if the rope was tensioned so as soon as we got off rappel the anchor went loose.

I think I got to be the last guy down with no backup for my clever idea.

Here's a profile shot of a bolt from an anchor that Andy and I rapped off of last week. The rock has broken away from the bolt. This is the top anchor on Amber in Red Rock.

I was climbing once on Katahdin in Maine. I did a full ropelength traverse left across a 50 degree snowfield, with a bottomed out knifeblade halfway across. When I reached the end of the rope, I told my partner we should simulclimb since there was no anchor anywhere near me. I didn't have pickets. He said that he would PREFER a belay. I said fine, but that it wouldn't hold a fall so DON'T. I stomped out a seat and hip belayed him over to me. It would have held a good sneeze, but not a traversing slide with 100 feet of rope out.
I also got off route in the Bugs once and rapped off of a cluster of old slings. I could have found something to back it up with but didn't. When I weighted it, it made a crackling sound. I thought to myself, "You dumbass. You got away with it once--you probably won't if you try this again."

Crag Dweller wrote: Actually, it appears to be growing out from under a little flake. But, I noticed after I posted my comment that the 'biners can't be removed from the rap ring. I'd be short a couple of slings after rapping off this thing, that's fo sho.

I don't read Italian, but it looks like most of those types of setups go at 22-30 kn. But, yeah, they look like paperclips.

raumerclimbing.com/ita/prod…

Chris Wenker wrote: I don't read Italian

http://www.raumerclimbing.com/eng/prodotti_clista.asp?cat=stainless_steel_halting_chains_ring_and_chains_topanchors_systems&qi=0-9-0

The English version :-P

From the English site: "The fixing of Full Time occurs leading percussion, in fact, a stop absolutely inviolable, durable and safe."

Yeah, that helps a lot.

:-P right back atcha

Chris Wenker wrote:From the English site: "The fixing of Full Time occurs leading percussion, in fact, a stop absolutely inviolable, durable and safe."

Wow ... maybe the Italian is actually easier to understand.

On my first alpine lead in the Indian Peaks I set a belay with three nuts and a cam behind a fridge sized block sitting on a 2'X4' ledge (I thought the block was connected to the wall.)
I set up a nice re-direct and belayed my second up. Just as he stood on the ledge I shifted my weight to tie him in, at that moment the block shifted and all three pieces blew. Luckily my partner grabbed my flailing arms and pulled me back onto the ledge.
My partner never climbed again after that.

John Hegyes wrote:Here's a pic of the old anchor on Hop Route in Red Rock at about 175' up. Someone came along and chopped it so you have to climb a second pitch and do the sketchy walk-off now. That was two years ago, I don't know if the situation has improved.

I was on the route about 3 weeks ago and there is now a brand spanking new (and shiny) two bolt anchor at the top of the finger crack that ends the first pitch! We shamelessly clipped in after taking a few huffs from our supplementary O2.

A question I've been meaning to ask: On the descent from Hop ROute, we came across a rap anchor that consisted of a 3 inch tree, and a bomber stopper. My reservation was that the stopper had a piece of webbing going through the wire bale. The other end of the webbing had a rap ring attached. I refused to rap of that until we replaced the webbing against the wire with a quick link (a bail 'biner would have been fine too).

So does webbing tied directly into the wire of a stopper give you pause?

Mike Thompson wrote:so i was reading a different topic on a different forum and i saw a picture of one of the worst anchors i had ever seen. so i decided to get others input :) what is the worst anchor you have ever seen? fixed or placed by your gumby leader that you were horrified to climb up to :) post away! this is the anchor i saw :)

I once hung off an anchor that looked just like this one, sans the 'biner, with five other guys, while we rapped off the ring, one by one, and I was the last to go.

BrianH wrote:So does webbing tied directly into the wire of a stopper give you pause?

I certainly wouldn't lead past it, but in the world of sketchy rappel anchors, I'd feel pretty good about it.

I wish we had a picture of it, but a friend and I once rappelled off of a piece of 1" webbing duct-taped to a horn, the top of which was probably 80 degrees from the plane of the rock. He went first and I watched to make sure it didn't shift. It didn't, so I went.

If you find the webbing, please return it to me. It was blue, and its in the cascades somewhere with duct tape on it.

If any one has ever climbed or rapped pale fire on mosses you've seen lots of these... So whats the shear strength of a 30+ year old star drive in sandstone anyway?

Who cares? That shit is pimp!

Gotta wonder if the sandstone or the star drive will blow first, not real comforting for sure. I wasn't psyched about the star drives on the first pitch of the sun devil chimney. They were 3/8 too with aluminum angle hangers! How long are those things anyway like an inch?

tinypic.com/r/2ex68ar/4

Far better than a lot of the ones on here, but I still didn't like it much when I was hanging on it/wedging myself in the crack for dear life.

jane-gallwey wrote:http://tinypic.com/r/2ex68ar/4 Far better than a lot of the ones on here, but I still didn't like it much when I was hanging on it/wedging myself in the crack for dear life.

That held weight? :)

Steve Levin wrote:Climbers have nothing on canyoneers! Here's a "good" anchor in Trail Canyon, Utah, with Steve "Ram" Ramras rappelling.

Gotta love Deadman Anchors! They make for a pretty intense rappel.

Got some new ones to add from last weekend, these were some pretty good sized raps too!

Retrievable!

John H.,
Am I missing something, or was that bolt placement a little suspect even before it showed through. Putting a bolt that close to an edge in granite is one thing, but RR sandstone? Hmmm.