Making a rope anchor without twisting

rgold wrote:My system The loop in the slack for redirection point is optional---I rarely tie that. The system is similar to the one on the climbinglife site, but is more efficient in that you don't have to estimate the lengths of any pieces that are tied later. I've never had a a rope-kinking problem from the clove hitches.

i've never had an issue with estimating the slack beforehand, i just create a loop that hangs slightly lower than where i want my masterpoint. i think my only hesitation to using your system is that i don't typically like to be that close to my masterpoint because it makes it harder to manage a direct belay if you aren't lower than the belay. plus an alpine butterfly isn't as easily adjustable as a clove hitch.

in any case, all of these options will be relatively quick and efficient if you practice them at home before going out.

Ashort wrote:BigFeet, in your top picture what is the purpose of clipping the left strand into the top shelf of the anchor?

I enjoy messing around with the different ways I could possibly make something more efficient and safe for me. I decided that if the single line I'm tied into only goes to that one piece and that one piece has any failure... I'm gone or will have a lengthy extension past my belay. rgold's fix seemed to fit while bearbreeders k.i.s.s. mantra suits me well.

Furthermore, since this has come up, please, anyone chime in and critique. I believe sharing our knowledge and mistakes can make for a good learning experience. I do not have all the answers here, so open up the flood gates. This is just what works for me. In other situations I may go for something different.

Bigfeet,

I use a variation of Rgolds anchor that doesn't use a butterfly for the powerpoint. instead I clip the biner that usually goes into the butterfly into my tie in knot. I find it convenient when building an anchor in a place without a great stance because I'm not forced to pull up any extra slack. Where I clove in is where I hang, no guessing about how much rope the butterfly is going to eat up, and I don't have to unweight the tie in to tie the butterfly.

If the gear is good then I'll attach a plate to the "re-direct" in his photo. and will belay the follower off two good pieces. more often than not I'll belay off of my harness through the re-direct because it makes the changeover a little quicker.

Building Rgolds anchor(TM) in this manner is a bit quicker and more convenient but it would be a lot harder to escape. Also ring loading a fig. 8 tie in is fine for bodyweight but not ideal if the leader takes off and falls directly on your harness, so depending on the next pitch I'll sometimes use my belay loop instead of the fig. 8, doing so make things a little cluttered though.

Hopefully that was worth reading, not better or worse, just another take on things.

I've recently started to make anchors by climbing 5-10' higher than the belay, placing 1 bomber pieces (or 2 nested so so bomber pieces), down climbing to the belay then placing 2 bomber pieces, cloving into each with the rope and belaying off my harness. Or if I have an extra sling I'll lock my PAS to one piece and QuickDraw or sling from the other to my harness. I've found this to be exceptionally fast, efficient and not need any extra gear or time to rety a cordallette

This way my partner (we swing leads usually) gets to the belay, I throw in a mule munter overhand, swap gear, and he's off without any changeover of going on/off belay and he already has a Jesus nut placed. When he gets to the end of the pitch tearing down the belay involves no relying of a cordallette or other time wasting foolery!

I clicked on this hoping to share my rants about shortsighted route equippers who install anchors that will definitely twist your rope.

Instead, I get a page of rope nerds doing what they do.

Learn the bunny ears. Learn the clove hitch. You'll live.

Consider this, which is safer.

1. Summitting at noon. Each belay consisted of 2-3 pieces, sometimes dynamic, sometimes not. Never totally equalized but sortof close. Might not be the strongest thing ever but hey, those clouds are building.

2. Summitting at 8pm. Each belay had 3-6 pieces of gear. Was perfectly dynamic, was perfectly equalized, took a bunch of extra gear to build, and could probably hold 3 Kim Jong Un's and Chris Christie at once. Did anyone bring an umbrella?

Heres another one,

not so good for leading but great for fixed/rap lines or for solo tr anchors. doesn't use any extra gear, no slings and is fast. works well when the gear is all spread out.

The knot is an alpine butterfly with a big loop, two cloves in the loop and another with the free end of the rope.

It just might get you off your solo tr project before the storm rolls in, apparently around 8pm.

Sincerely, rope nerd Jake

Nice trick, fellow rope nerd!

Having kids sometimes comes in handy.

Jake T wrote:Heres another one, not so good for leading ...

Actually it's not bad. Very quick if tying the large loop butterfly knot doesn't give you trouble.

Non-intuitive thing I found that works well with this knot sequence: Tie the master point first.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d6Go8v1PCc&feature=youtu.be

Another variation on RGold's method for building an anchor with the rope:
If you want your master point to be at eye level, measure out that distance and tie a small butterfly knot. Next tie a large loop alpine butterfly - how large depends on the distance between your first two pieces of gear. Clove hitch the first two pieces using that loop and leave slack in the section of rope between the two. Take the tail of rope coming out of the big loop and clove hitch it to the final piece. Adjust knots as necessary to equalize.