How to attach a rappel ring to a sewn sling
Post update: This is NOT a recommended method! It’s easy for the ring to come off the webbing and for the anchor to fail.
It's mentioned because it might be one of your only options, or you might come across an existing rappel anchor with a ring attached like this. You should be aware how it got that way, and the potential for it to become easily detached.
Try this yourself, see how easy it is for it to come undone.
So, although I've kept the original post below, I no longer think it is such a nifty trick. I’ll stick with leaving a carabiner behind, or second choice, a quick link.
My partner and I were heading down the West Ridge of Forbidden Peak in the Washington Cascades.
A series of rappel anchors in various states of disrepair were leading us steadily back to our camp.
When we got to one rat’s nest of several ancient but serviceable slings around a boulder, my partner looked at it with a critical eye and said, “Hey, let’s take a sec to beef up this anchor. I’m going to add a rappel ring to the best looking one of these slings.”
I paused, thinking, then said, “Don't you need some webbing too, so you can thread it through the ring and add the webbing to the anchor?”
He looked at me like I had rocks in my head and said, “Duh, no, I’m just going to add the ring to the webbing that's already there.”
I looked back at him, even more confused. “How are you going to do that!” I demanded. “The ring is welded shut, the webbing is tied shut, and you’ll never untie it without pliers!”
He looked back at me, and shook his head with a little laugh. “Watch and learn, young Jedi, I'm about to show you a little trick,” he said.
The anchor looked something like this . . .
source: summitpost.org/nice-rappel-anchor/906562
Now, if you already know this little move, you're probably going to be laughing at me. That's OK, I can handle it.
A little backstory. I’ve never been much of a fan of carrying rappel rings for alpine climbing. Sure, a rap ring gives you a nice smooth pull with less chance of the rope end hanging up.
But, for alpine climbing on an established route, where you’ll often find a tangle of pre-existing slings, I used to think carrying a rap ring was silly, because you couldn’t thread it through the slings that were already in place.
Given that situation, my usual choice was to take the oldest looking carabiner on my rack, clip it to every strand of the webbing, then close the carabiner gate with some tape to make a “cheapskate locker”.
Or, I’d occasionally carry a quick link, a threaded link of chain that can be opened, attached around multiple strands of webbing, and then closed up. But, this is a rather heavy and single use piece of gear, so I would usually sacrifice a carabiner.
I learned a 3rd option that day on Forbidden, when I saw this little trick for the first time. It almost looked like a magic trick when my partner showed it to me for the first time, because I had it so firmly in my little head that a closed circle ring could not be threaded through a closed circle loop of webbing.
Well, technically it’s NOT threaded through the webbing, but attached via a simple girth hitch. This attaches the ring in a couple of seconds to a closed loop.
(Yes, I know some anchor engi-nerds are having a minor freak out right now and screaming “don’t you know girth hitching a sling decreases its strength by 30%”, blah blah blah. 11/16” webbing is rated to about 13 Kn, and the maximum possible force on a rappel is about 2 Kn, so I’m not worried about this in the slightest.)
And where did I get those numbers? From the climbing gear strength ratings post, which you can read right here.
UPDATE: Strong note of caution: Easy ON also means easy OFF!
Meaning, if it takes you a second to attach this with a girth hitch, it's also going to take a mere second of inattention for this to potentially come off, or worse yet, come halfway off, without you noticing it.
After I first published this post, I got an email from a climbing friend. He told me a scary story about setting up a rappel on this exact situation, with a girth hitched rap ring. While he was getting rigged up, the runner got a little cockeyed. He was a moment away from leaning back on the ring when he realized it was completely unattached to the webbing, YIKES!
Here's another accident report from Cutthroat Peak in the North Cascades of Washington in April 2024. Suspected cause is girth hitched rappel ring. Here's the accident report.
(Yes, best practice is to load test the masterpoint with a tether backup in place before you commit to it. But sometimes with darkness, stress, distractions, whatever, that doesn't always happen.)
Here are three much more secure options for alpine rappel hardware: the cheapskate locker, a.k.a. taped gate carabiner, a quicklink, and a rappel ring that’s actually tied through the cord, instead of being girth hitched.
When properly placed, it is impossible for the hardware to come off of the cord.
So, after all that, if you still want to girth hitch a ring onto cord or webbing, here's how to do it.
Closed loop of webbing and rappel ring.
Pass a loop of webbing through the ring.
Tuck the webbing loop behind the ring.
Pull it tight. Done, and ready to rap. Be SURE and double check this before you go.
Be sure and run your rope through the bottom part of the ring and not the top!
If you don't like the looks of it, don't be a cheapskate, trade it for a carabiner.
