A Variety of Things Can Go Wrong at An Anchor
Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 10:34 pm
Here's one:
A climber seconds a steep sport pitch, close to their limit. Along the way, they clean the quickdraws. At the crux, the seconding climber unclips the bolt end of the quickdraw and lets it dangle, clipped to the rope. (The other quickdraws the climber has cleaned completely from the rope and clipped to their harness.)
So the climber arrives at the anchor, a pretty solid standup stance on a small ledge--so before even saying "Take!" the climber grabs a draw and clips into the anchor with a quickdraw.
Now the climber, still holding the chain anchor for balance, calls for "Slack!" and pulls up about 10 feet of slack. Now the climber leans back.......and falls about 10 feet! Whoa! What happened!??
The quickdraw that the climber clipped into? It was the one that the climber left dangling on the rope--and the climber had clipped the bolt end of the draw to the anchor, but not clipped the rope end into the belay loop. Because the climber was still tied in, and hadn't unthreaded the anchor, the fall was caught by the top rope.
Scary!!
Ultimately a happy ending.
But...what if? What if the climber had untied the rope to thread the anchor and hadn't retied before leaning back? Groundfall.
What if: The belayer took the climber off belay (not good protocol..but it's been seen). Groundfall.
What if: The belay wasn't using an autolocker device and was lackadaisical about keeping a tight grip on the rope? Probable groundfall.
What if: The climber had actually clipped to the anchor correctly but forgot to unclip the draw cleaned and left dangling? Probably, it would slip off the rope when the climber unties the original knot in order to thread and lower. Possible injury (or?) to persons on the ground.
Cause: The climber was rushed. The climber neglected the standard procedure usually used in order to save time. The climber was highly fatigued after multiple days of climbing.
Lesson: Don't rush! Don't leave draws dangling at your tie-in when you clean a route on top rope. Say "Take" when you are at the anchor. Maybe use it as you first signal to begin tracing and double checking all attachments at each anchor. Further, backclip the top bolt to the belayer side of a toprope. Then you can use your "don't drop it knot" clipped to your belay loop. In the event of an anchor failure, the top bolt can protect you, but only if its connected to your belay loop--and your belayer should ALWAYS keep you on belay during your standard sport "clean and lower" process.
Any thoughts? If anything isn't clear, let me know and I'll do my best to correct it.
Will
A climber seconds a steep sport pitch, close to their limit. Along the way, they clean the quickdraws. At the crux, the seconding climber unclips the bolt end of the quickdraw and lets it dangle, clipped to the rope. (The other quickdraws the climber has cleaned completely from the rope and clipped to their harness.)
So the climber arrives at the anchor, a pretty solid standup stance on a small ledge--so before even saying "Take!" the climber grabs a draw and clips into the anchor with a quickdraw.
Now the climber, still holding the chain anchor for balance, calls for "Slack!" and pulls up about 10 feet of slack. Now the climber leans back.......and falls about 10 feet! Whoa! What happened!??
The quickdraw that the climber clipped into? It was the one that the climber left dangling on the rope--and the climber had clipped the bolt end of the draw to the anchor, but not clipped the rope end into the belay loop. Because the climber was still tied in, and hadn't unthreaded the anchor, the fall was caught by the top rope.
Scary!!
Ultimately a happy ending.
But...what if? What if the climber had untied the rope to thread the anchor and hadn't retied before leaning back? Groundfall.
What if: The belayer took the climber off belay (not good protocol..but it's been seen). Groundfall.
What if: The belay wasn't using an autolocker device and was lackadaisical about keeping a tight grip on the rope? Probable groundfall.
What if: The climber had actually clipped to the anchor correctly but forgot to unclip the draw cleaned and left dangling? Probably, it would slip off the rope when the climber unties the original knot in order to thread and lower. Possible injury (or?) to persons on the ground.
Cause: The climber was rushed. The climber neglected the standard procedure usually used in order to save time. The climber was highly fatigued after multiple days of climbing.
Lesson: Don't rush! Don't leave draws dangling at your tie-in when you clean a route on top rope. Say "Take" when you are at the anchor. Maybe use it as you first signal to begin tracing and double checking all attachments at each anchor. Further, backclip the top bolt to the belayer side of a toprope. Then you can use your "don't drop it knot" clipped to your belay loop. In the event of an anchor failure, the top bolt can protect you, but only if its connected to your belay loop--and your belayer should ALWAYS keep you on belay during your standard sport "clean and lower" process.
Any thoughts? If anything isn't clear, let me know and I'll do my best to correct it.
Will