Practi Bolts - indoor anchor practice made easy
Full disclosure: Practibolts sent me their product for free. That in no way biases my review; it's a cool product and I want to tell you about it. There are no ads, affiliate marketing links, or paid product promotions on Alpinesavvy. In the rare cases when I get a free product like this, I’ll always let you know.
Looking to practice your anchor building or sport draw clipping technique indoors? Check out Practi Bolts, from the Denver Climbing Company.
This cleverly designed bit of gear has two aluminum bolt hangers, along with two plastic quick links and two short lengths of plastic chain. The hangers have a strong magnet on the back, and some gel material. Press the hangers firmly on any magnetic surface (such as your refrigerator) and you're ready to go. The magnets hold up to about 30 pounds, and the gel keeps them from scratching the surface.
(Hopefully this is blindingly obvious, but I'll say it anyway: these are not meant for any kind of bodyweight load. You will discover this instantly as soon as you lean back on them and end up with your butt on the floor.)
You can use this to practice just about any sort of anchor configuration you can imagine, as well as sport draw clipping. If you have additional quick links or rings, you can use those too. Give ‘em a follow on Instagram, @practibolts, to see more rigging examples.
Let's look at a few configurations that I set up in a few minutes on my fridge. (Sorry about the funky lighting, it's hard to take pictures of shiny stainless steel without some weird reflections . . .
Out of the box, here’s what it looks like. Note the approximate 45° angle of the hanger, with the Practi Bolts logo being level. Installing the hangers with this tilt on them helps helps the magnet hold better.
Here's one possible set up for top roping. This makes it easy for the last person, especially if they’re inexperienced. First person threads the rope through the chains, and clips it to a carabiner (locker or non locker) which takes all the wear and tear from top roping. Last person up cleans the carabiner and lowers off. Learn more about this technique here.
Hey, now we're getting fancy. How about the fixed point lead belay? Learn more at this article.
If you have your own anchor hardware, feel free to use that too. Here I added a couple of steel rings, a common anchor set up in many climbing areas.
I think you get the idea. Practi Bolts are a fairly inexpensive and versatile way to practice anchor building, rigging, and sport draw clipping from the cozy comfort of your kitchen. Give ‘em a try and help support a small Colorado USA, climber owned business!
