ClimbTech Removable Climbing Anchor?

Two years later ;-)

Better late than never!

Alex Bury wrote: The 1/2" RB's are only rated to about 500 lbs! WTF???

Not true. They are Rated to 2700 lbs. As strong as a cam.

I've bought a couple of these (not climb tech) from Grainger years ago. I do remember those things were expensive!.. like $165. They had a bunch of different kinds if anyone's looking for these.

The anchors kinda reminded me of slider nuts. They were easy to install and to take out the hole.

The RBs are sweet and work great for bolting on lead or working on projects. The new 1/2" models clean super easy. I've got an old 3/8" and it can be a royal pain to remove after being weighted. The new models are a big improvement.

I've been using the climbtech removable anchors for moving rock around for about a year. The only issue I've had was when the load rotated on the line - you can see the swivel for the McKissick block is 'pinned' by the static line. For my application, putting a swivel in the system makes sense. If I were climbing with them, I'd want to make sure to orient the piece so it wouldn't take a twist.

Since I usually have a genny and a decent rotary hammer on site, it made more sense for my application to use the 1" mega swivel anchor. I'm super pleased with it.

1" swivel in action

Vinny at Climbtech is a standup guy and has done a hell of a lot of work on behalf of climbers. I think the usual MP passive-aggressive hatchet job doesn't serve anybody - maybe engage ClimbTech directly with your questions instead of taking cheap shots.

Darren Mabe wrote: Not true. They are Rated to 2700 lbs. As strong as a cam.

Every 1/2" RB ClimbTech makes is marked as having a "Safe Working Load of 2.2kn Max". Do they do that with cams?

Zappatista wrote:If you think the 1/2 inch model is terror-inducing, it's surprising that you are climbing on gear at all, putting up new routes, or commenting on a page about such.

Ummm....read my post again. Did I mention anything about being terrified? I have used these 1/2" RB's to put up new routes and have fallen on them. My point is that ClimbTech is not doing the best job of being clear as to what the 1/2" RB is designed for (not what I use it for).

Zappatista wrote:I acquired a 3/4 inch model through work, not made by CT. If you think one of these wouldn't hold a fall but place RPs, you are silly.

And I'm talking about the 1/2" RBs not the 3/4".

Alex Bury wrote: Every 1/2" RB ClimbTech makes is marked as having a "Safe Working Load of 2.2kn Max".

safe working load is different than break strength.

climbtech.com/wp-content/up…

Adding some drift..

For wilderness settings it seems awesome to be able to not leave hardware behind by using these. But what happens when you return to said wilderness crag and want to repeat your previous set up. Can you recover the holes? Or will you need to drill fresh holes. In regards to the holes filling with crud..

Darren Mabe wrote: safe working load is different than break strength. climbtech.com/wp-content/up…

I certainly understand that....Im am not worried about the cables breaking LOL.

J. Broussard wrote:Adding some drift.. For wilderness settings it seems awesome to be able to not leave hardware behind by using these. But what happens when you return to said wilderness crag and want to repeat your previous set up. Can you recover the holes? Or will you need to drill fresh holes. In regards to the holes filling with crud..

You describe a legitimate application. Just brush and blow old holes out and you can reuse them.

Alex Bury wrote: I certainly understand that....Im am not worried about the cables breaking LOL.

so you're worried they will pull out of the rock at 500 lbs?

J. Broussard wrote:Adding some drift.. For wilderness settings it seems awesome to be able to not leave hardware behind by using these. But what happens when you return to said wilderness crag and want to repeat your previous set up. Can you recover the holes? Or will you need to drill fresh holes. In regards to the holes filling with crud..

You don't need to drill another hole. I've used these in concrete. I wonder if that would be expensive? Would you need as many of them as they're holes? A hundred foot route would have 6-7 holes. Still a good idea!

Well, sorry about replying after so much time has passed, maybe it will give someone info. I used to work at a gym in Northern California and some member said he invented them. (For all I know he was full of shit or copying someones design) but he was testing them and the purpose was bolting.... and also one of the areas being developed was having issues with someone chopping bolts and complaining (I don't know if they were complaining to forestry or what) but another purpose/market was the people climbing/developing that area that needed pro for the bolts that were cut.

These removable bolts are used by many Grotto members. The group I'm familiar with uses these on cave climbing expeditions. Just saw a slideshow on a 5 pitch route done in a cave in Carlsbad. You try to use as much natural gear as possible but "life support" anchors are left behind and where bolts are needed but can't be left, the removable ones are used.

These are actually required for use onmost cave climb expeditions - minimal impact.

JAnwyl wrote: Well, sorry about replying after so much time has passed, maybe it will give someone info. I used to work at a gym in Northern California and some member said he invented them. (For all I know he was full of shit or copying someones design) but he was testing them and the purpose was bolting.... and also one of the areas being developed was having issues with someone chopping bolts and complaining (I don't know if they were complaining to forestry or what) but another purpose/market was the people climbing/developing that area that needed pro for the bolts that were cut.

I'm assuming you were speaking with Karl Guthrie based upon the patent applications for the removable anchor bolt design. 

J. Broussard wrote: Adding some drift.. For wilderness settings it seems awesome to be able to not leave hardware behind by using these. But what happens when you return to said wilderness crag and want to repeat your previous set up. Can you recover the holes? Or will you need to drill fresh holes. In regards to the holes filling with crud..

.... several years later...

We use them in search and rescue, primarily for places where there's no good anchors for a full rescue load. It doesn't happen that often, so the most usage they see is in training. But that does mean that we've drilled holes in random boulders (small ones, like the size of microwaves, nothing anyone is climbing on) in some of our training areas. A couple of years later we might need to use a tube and blow some gunk out of them but the bolts still go in nicely.

The camming action of them and the perfect nature of the hole they're sitting in make them pretty trustworthy to me. We made a 9:1 mechanical advantage system, with a Toyota truck on one end and a removable bolt in a multi-ton boulder on our team's property (again, not a climbing boulder). We managed to drag the truck sideways across the parking lot with it in park / in-gear.