Purcell Prusik as a Personal Anchor System

I guess it could be useful when rapping routes, when your not able to clove in with the rope. I clove while on route and use daisy chains when going in direct on rappel.

I tried a Purcell prussik and found it outstanding for cutting up and using for rap anchors, after which I never replaced it. For all around anchoring use it is inferior to a PAS because of its limited adjustability and poor performance on the occasional improvised aid move (e.g. when the second has to free both hands to work on a stuck piece).

I never use any kind of tether as part of the load-bearing connection to a belay anchor, except in some circumstances while in the process of either building or breaking down the anchor.

Excellent feedback guys!! Thank you all!!

I wanted to clarify that this system would be girth hitched to the hard points on a harness and not the belay loop. As with anything that is girth hitched to my harness, I always remove it when I'm done climbing for the day. I agree that leaving this system or any other sling or tether girth hitched to your harness is sketch and could result in a lot of wear-and-tear.

I've used Purcell Prussia before as an anchor and they don't work very well in rope that isn't braided. And they especially don't hold well on static line if you tighten it down and keep it constantly waited it's ok but not my first choice on the cliff

If you are going to carry a PAS, I like the idea of an anchor system that can be very quickly converted to some other use. I tried the Purcell for a while, but I settled on a simpler system:

youtu.be/vA1EzOYn3fU

I carry the cordelette so that I have some material to use if I get in a jam and for a rappel cow's tail, but I often exclusively use the rope at each multi-pitch anchor when swapping leads. Bunny-ear 8 or triple loop 8.

Just wanted to revive this thread to talk about PAS redundancy at the anchors.

I'm transitioning into using the PP only as my PAS. I have on my harness both the standard, commercial Metolius PAS and the PP (which are bulky together) and each clips into one of the anchor bolts to have redundancy. The Metolius PAS allows me to be redundant(ish - depending on what fails, I guess) on its own so I'm used to always clipping into two points when cleaning anchors.

On multipitch routes I've been able to ditch the PAS and use just the PP since I can clove with the rope for redundancy - and I dig it. But when cleaning single-pitch routes and you're coming off of the rope completely to set up for rap, I feel like having just the single PP to the anchors may be unsafe? Is the beta for using PP's on single pitch routes to have another sling in your tie-in points?

Or is this a situation where things need not be redundant? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

Angela Lee wrote: Just wanted to revive this thread to talk about PAS redundancy at the anchors.

I'm transitioning into using the PP only as my PAS. I have on my harness both the standard, commercial Metolius PAS and the PP (which are bulky together) and each clips into one of the anchor bolts to have redundancy. The Metolius PAS allows me to be redundant(ish - depending on what fails, I guess) on its own so I'm used to always clipping into two points when cleaning anchors.

On multipitch routes I've been able to ditch the PAS and use just the PP since I can clove with the rope for redundancy - and I dig it. But when cleaning single-pitch routes and you're coming off of the rope completely to set up for rap, I feel like having just the single PP to the anchors may be unsafe? Is the beta for using PP's on single pitch routes to have another sling in your tie-in points?

Or is this a situation where things need not be redundant? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

I usually put a draw in between what I'm connected to and the other bolt/hanger/rapring. Just a normal draw, no lockers. And yeah, yer gunna die. And so will I.

Angela Lee wrote: 
On multipitch routes I've been able to ditch the PAS and use just the PP since I can clove with the rope for redundancy - and I dig it. But when cleaning single-pitch routes and you're coming off of the rope completely to set up for rap, I feel like having just the single PP to the anchors may be unsafe?

The word "unsafe" tends to start riots here as some people interpret it as "very bad practice that few consider acceptable", while others use it as "not the best system one could think of".

But I've come to the conclusion that it's best to have different installed tethers for multipitch vs single-pitch.  Part of it is that, like you, I like to have 2 separate tethers for anchor cleaning.  But I've also found the length requirements to be very diferent.  For multipitch it's often useful to have a pretty long one - possibly as long as 2m - so that, in a party of 3, you can drop down to a comfy spot away from the main ledge and still be connected to the anchor.  And it needs to be easily adjustable as the distance between the comfy spot and the anchor varies a lot on multipitch.  For single-pitch anchor cleaning, on the other hand, the ideal IT length is much shorter (I like 75cm) and rarely changes from one route to the next.  A tether that short may even avoid the need to be shortened when clipped to the harness.

BTW an easy common way to set up a 2nd independent tether to a 2-bolt anchor is a chain of ~3 quickdraws connected to the belay loop.

Kyle Tarry wrote: The rope?

I was recently on a trip where the middle did a lot of untying/re-tying as we simul-followed the easier longer pitches and climbed one at a time the shorter harder ones.  A tether separate from the rope eliminated a lot of steps in that situation.

My 2m estimate was probably off - maybe only 1.3m...  My point was just that the ideal tether for single-pitch cleaning is noticeably shorter than for 3-person multipitch.