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Porter Hangers

Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 2:30 pm
by whatahutch
I was just wondering, my father has some 3/8 angle iron and was thinking about making hangers for the cliff on his farm. If you did fall on them would you still trust them today. Also what routes still have them on. I have seen at least one at Eastern Sky Bridge.

Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 2:34 pm
by bcombs
Email the guy at Fixe and tell him you want 100 hangers. He'll cut you a deal. Probably close to 1.25 or 1.30 each. Then you'll still be alive to enjoy your property. That, and you won't have to worry about falling and slicing yourself open on a rusty hunk of angle iron bolted to the wall.

Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 4:22 pm
by whatahutch
I would do that, but I am super super cheap. (Let me rephrase that, my wife is super super cheap). I am building a 12' wide by 8' foot tall bouldering wall for a little more than 60 bucks. That is including holds. So I was just wondering how many people had actually fallen on one of those old hangers. I know the guide says Porter had them tested and they failed at something like 5000 lbs. I can round the edges down so I won't cut myself open. Hopefully at least.

Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 4:24 pm
by whatahutch
Besides, I have a kid on the way, and being that both my wife and I are both in gradschool, we don't have 125 or 130 bucks to spare.

Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 5:21 pm
by dbrayack
Steel is Steel....the hangers are fine - I'd be more worried about the bolts....ripping out of the rock (surface area failure)

Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 5:48 pm
by rhunt
I am always amazed at what people will do to save money...I guess that extra buck is more important then your life...

But to answer your question, I fell a few times on the "porter hanger" on Too Many Puppies.

Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 6:04 pm
by schwagpad
Here's a terrifying story. When I was 11 I went sport climbing for the second time in my life with my mom. Neither of us knew what the hell we were doing. I had to bail off of Relaxed Atmosphere at the second bolt. Rather than leaving a biner on the Porter hanger, I threaded the rope through it and got lowered down just like cleaning a route from the anchors. It was a bit of a rough ride, but being only 90 pounds I managed to reach the ground without circumsizing my rope. Scary, scary stuff thinking back on it. I can't believe my dad let us gumbies go climbing without his supervision.

Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 6:09 pm
by dbrayack
I dunno - bolts are expensive and the big stainless bolts and stainless hangers are really expensive....so if anyone wants to give me some $$ I'd be more than happy to use more expensive bolts =)

Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 6:25 pm
by bcombs
The question was about hangers, not bolts. I would assume whatshishutch would use the right bolt and the angle iron for the hanger. Hangers are $1.30 each. If $1.30 is the issue, maybe now is not the right time to be developing?

Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 6:28 pm
by Wes
bcombs wrote:maybe now is not the right time to be developing?
+1

If you can't swing the cash for real hardware, then maybe just buy enough for toprop anchors or something. Then again, if it is private land, and you are never going to open it to others, then feel free to do what every you want.