Anchor overview - a German perspective
image credit: Georg Sojer / Chris Semmel / VDBS
The German Mountain and Ski Guides Association (“Verband Deutscher Berg und Skiführer” or “VDBS”) has a well deserved reputation for professionalism and technical expertise.
German Mountain Guide / Bergfuhrer Chris Semmel published an interesting PDF file that summarizes some modern, “VSBS approved” approaches to anchor building.
Many of them are quite different than what's used in the United States, so let's have a look!
Suggestion: When we encounter a technique that’s different from the one we currently use, it’s good to keep an open mind. There are few absolutes in climbing, “gotta do it this way or else”. Most everything else is somewhat subjective. Always practice new methods on the ground first, ideally with a qualified instructor.
A few notes . . .
All images on this page are credited to Georg Sojer, Chris Semmel and the VDBS.
Side note: Georg is a superb and funny cartoonist! Follow him on on the Insta: @sojercartoon
Many of these anchors originated in the “South Tirol”, (Dolomites) which is in northern Italy and not Germany, but credit still goes to Chris and the VDBS. Let's not get hung up on country of origin here, okay?
Graphics with the “VDBS “ logo are the recommended practice. Graphics without the logo are “alternative” methods.
The images are screen grabs from a zoomed in PDF file, so sorry if the quality is not so great.
I'm sure there are some native German speakers reading this who might take issue with some of my translation. I had help from a friend who is self-professed 90% fluent, so any mistakes I blame on him. =^) Let's stay focused on the image content and not get bogged down in tiny translation errors, okay?
Alpinesavvy tries not to offer advice, only ideas and information. I’m absolutely not saying that you should go out and start using these techniques tomorrow, especially without knowing the context and having appropriate instruction. I say again, having appropriate instruction. (Doing this may require a trip to Europe, lucky you.)
I'm not posting every graphic in the entire document, rather the ones I found personally interesting. I encourage you to check out the whole PDF file yourself; click the button below.
The title of the PDF: ”Standplatzlogik VDBS 2019 - Ausbildungsstandard VDBS & Alternativen”
This translates as “Belay stance logic - VDBS training standards and alternatives.” This title alone caught my attention. It's “Professional German Guide Training Standards”, not, “random stuff I saw on the Internet that might work for anchor building.” =^)
Let’s get to it!
Anchor 1 - Let's start off with something not familiar to Americans, a single bolt.
Yes, that's right, one bolt, no redundancy, that's all you got, better get comfortable with it. It's probably a glue in, it's probably about 20+ cm long, and you can probably hang a bulldozer off of it, but it's still one bolt.
It appears that the leader is cloved hitched directly to the yellow carabiner, and brings up the second with a Munter hitch on the black carabiner.
image credit: Georg Sojer / Chris Semmel / VDBS
image credit: Georg Sojer / Chris Semmel / VDBS
Anchor 2 - Here's an anchor set up more familiar to the rest of the world, “two solid fixed points”
Do you see a sling, a quad, a cordelette, or any attempt at equalization? Nope! If you want to build an anchor using the rope, this is about as simple as it gets. All the load is obviously on the left bolt, with the right bolt only serving as a backup in the (1 in 100,000?) chance that the left bolt fails.
This reflects a different approach to anchor building in areas that have top-quality twin bolted anchors - there's really no need to try to equalize.
(Note, the rope is tied to the belay loop and not the harness tie in points. Not a standard practice in the US and not recommended by most harness manufacturers, but apparently acceptable to the VDBS, so in this case I'm gonna call it good.)
image credit: Georg Sojer / Chris Semmel / VDBS
Here's another approach, in the diagram on the right. Instead of clove hitch, you can make a bight knot and belay from that.
image credit: Georg Sojer / Chris Semmel / VDBS - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rpPxbNOHjCQNFZmnI-qB9iEXun7Q4Qyf/view
Side note: Check out how the rope is tied to the harness in the diagram above: to the belay loop! This is definitely not standard practice in North America, but maybe in Germany?
Have a look at the screen grab below from the Edelrid website. It clearly shows that tying to the belay loop is acceptable.
image: https://media.edelrid.de/images/attribut/54507_GAL_Gurte_Sport_ANSICHT.pdf
Anchor 3 - The fixed point belay
Again, used with two solid bolts, and again, this puts all of the load on the left bolt with the right serving as backup. This time, instead of using the rope and two clove hitches to connect the bolts, you use a double length (120 cm) sling instead. The sling is tied with a double loop bowline on the left, and either a clove hitch with the end clipped, as shown on the left, or a simple overhand knot, as shown on the right.
This technique can be used here as shown, to bring up your partner(s), and it can also be used to belay the leader directly from the anchor. AlpineSavvy has a detailed article on the fixed point belay technique, read it here.
image credit: Georg Sojer / Chris Semmel / VDBS
In the right side margin is this text. It's highlighted, I'm guessing it's pretty important. =^)
Yellow: “Dyneema at the belay as linear connection sling with double bowline: width starting at 10 mm recommended (careful with older 6 or 8 mm slings) In red: “NO old dyneema slings with knots at the belay”
image credit: Chris Semmel / VDBS
Takeaway: (I would guess that the applies to using Dyneema slings for any kind of anchor, not just a fixed point as shown.)
Dyneema slings are fine to use when building an anchor.
It's best practice to use slings that are 10+ mm.
It's okay to put knots in them, provided the slings are relatively new.
Anchor 4 - Swinging leads with a rope anchor
Now, this is interesting. Lots of people think that if you build an anchor with the rope, you can’t block lead. You have to swap leads, because there's nowhere for the second to easily secure themselves.
Well, the set up below lets you swap leads!
It took me a minute or two to digest what was going on, look at the photo below and think it through. Using the quick draw on the top bolt is the key move.
This one is fairly complicated and definitely one to practice on the ground first!
Left: The second is belayed up on the light green rope with a munter hitch.
Center: The second clove hitches into the upper carabiner on the bottom bolt, removes the bottom carabiner, passes the rope behind the connection to the leader, and then clove hitches to the top carabiner of the quick draw.
Right: The leader is put on belay with a munter hitch from the bottom bolt, and clips the quick draw as the first piece for the next pitch.
image credit: Georg Sojer / Chris Semmel / VDBS
Anchor 5 -Now we're getting into alpine anchors, with “2 fragile fixed points”.
(See, your German is getting better already!) “Standard for load distribution.”
Notice, static equalization only. No sliding X, so no chance of suddenly loading the remaining anchor. An overhand knot on the left, and a girth hitch on the right. Yes, a girth hitch, it's fine to use that at the master point. Get used to it, you're about to see a few more. Learn more about the girth hitch master point here.
image credit: Georg Sojer / Chris Semmel / VDBS
Anchor 6 - Girth hitch on the ring at the top, pass a bight through the piton at the bottom, and then girth hitch the master point carabiner.
Many people would assume this anchor would require three carabiners, but in fact you only need one. You can rig this same anchor if you find yourself at a chain anchor and are low on carabiners; learn how from this article.
image credit: Georg Sojer / Chris Semmel / VDBS
Anchor 7 - Look, another girth hitch at the master point!
Also note, this is tied with an open, or untied cordelette. This lets you thread one end through the two pitons and the ring, and then re-tie the cord.
This can be a good method on rock that has a lot of fractures, pockets, or protrusions, because there are fewer carabiners that might be loaded sideways at strange angles.
Historical and geographical note, this style of anchor originated in the Dolomites in northern Italy, where there are lots of fixed pieces of gear in often marginal rock with lots of strange bumps and protrusions. This area is called the “Sud Tirol”, or South Tirol.
Can you see how the cord is tied into a loop? Looks like that's called in German a “paketknoten”, or “parcel knot” which is kind of a 1.5 overhand bend. (Personally I'm fine with a standard flat overhand bend here, although probably with slightly longer tails than what’s shown.)
image credit: Georg Sojer / Chris Semmel / VDBS
Here's a similar version, this time with a caption in English. (For any of you still wondering whether a girth hitch at the master point is a valid technique, hopefully you're convinced by now.) This is from a PDF file called: “Standplatzübersicht VDBS DAV 2020”
image credit: Georg Sojer / Chris Semmel / VDBS
Here’s how to tie the Paketknoten / parcel knot.
Anchor 8 - Hopefully you never have to make a five piece anchor, but if you do, you might want to remember this technique.
The clove hitches require a lot less cord compared to the traditional cordelette, where you’d have to pull down loops between each piece of gear.
(There’s a three-piece variation of this, called the “V clove” anchor, here's an article about it.)
image credit: Georg Sojer / Chris Semmel / VDBS
That's about all. Hopefully this may have broadened your perspective a bit on acceptable anchor building practices.
Again, anchors are often dependent on context and intended use, so it can be a bit tricky to extrapolate from a single diagram what are appropriate real world uses.
Please seek qualified instruction for learning critical skills like this.
And finally, if you've read this far, everyone has at one point wished for an octopus anchor =^)
image credit: Georg Sojer / Chris Semmel / VDBS - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rpPxbNOHjCQNFZmnI-qB9iEXun7Q4Qyf/view
