ClimbTech Removable Climbing Anchor?

Has anyone heard of or used these things before?

climbtechgear.com/1-2-remov…

They have been around for years, they used to make 3/8" ones which I had for groung-up drilling until they fell apart. They are a pain to remove, even worse if you fall on them.

Can you whip on them or are they meant for body weight only?

From what I understand, they have been redesigned recently to make them easier to remove. There was a thread about them a while ago.

mountainproject.com/v/remov…

• Edit, link wasn't working

alexdavis wrote:Can you whip on them or are they meant for body weight only?

"ClimbTech Co-Founder Falls 50ft Using ClimbTech Removable Bolt"

vimeo.com/10674868

So, That must be fun climbing around looking for the holes to plug those things into

What can I say? It's the storyline of my life

Looks like the patent was granted in 1996, I got mine maybe 10 yrs ago.
The removing sleeve has been improved, that´s the bit you have to hit with a hammer and a pin to get them free and was a weak point on he older models.
The big problem was using them for aiding when bolting ground-up as the repeated bending screws up the thin wires on the spoons, in the end the centre cable breaks as well.
A good product even though, I tried to get them to make a batch of the 3/8" model again but no interest from their side.

They never caught on for free climbing because climbers would have to invest about $500+ for routes which don´t really exist (a couple of desert towers were drilled for these). Then there is the question of stuck ones and hole wear which made their long-term future dubious. And they are a bit weak in terms of replacing bolts and you need to go up to the 1" ones for a true like-for-like equivalent at $250 bucks a go though I´d be happy enough with the 3/4" ones myself, still going to be a pricey rack!

Jim Titt wrote:Looks like the patent was granted in 1996, I got mine maybe 10 yrs ago. The removing sleeve has been improved, that´s the bit you have to hit with a hammer and a pin to get them free and was a weak point on he older models. The big problem was using them for aiding when bolting ground-up as the repeated bending screws up the thin wires on the spoons, in the end the centre cable breaks as well. A good product even though, I tried to get them to make a batch of the 3/8" model again but no interest from their side. They never caught on for free climbing because climbers would have to invest about $500+ for routes which don´t really exist (a couple of desert towers were drilled for these). Then there is the question of stuck ones and hole wear which made their long-term future dubious. And they are a bit weak in terms of replacing bolts and you need to go up to the 1" ones for a true like-for-like equivalent at $250 bucks a go though I´d be happy enough with the 3/4" ones myself, still going to be a pricey rack!

The Totem Cam guys look like they're working on 10mm RB for future release Jim so you may be in luck!

Totem 10mm RB

I still have a couple of the old-style 3/8th's which I use when bolting on lead when I can't get a good hook placement. I've never fallen on one but they certainly hold body weight. Here's a couple being used as an anchor. I trusted them to rap off and jumar back up the next day.

rb's in action

mattm wrote: The Totem Cam guys look like they're working on 10mm RB for future release Jim so you may be in luck! Totem 10mm RB

Good news!

Ed, why don't you have those two rb's side by side and equalized??

c. christopher spikes wrote:Ed, why don't you have those two rb's side by side and equalized??

I'm not Ed, but it's a vertically-oriented anchor just like this one from Fixe (and Ed's looks fairly equalized to me):

Mr. Spikes: the vertical orientation is far superior to side by side in terms of loading, and he has them equalized too. How long have you been at this?

I was still moving up and had intended to place a real bolt a little higher but I ran outa juice for the drill. Like others have replied, those are fairly well equalized. By the way, this was almost 500 feet off the deck, so again, I trust these rb's.

mattm wrote: The Totem Cam guys look like they're working on 10mm RB for future release Jim so you may be in luck! Totem 10mm RB

I met up with Mikel the Totem guy at the Outdoor show and got one to try. They are going to be 10mm so you guys might be out of luck though for us it´s better, on the old 3/8" model in a 10mm hole the outer spoons moved too far up the cone and made them a bit of a pain to remove. It just fits into a 3/8 hole in a piece of metal but going to be interesting in the typically not-round hole you get drilling rock.

Jim Titt wrote: I met up with Mikel the Totem guy at the Outdoor show and got one to try. They are going to be 10mm so you guys might be out of luck though for us it´s better, on the old 3/8" model in a 10mm hole the outer spoons moved too far up the cone and made them a bit of a pain to remove. It just fits into a 3/8 hole in a piece of metal but going to be interesting in the typically not-round hole you get drilling rock.

I wonder if that 0.5mm difference could be made up for with a bit of wiggling of the 3/8in bit while drilling?

mattm wrote: I wonder if that 0.5mm difference could be made up for with a bit of wiggling of the 3/8in bit while drilling?

That would work but possibly it makes using the hole later for a 3/8" bolt a bit questionable, this someone will have to test I guess but not me as imperial drills and bolts are even harder to buy in Europe than metric ones in the USA.
I tried in a metal block with a 3/8" hole (I´ve still some metal-working drills from way back) and it just goes in but the little removing sleeve is really tight which might give problems.

The 3/8" were made for a long time and eventually we stopped for a couple reasons.

First, they don't have an application for industrial fall protection or rope access. The 1/2" are used for positioning.

Second, they're small, the 1/2"ers are small as is and with the spoons and the wires and the cone...its hard to fit all that in 3/8" with so much going on.

We do get some requests for them so this is great to have Totem spending time on these. Totem makes great cams and I bet they'll come out with a great RB in Europe.

Jim, cleaning the RBs from the hole is simple with the new cleaning bushing. Here is a demo video of our 3/4"RBs (pay no attention to the concrete specs and all that) : vimeo.com/9929927

I just use a smaller bit or an awl, really very easy to get back out.

My name is Chris, i work at Climbtech, full disclosure! Holler if you have questions at all about the RB or anything else we make.

Mike Lane wrote:Mr. Spikes: the vertical orientation is far superior to side by side in terms of loading, and he has them equalized too. How long have you been at this?

Neither pic (RBs or chained anchor) has ANY equalization.
If you do not have some degree of freedom to equalize, like when using a magic X, you can not get equalization.
But that's fine. The extension and the swing, if the loaded bolt blew, is minimal. That is the point of using the vertical arrangement.

agd wrote:Can you whip on them or are they meant for body weight only?

How is it that nobody is actually addressing this issue? As I see it, it is ClimbTech's responsibility to clearly respond NO. Especially since a person representing the company has commented within this thread.

Yes, I watched the video of the dude taking the fifty footer....onto a 3/4" RB. But why would anyone actually use a 3/4" Rb for fall protection? Only specialty applications, since the vast majority of climbers will be interesting in using an RB no larger than 1/2", thus allowing the same hole to be used later with a standard size bolt.

So if you are drilling holes no bigger than 1/2" (almost everyone....) then these are NOT for fall protection. The 1/2" RB's are only rated to about 500 lbs!
To put out videos of people taking epic falls on an RB, while not offering an RB in a size that makes that application useful is misleading and irresponsible.
Furthermore, nowhere on ClimbTech's page for the 1/2"ers does it say whether or not it is for fall protection. But it DOES have the "fifty foot fall" video right there on the page.....WTF???