Climbing Anchors Book

Hey...I've seen on here a couple of times people recommending a book about building climbing anchors but I've glanced through the threads and can't find where I read it...I've looked on ebay but there are several different books...anyone able to recommend one over another?

Thanks-TJ

Rock Climbing Anchors: A Comprehensive Guide by Craig Luebben is a great book. I usually recommend it to people looking for a book on anchors.

John Long has a book on anchors which is also good (Climbing Anchors, 2nd Edition).

Great...thank you!

This is a good one....Rock Climbing: Mastering Basic Skills By Craig Luebben

dave wave wrote:This is a good one....Rock Climbing: Mastering Basic Skills By Craig Luebben

Also a good/recommended book by Luebben, but doesn't cover anchors as comprehensively.

Climbing Anchors by John Long and Bob Gaines.

The John Long book is great. There's a 3rd edition out now with all new photos (color) and some updated info. Totally worth it.

well it sounds like i'm missin out...i'll have to check out the J. Long book.

dave wave wrote:well it sounds like i'm missin out...i'll have to check out the J. Long book.

The J. Long books are great reads. Very entertaining, with some reasonably good technical discussions. But, frankly, for actually learning new skills, the Luebben books are much much better.

GO

I found both books worth reading.

The latest edition of the Long book has, IMO, the best pictures by far (which, at least for my learning style, was very helpful). But the Luebben book was super informative as well. It's often helpful just to hear two different people explain the same topic.

I ended up buying the Luebben Book, I thought it was great, very informative and I would recommend it...I'll have to check out the John Long book soon too...thanks for the help

Ryan Nevius wrote:Rock Climbing Anchors: A Comprehensive Guide by Craig Luebben is a great book. I usually recommend it to people looking for a book on anchors. John Long has a book on anchors which is also good (Climbing Anchors, 2nd Edition).

Both of these are great. I Read John Longs first and felt as though it became my anchor bible but would definitely say Luebbens book was nicer and had a few more anchors in it.

I'd recommend getting both and building every anchor in them 3 times over. After that you'll probably switch to only building 1-2 types of anchors forever more but it's worth it to have the ideas in your head if you end up in a weird spot.

TJ Souther wrote:Hey...I've seen on here a couple of times people recommending a book about building climbing anchors but I've glanced through the threads and can't find where I read it...I've looked on ebay but there are several different books...anyone able to recommend one over another? Thanks-TJ

More than enough belay set-ups here (assuming you know how to place gear):

people.bath.ac.uk/dac33/hig…

Chris C wrote:The John Long book is great. There's a 3rd edition out now with all new photos (color) and some updated info. Totally worth it.

If you can follow the math it will sell you on the equalette.

rging wrote: If you can follow the math it will sell you on the equalette.

The popularity of either cordalette or equalette is waning considerably as more is understood about equalization and other anchor building techniques.

mattm wrote: The popularity of either cordalette or equalette is waning considerably as more is understood about equalization and other anchor building techniques.

the cordelette is still as popular as ever ...

basically its the method taught to many new climbers in beginner trad courses

by "cordelette" i also include long slings/webbing tied in fig8/overhand configuration as well

for the simple reason that its KISS

;)

Ignore the equalette. It was a good effort. But it really hasn't stood up to the test of peer review.

Bill Lawry wrote:Ignore the equalette. It was a good effort. But it really hasn't stood up to the test of peer review.

I would be interested to hear somebody elaborate on this.

I use the quad for toproping all the time. If it hadn't been for the Long book, I wouldn't even known to ask about it. After one guided climb I'd been on where the guide used it at each anchor I realized that for some applications it was very viable. I especially like how fast I can get an equalized anchor with it. The real concern is that there can be a few inches of extension if you lose one side of the quad. However, since it's so beefy and fast I'm ok with that.

My recommendation on the books? GET BOTH. Why? You can never learn too much about anchors and unless you want to go out and do the research, then it's great to get different perspectives.

Another book that I'd consider? There's Self Rescue by Falcon Guides:

amazon.com/Self-Rescue-2nd-…

This book is excellent talking through knots, anchor systems and even scenarios. Always good to get as much reference sitting around as possible.

The various threads on the equalette are a bit difficult to wade through. Here are the drawbacks I recall (could be mis-relaying but they are concerns to me)...

• in a failure of one side, the allowed movement of the belayer was not taken into account; it can impart serious forces;
• the backup the limiter knots provide results in a not-best-practice loading in a failure;
• it is a false assurance that the dynamic equalization can make up for poor placements by a beginner;

Less of an issue, in my opinion ...

• the extra clove hitches take valuable time on long multi-pitch;
• the dangling loops are not neat - not KISS;
• beginner followers can get confused about where to clip in.

Hope others chime in agreement or not ...

Many authors, John Long included, have stated that the individual strength of each anchor point is far more important than how you connect them. That said I love the convenience of a long cordalette for almost all anchors. It's strong, burly, and any knots jam way less than slings. I usually skip self equalizing limiter knots and just make a big master point. It's redundant and totally non extending, but mostly I love having a clean shelf to work with, you can spread your biners out between the master point and the two shelfs which you can't do with limiter knots.