worst anchors ever....

In Yosemite last fall I saw two dyneema runners girthed to different 2" arms of the same 4" Manzanita bush about 20 feet from a cliff edge, poorly equalized to two O&O non-lockers (the best part of the whole setup), to a 4-foot dyneema runner to a single non-locker, to a RATTY DAISY CHAIN, to another single non-locker, to a single strand of 7mm cordalette to a single locker through which their TR was running. The only knots in the whole setup were at either end of the cordy. I wish I had taken a photo but I was too horror-stricken to think of it.

Aluminum snow picket just jammed in a chossy crack. Nepal doesnt safety

This was in Nepal. Snow picket just hammered into a crack and still tied at the end. It was placed by a guide too.

Loren Tragen wrote: And also great: www3.telus.net/public/73942…

Not to digress...but this is quality info here.

If you have to do more than one rappel to reach the ground, you'll want to be able to see your next station as you descend. Tie knots into the end of your rope and then rappel face first, keeping a keen eye out for the next set of anchors.

If you pass the anchors accidentally, get your friend to phone for a helicopter rescue.

Nate K wrote: This was in Nepal. Snow picket just hammered into a crack and still tied at the end. It was placed by a guide too.

Shameful. The minimum standard is clearly a stainless steel picket.

Mark E Dixon wrote: Shameful. The minimum standard is clearly a stainless steel picket.

At least it's a real picket...I saw the same thing in Peru, except the local guides were using something that looked suspiciously like aluminum siding.

csproul wrote: At least it's a real picket...I saw the same thing in Peru, except the local guides were using something that looked suspiciously like aluminum siding.

Haha! I have several of those in my basement that we bought while down there. I have to say I was not super impressed with the quality as I was making the first rappel off of one.

My worst was when the guide box says there is fixed gear at the top and you end up raping off a rusty 1.5 tricam and adding a slight to a 1/4 inch thick bush.

There was more fixed gear old stuck cam but at some point the sling for it had broken and i couldn't get anything to reattach to it.

ViperScale wrote:My worst was when the guide box says there is fixed gear at the top and you end up raping off a rusty 1.5 tricam and adding a slight to a 1/4 inch thick bush. There was more fixed gear old stuck cam but at some point the sling for it had broken and i couldn't get anything to reattach to it.

So you raped off a bush? Sounds like bigger problems than just the anchor.

colors of the rainbow The things CT climbers have been backing off... WHY?
Any one old enough to recognize the color pattern
This is a 30yr old 11m still in use ? ! Meriden CT

Slack Line Anchor

Slack Line Anchor 2

I found this gem while hiking on the PCT this summer. This "anchor" was supporting one end of a slack line which multiple drunkards balanced on, bounced on, and jumped off into the river below. The other end was simply slung around the most questionable sloping horn I have ever seen. The nut was lodged in the crappy constriction with the taper facing the wrong way, and the wire appeared to have been severed and then re-tied with some kind of granny knot, see FIG 2. In FIG 1 Note how the bent and open non-locking carabiner, accompanied by a random nail sticking out of the crack, is the only thing attached to the sketchy ass nut. I cringed every time someone stepped foot on this death trap, but amazingly it did not break... at least while I was there.

DavidJohnson333 wrote: I found this gem while hiking on the PCT this summer. This "anchor" was supporting one end of a slack line which multiple drunkards balanced on, bounced on, and jumped off into the river below. The other end was simply slung around the most questionable sloping horn I have ever seen. The nut was lodged in the crappy constriction with the taper facing the wrong way, and the wire appeared to have been severed and then re-tied with some kind of granny knot, see FIG 2. In FIG 1 Note how the bent and open non-locking carabiner, accompanied by a random nail sticking out of the crack, is the only thing attached to the sketchy ass nut. I cringed every time someone stepped foot on this death trap, but amazingly it did not break... at least while I was there.

Holy sh*t...but you didn't say anything to them? Like hey you are probably going to get hurt any second now regardless of the river?

Scott McMahon wrote: Holy sh*t...but you didn't say anything to them? Like hey you are probably going to get hurt any second now regardless of the river?

Oh sure, I expressed my concerns to everyone I saw while I was there. Nobody really seemed to care though. It was a big crowd, lots of drugs and drinking, holiday weekend. Maybe I should have taken it down? But when a bunch of drunk bros I don't know are partying on the thing I don't want to be "that guy" even if it's for they're own good. The place used to be a pristine remote hot spring, but over the last ten years it's become a total shit hole (literally) Illegal fires, trash, general debauchery.

DavidJohnson333 wrote: Oh sure, I expressed my concerns to everyone I saw while I was there. Nobody really seemed to care though. It was a big crowd, lots of drugs and drinking, holiday weekend. Maybe I should have taken it down? But when a bunch of drunk bros I don't know are partying on the thing I don't want to be "that guy" even if it's for they're own good. The place used to be a pristine remote hot spring, but over the last ten years it's become a total shit hole (literally) Illegal fires, trash, general debauchery.

Yeah I hear that...I've gotten some scowls and snotty remarks when I let people they were about to kills themselves. Even when I tried to approach them in a "pull to the side" humble manner. Too smart for their own good.

And that sucks to hear man. Humans kinda blow.

These are from the Dragon route on the Painted Wall. After having to use this mank, we bailed. Bring a bolt kit if you want this one!!

p1 anchor

p2 anchor

Garret Nuzzo-Jones wrote: So you raped off a bush? Sounds like bigger problems than just the anchor.

But it was a pretty bush =/

I know it's a TR set-up, but I saw a guy teaching his kid to TR on Ken's crack at the Gunks using this as the anchor set-up and what appeared to be 8mm accessory cord as the climbing rope. I looked over the edge and asked if he was serious and got a blank stare... No amount of lecturing/honest to goodness rational caring conversation could have convinced this guy otherwise.

ken's crack TR set-up!!!!!

^ That is pathetic. I honestly would've thought about cutting the cord and dropping the anchor down to the guy below. Teaching your son like that is basically criminal negligence.

This is an anchor I had to lower off of... no way to go up, so the only option was down. Luckily I had a bomber piece 6 feet below this. I had to hike around to the top and rap down to retrieve my gear.

Top of Bombay Crack, Old Rag, Virginia

Michael Schneider wrote:The things CT climbers have been backing off... WHY? Any one old enough to recognize the color pattern This is a 30yr old 11m still in use ? ! Meriden CT

I think I recognize that red rope. I have one here just like it (photo). Date? 1987.

1987 Mammut rope.

pic taken from Sauratown last winter. webbing is in okay shape, rusty links, but the tree has rotted to shit. I rapped off this many years ago when it was a competent anchor and when I was a competent climber :)