The offset quad anchor
The standard quad anchor works great for many anchor setups where you have two reliable bolts or ice screws. (While you can use a longer cordelette, many people find that a 180 cm or maybe 240 cm Dyneema sling, that’s 10 or 11 mm and fairly new, to be a more compact and lightweight option.)
Here's a simple variation: the “offset quad”. Rather than the standard method of tying it with four loops of the same length, you tie it with a long lower loop and a shorter upper loop. This can be helpful in certain climbing situations, such as:
Climbing with more than two people
Low anchors, where you may want to connect to the lower loop and belay your partner off the higher loop, because it's more ergonomic
Big wall climbing, where multiple staggered clip in points can be helpful
Rigging a redirected lower, where you are lowering on a tube belay device and you need to redirect the brake strand through a higher point. Learn more about a redirected lower at this article.
Rigging a belayed rappel, where you want to redirect the belay through a higher anchor point. (Thanks to a clever Instagram reader for pointing this one out to me, I didn’t think of it.)
Small cautionary note: Check that the angle on the top two loops is ideally less than 90°, otherwise you can start multiplying the load on your anchor points. If the anchors are far apart and/or your sling is a bit short, perhaps you should consider another rigging method, like a standard quad.
Give the offset quad a try and see if it works for you!
Here’s a video from IFMGA certified Rock and Alpine Guide Karsten Delap showing how it's done:
