Clean sport anchors by lowering - New AAC guidelines

The sport climbing anchor debate of “should the last climber lower or rappel” debate has raged back-and-forth over many years.  It’s not my wish to fan these flames.

But, shared here as more of an FYI, public service announcement, the American Alpine Club (AAC) has officially come out with the stance that they support lowering.

Summary of reasons:

• Changing from one safety system to another (from belaying to rappelling), and the potential for communication errors regarding whether a climber is on or off belay, has contributed to many accidents. Here, the climber stays on belay the entire time.

• The climber is never untied from the rope, which means they never have a chance to drop it.

• No additional specialty gear, such as a rappel device, extra carabiners, daisy chain, tether, or PAS, is required.

• The well intentioned rationale for rapping is usually to avoid putting wear and tear on the anchors, but the AAC calls this “. . . misplaced sense of stewardship that seeks to preserve anchor hardware.” Modern anchor hardware is extremely robust, and ideally meant to be easily replaced.

Here’s how to do it:

1. The second climber climbs the route, cleaning gear as needed.

2. The second climber arrives at the anchor, and clips directly to the masterpoint of the existing anchor. This connection can be made with either a quick draw, or a tether / PAS.

3. Remaining on belay, the second calls for slack, pulls up a large bight of rope, and feeds it through the anchor hardware meant for lowering.

4. The second ties an overhand or figure 8 on a bight, and clips it to their belay loop with a locking carabiner.

5. The second calls for “tension” or “take”. The second checks to see that they are being properly held by their belayer, the rope is threaded correctly through the anchor hardware, and their carabiner is locked.

6. The second cleans the anchor material from the bolts.

7. The second unties the rewoven tie in knot from their harness, and pulls the tail of the rope through the chains.

8. The second calls “ready to lower”, and lowers to the ground.

To clarify, this does not mean that a group of two or more should initially set up to top rope on the anchors. You should pretty much always do this on your own equipment. This scenario is only for the last person up the route, who needs to clean the gear and safely get back to the ground.

The AAC is certainly not saying that every sport climber should start to do this on all routes tomorrow, nor that it’s best in all situations. But for the AAC to make an official policy statement on this is a pretty big deal, many instruction schools and guiding companies are doing this already. So it’s important for the climbing community to be aware of this, regardless of your own thoughts on the matter.

---

Here's a nice graphic from Petzl that shows you the step-by-step:

image: Petzl.com

---

Here's a video from the American Alpine Club, showing this technique. The lowering procedure starts at about 3:10.

---

Here’s a nice video from AMGA Certified Rock Guide Cody Bradford, see how fast it can be?

While sadly Cody is no longer with us, his Instagram continues to stay up and is a great source of tips like this, check it out.

---

And here's a longer one, with IFMGA Guides, that goes over the steps in a bit more detail and a couple of different scenarios.

Be cautious of “grade inflation” in climbing gyms

Many outdoor climbing areas have a reputation for ratings that are relatively easier, or harder, than the generally accepted grade. 

Red Rock Nevada? The bulletproof sandstone is sticky, the cracks eat cams, and the bolts are plentiful. You’ll probably feel like Superman and climb a grade or two above your normal level. (But, the climbs are long and committing and the rappels are prone to getting your rope snagged, so bring a headlamp!)

Joshua Tree California? Just about everybody seems to get spanked on their first day. Between the sharp rock that shreds your hands, and flaring cracks that don’t take gear very well, that “warm up” route can definitely feel like a lot harder! 

Similarly, some indoor gyms have a reputation for “vanity grades”, meaning what they might call a 5.10 is really more like a 5.8 or maybe 5.9.

If this is the only place you climb, you may start to believe that your ability is higher than it really is.  If you then head outside and try a route at this same rating, you may be in for a rude awakening.

To mitigate this: Climb at different gyms and get a sense of how the ratings vary on routes of the "same" grade.

On your first few trips outside, leave your ego in the car.  Try routes that are a couple of number grades below what you think you can comfortably climb in the gym.  Even if you can lead climb safely in a gym, try top roping a few pitches initially when you’re outside, and consider using a stick clip so you don’t deck before you clip the first bolt. 

When making the transition from indoor to outdoor, it’s an important safety issue to have a realistic knowledge of your abilities.

Sure, you might feel like Superman in the "vanity gym", but wait till you try going outside.

Everyone carries a nut tool

You may think a nut tool is only for the second, but it's a good idea if the leader carries one as well. Why?

• If the leader yanks hard on a nut to set it, and then decides whoops, they want to take it out and use it somewhere else, they need a way to do that.

• Sometimes the leader can use a cleaning tool to, ahem, “clean” placements that have dirt or tiny rocks.

• If the second drops their cleaning tool, the leader has one as a backup.

• Sometimes to try to extract a deeply buried cam, you may need two nut tools to pull on both sides of the trigger.

It's one of the least expensive and longest lasting pieces of gear you're ever going to buy, so pretty much every climber should carry one.

If you choose a bare-bones nut tool that does not come with its own racking carabiner, be sure and get a full strength mini carabiner for it, like the nice ones from Metolius. Don't use a cheap keychain carabiner for this, because someday you'll find yourself scavenging this carabiner for a real climbing purpose, and when that day comes you want to full strength one.

The Metolius Torque is a good choice. It has a carabiner built into clip to your harness, a smooth end to not hurt your palm so much when you smack it, and the clever design of several sizes of wrenches to tighten loose hanger bolts.

Tricams - part of the trad climber’s toolbox

Tricams are often an underappreciated bit of gear; if you haven’t used them, you might be missing out.  Less expensive, lighter, and sometimes more versatile than active cams, they may well have a place on your rack. (This is especially true of the fabled pink tricam, which has a legendary following among a subspecies of trad climbers.) Once you get into harder grades you'll probably be reaching for spring loaded cams more often, but when you're learning and for easier terrain, tricams can be pretty sweet.

A few tricam tips . . .

• Get the smaller sizes. A good starter set is the first four smallest units, least expensive when purchased as a set. You won’t have much use for the huge “cowbell” tricams, which are typically seen only on the harnesses of graybeard mountain goats, who have been climbing since Mt. St. Helens was a real mountain, and are still using harnesses braided from blackberry vines and mud.

• Because they can be placed in so many positions, tricams can be great for building anchors. Consider using your active cams when leading, and keep tricams in reserve for anchor building.

• In a horizontal crack, place the "stinger", or point, facing down. This usually gives a more secure placement. Tricams can be especially effective in horizontal cracks, because their flexible runner easily handles being loaded over the edge of the crack.

• On lead, always try to extend the placement with a runner to minimize the rope wiggling the tricam out of position.

• One of the main gripes against tricams is that they can be hard to clean, especially if the person that placing then gives a stout tug. This can be true! Don’t use them when you’re aid climbing and expect to ever get them back again, ask me how I know this.

• Give a gentle tug to set them, but expect your second to curse a bit when they arrive and maybe even ask you for a take while they try to clean it. Be sure your second has a cleaning tool.

They now come in a few different flavors and different styles of webbing, but they all pretty much work the same way. And, as mentioned, consider the pink one at the very least!

https://www.backcountrygear.com/camp-dyneema-tricam-set.html

image: backcountry.com

How to make the "alpine quickdraw"

A good rule of thumb in climbing is to never let anything hang below your knees.  But what do you do with a single /60 cm or double / 120 cm runner to shorten it up for racking?

Answer: the “alpine quickdraw”.

A simple trick is this method, best described with a photo. This triples up the webbing material, shortening your runner to a manageable length. You can clip to gear it tripled like this, or remove two of the three strands from one carabiner to use it at full extension.

(I learned this crafty trick decades ago, and still remember my fascination at seeing it for the first time. At the time I thought it was the really clever! Hopefully if this is new to you, you’ll think somewhat the same thing. :-)

1 - Start with a runner and two carabiners.

2 - Pass one carabiner through the other.

3 - Clip the bottom loop.

Done! A short and compact draw that hangs nicely on your harness, but is easy to deploy at full length.

Safety note: Having a rubber band or something similar to prevent the bottom carabiner on a sport climbing quickdraw from rotating is fine. But you never want to do this on an “open” sling, as the rope can easily become completely unclipped from the carabiner without you noticing. More details at this article.