Petzl Sm’D carabiner - there’s a keeper cord hole

The Petzl Sm’D carabiner is a compact, lightweight locking carabiner available in screwgate or double action sleeve. It's a great choice just about anytime you need a smaller locking carabiner, plus it has a bonus feature:  near the base of the gate, there’s a tiny hole. As far as I know, no other carabiner offers a hole like this, and it's pretty darn handy.

This hole allows you to tie off a keeper cord to better secure expensive hardware such as a Grigri, progress capture pulley like the Micro Traxion, or mini ascender like a Tibloc. Of course, you can tie a bight knot on a keeper cord and just clip it to a carabiner, but then it’s flopping around and can hang up on things. This method is a bit cleaner.

And, hopefully this goes without saying, but the cord is only to keep you from losing the gear if you drop it. Clip the hardware to the carabiner and clip the carabiner to your harness. The cord is there only as a backup in case you’re an occasional fumble-fingers.

I've heard some people voice concern that this hole might weaken the carabiner. Let's trust the ace Petzl engineers on this one, shall we? The carabiner is just as strong and properly rated as anything else you will use. Do you think Petzl would sell this if it wasn't bomber?

Photo: A Petzl Tibloc secured with some #36 bank line. Bank line is heavy duty twine rated to more than 300 pounds, and useful for all kinds of things. Read more about it here.

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Here’s a Petzl Micro Traxion progress capture pulley connected to an Sm’D carabiner with some 1.3 mm dyneema / spectra / UHMWPE string. A mere 1.3 mm, but rated to 580 pounds, amazing!

Pro tip: the Micro Traxion actually has a hole designed for a keeper cord. (I’ve found a lot of folks with Micro Traxions don't even know this hole is there  =^) You need a string with a very small diameter to fit through that keeper cord hole in the pulley, that's why I suggest this 1.3 mm dyneema string. You'll also probably need a safety pin or something similar to work at through this tiny hole.

Here’s a link where you can buy dyneema string like this. Bonus, it can also work for repairing the trigger wires of cams. Share some with your friends, you’re going to buy quite a lot of it, like about 10 meters. 

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Finally, you can add a keeper cord to the Petzl Grigri. But, this requires that you drill a hole into the device, and doing so is not an approved practice by Petzl. So, I’m not going to give details on how to do it. If you choose to make this modification, Google is your amigo.

Repair a cam with trimmer line - tutorial

Photos (used with permission) are all from Pacific Northwest climber Dave Hill, thanks Dave!

Original idea from British expedition climber Andy Kirkpatrick.

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Got a frayed or broken wire on a cam? You might be able to make a quick fix with plastic trimmer cord from a weed whacker. (Other options are Dyneema string, and bicycle brake cable with small swages.) Trimmer cord comes in different diameters, experiment to see what works with your equipment. This example is for a Black Diamond cam. Other makes and models might have a slightly different procedure.

How long you can expect a trimmer cord repair to last? Good question. While some people have got years of use out of a fix like this, others might consider it more as an temporary “field repair” than a long-term solution. It’s probably a good idea to replace the trimmer cord with something more substantial once you get home.

Black Diamond replaces cam trigger wires for about $15, not sure about other manufacturers. (Web search: “Black Diamond cam repair”.)

Finally, here’s a link to a PDF tutorial from Metolius of how to repair their Master Cams with Kevlar cord, sent to me by @dumbanchors.

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What you need:

• wire cutters

• needle nose pliers

• lighter / flame

• weed whacker cord - get a couple of feet from your neighbor with all the tools, or from a yard maintenance person

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A better way to tie the figure 8?

Here are two seemingly identical figure 8 knots. But, there’s a subtle difference that can affect how easy it is to untie after loading. Can you see what it is?

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Let’s add some tape so we can more easily see what's going on. (Note the skull and crossbones hockey tape, my favorite for marking soft goods like slings! =^)

The load strand on the left comes out on the OUTSIDE of the knot. The load strand on the right goes through the MIDDLE of the knot.

Most people find the knot on the left to be significantly harder to untie. (It can depend a bit on how much load you're putting on it, the type / diameter of rope you’re using, etc.)

Why?

• Load strand on the outside of the knot: When loaded, this cinches down on the entire knot, even to the point of partially deforming it. No loose strands, welded, hard to untie.

• Load strand on the inside of the knot: the very top strand goes to the rope tail, and takes minimal load. This gives you a slightly looser strand to start with when you need to untie it.

Give this a try yourself. Try each version, load it with your full body weight, and bounce on it a few times. See which one works better for you!

Notes:

• To emphasize, both of these knot variations are perfectly safe and acceptable to use.

• Like with every knot, it should be properly “dressed and stressed”. That means no crossed strands, and pulling each of the four strands separately to snug everything down.

• If you need to tie a bight knot and expect it to take a large load, a butterfly knot might be a better choice. It's almost always easier to untie than a figure 8.

• The good news: if you tie a figure 8 the correct way, the load strand will almost always be in the correct position, as shown in the right side photo. (Check out the video below from the Swedish climbing instructor on one way to do this.)

• If you’re a hotshot sport climber and taking loads of big falls working a project, you're probably good enough to tie in with some variation of a bowline. However, there are lots of bowline flavors, and they can be a bit hard to recognize and partner check, so I recommend a bowline only for more advanced climbers.

• For beginners and intermediates, I strongly recommend using the retraced figure 8. It's been the standard tie-in knot for decades for a good reason.

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Here's a YouTube video from the outstanding YouTube channel “The Rope Access Channel” where a rigging professional (Alex, he’s great) explains how this works.

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Here's a short video from Swedish climbing instructor John Liungman on how to tie it with the load strand in the middle.

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For a counterpoint, here’s Australian rigging expert Richard Delaney from RopeLab. Richard has a quick look at the methods of tying it, and concludes they're both equally easy to untie. (But notice he doesn't actually try to do it himself . . . )

I'm going with the Rope Access Channel on this one.

The Petzl Micro Traxion has a keeper cord hole

The Micro Traxion is a progress capturing pulley, popular for rock and crevasse rescue, rope soloing, arborists, riggers, big walls and more. It's also an expensive piece of kit, and you want to do everything you can to avoid dropping it.

Did you know the micro traxion has a hole in it that's designed for a keeper cord? Thank you, clever Petzl product designers! I’ve talked with people who have used it for years and don't know that it's there. I took a careful read through the technical documentation, and it's not mentioned in there either. (And, full disclosure, a Petzl product rep told me about it, otherwise I never would've found it myself.) Well, now you know, a secret little bonus from Petzl! =^)

You need a strong string/cord with a very small diameter to fit through the keeper cord hole. I used 1.3 mm dyneema / spectra / UHMWPE string. A mere 1.3 mm, but rated to 580 pounds, amazing! You may find something tiny (2mm?) at your climbing shop, good luck. You'll also probably need a safety pin or something similar to work it through the hole, be patient.

Now I get it, not everybody likes keeper cords. Some people find that they are fiddly, get in the way, and hang up on other gear. You'll probably feel this way until you drop a Grigri or something similar, then you'll be a convert. =^) Give it a try and see what you think, it's easy to remove if you don't like it.

(And, hopefully this is obvious, but please do not carry gear on your harness dangling only from the keeper cord. Clip it properly to a carabiner. The cord is there only if you’re a fumble fingers.)

Here’s a link where you can buy dyneema string like this. Bonus, it can also work for repairing the trigger wires of cams. (Or so says British expedition climbing expert Andy Kirkpatrick, I personally have never done this.) Share some with your friends, you’re going to buy quite a lot of it, like about 10 meters. 

An excellent carabiner to pair with your micro trax is the Petzl Sm’D. This is a modern compact D shaped carabiner, available in screw gate or double action twist gate. It has the bonus feature of a small hole drilled just below the hinge, which is designed for the other end of the keeper cord. See photos below.

Gear we love: the sun hoody

If you're on the lower slopes of Mt. Rainier on a warm summer day, there's one piece of gear you'll see most every guide wearing: the sun hoody.

The solar oven of a large snowfield or glacier is strong enough. Combine that with high altitude, where there’s less atmosphere to absorb solar radiation, and you can get a memorable sunburn in about 30 minutes on most any exposed skin.

Sunscreen? It’s heavy, expensive, messy, and there's increasing evidence some of the chemicals enter your body through your skin, yuck!

The sun hoody is a better solution. Instead of a snug fitting, cold weather base layer, the sun hoody is a loose, long sleeve shirt with sweat wicking, UPF protection, and you guessed it, a hood. You can combine this with a ball cap style hat and even a buff for pretty much complete face protection.

One more bonus: bug protection. You can treat the shirt with Permethrin and pretty much keep those pesky insects off your upper body.

These shirts are now popular enough so you can get them from many different vendors. Most seem to have some bit of odor prevention in the fabric; your mileage may vary on the effectiveness. (The one I have is from Patagonia, and to be honest, I’m not too impressed with the anti-stink compared to my wool shirts.)

Here's a nice article on the sun hoody from Northeast Alpine Start.

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Perfect for a day on the glacier, hanging in the yard with your dog . . . or maybe witness protection.

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Here are a few options:

• Patagonia Cool Daily Hoody

• Black Diamond Alpenglow Hoody

• Outdoor Research Echo Hoody

• RAB Pulse Hoody (snug / athletic fit, less baggy)

• Bight Gear Solstice Graphene Hoody (designed by Rainier guides)

(Alpinesavvy has zero affiliate marketing. These links are provided for your info and convenience only.)

Dealing with brake knots in crevasse rescue

Credit to the Petzl graphic design experts for the diagrams below, from the always terrific Petzl website.

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IMAGE: HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=QHW9AM7AHLA

As a climber, when might you have to deal with knots in a hauling system? Maybe in two person crevasse rescue, where you’re following best practice (with one other highly skilled partner, who has all needed gear, and their rescue skills dialed) and using brake knots in the rope. Or maybe big wall climbing, where you want to do a super long haul from the ground tying several ropes together, to get your bags up several pitches all with one haul.

Untying a knot from a loaded rope (or getting a knot past the hauling pulley) can be tricky, but it doesn't have to be if you follow the steps below. This is one of various ways to do it. Initially this might look a little complicated, but it's actually a simple procedure. Study it for a bit and I'm sure you'll get the hang of it.

Note: In this example, for a 3:1 mechanical advantage (MA) system crevasse rescue, the knots are being untied. For big wall load hauling, you’ll probably be using a 2:1 MA, the knots will very likely stay in the rope, and a different procedure is needed, which were not going to completely cover in this article.)

In the diagram, they’re using the Petzl Micro Traxion as a progress capture pulley on the anchor point, and a Tibloc as the “tractor” pulley to actually pull the load. These are two great pieces of gear and work fine here. However, you could also use pretty much any other sort of pulley, prusik and rope grab combination.

If you have more than one knot you need to pass, such as in a two person crevasse rescue, using the Tibloc is going to be faster, because you don't have to fumble with re-tying a prusik hitch at each knot pass. Best practice for using brake knots in glacier travel to have three or four of them between climbers, so you're probably going to repeat this process a few times.

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Bigger picture, a more modern approach to crevasse rescue eliminates the problem of brake knots entirely. Lower either a single strand or a loop of rescue rope to your partner, and pull them up on this separate line. The original brake knots on the rope they fell in on? You can pretty much ignore them.

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Here’s how to do it.

1. Haul until the knot gets close to the anchor.

2. Ease up on your haul and let the load rest on the anchor pulley. Move the unweighted Tibloc below the knot.

3. Clip a double length / 120 cm sling (green) to the anchor, clip the other end to the Tibloc, and push the Tibloc down the rope, tensioning the sling.

4. Do a short pull on the rope and open the toothed cam on the Traxion pulley. Lower the load slowly onto the sling. Check to see that everything is holding. (Tying a backup knot in the haul strand at this point is not shown in the diagram below, but might be a good idea.)

5. The load is now on the Tibloc, and you have slack above it. Untie the knot from the slack rope. (At this point, if the knot had to stay in the rope, you could extend the master point pulley on a 60 cm sling below the rope and reattach it.)

6. Engage the cam on the Traxion so it’s grabbing the rope again. Resume hauling. After one pull, unclip the sling from the Tibloc. If you have another knot to pass, keep the sling clipped to the master point. If not, you can remove it. Continue hauling.

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image: https://www.petzl.com/BE/en/Sport/Crevasse-fall--hauling-on-a-rope-with-knots

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image: https://www.petzl.com/BE/en/Sport/Crevasse-fall--hauling-on-a-rope-with-knots

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Finally, here's a nice video clip from British IFMGA Certified Guide Dave Searle showing how it's done. (Dave has loads of great tips on his Instagram, check it out.)

Petzl Tibloc - Everything you need to know

Petzl TiBloc, Ver 2 (left) and original

The Petzl Tibloc, developed in 1998, was one of the first micro ascenders available. With a simple design, solid steel construction, and sharp teeth that can grab the rope through ice and mud, it remains one of the lightest (35 grams) and most compact emergency ascenders. It’s a handy bit of gear and can be used in some clever ways, some of which may not be very obvious. It can also be a bit finicky unless you know some tricks. Let's take a deeper look at this popular and time-tested piece of gear.

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First off, how do you pronounce it? You may have heard several different ways. Petzl USA confirms that it's "tee-bloc", as in “drink some tea”. The original French pronunciation is a truncation of the words "petit bloqueur," meaning "small ascender." (Sweet, glad we got that settled!) The first rope ascender from Petzl (intended for caving) came out in 1968, so they have a very long history of ascender R&D.

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How can you use a Tibloc?

• emergency ascender for going up a fixed rope

• the “tractor” pulley in a mechanical advantage hauling system

• progress capture on the anchor

• safeguard the leader when simul-climbing (advanced use only!)

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Before we get into the rigging, a few notes . . .

• Around 2018, Petzl introduced Tibloc version 2. In addition to being made from gray steel that offers a better grip, the newer version has a orange plastic hood on it with a small spring. This spring tension gives a much better connection between the carabiner and the rope, regardless of the rope diameter or carabiner shape. (My single greatest grumble with the older version was its tendency to somewhat randomly slide down the rope, which is usually not something you want an ascender to do. See video below). The spring on the Tibloc 2 pretty much eliminates any slipping down the rope, a substantial improvement.

• Avoid taking any kind of a fall with a shock load / slack in the rope onto a Tibloc (or any other toothed ascender.) For example, if you’re ascending a rope, you get to the top of the cliff, and then take a few steps forward without moving the rope through the system, that's generating slack. If you were to fall at this point, you're putting a large force with a toothed ascender onto probably a short amount of rope. No bueno. Avoid this by always minimizing slack rope between you and the anchor.

• The Tibloc is rated for ropes from 8 mm to 11 mm. But, it's also approved for use on the Petzl RAD crevasse rescue system, which uses a special 6 mm static rope. (So, if you need to use it on a slightly smaller rope, you can probably get away with it, but it's not recommended by Petzl.)

• The Tibloc has a bit of a reputation as a rope shredder. In a long-ago crevasse rescue training, I saw firsthand someone put a 1 meter long core shot in an 8 mm dynamic rope as they were putting their (sizeable!) body weight on the Tibloc when ascending. However, most of the time rope damage is probably due to user error, like using the wrong kind of carabiner with an older style Tibloc on a rope that's borderline too small. The Tibloc 2, with the spring-tensioned orange hood, seems substantially more rope-friendly.

• Possible damage to the rope can happen when the carabiner is pressing the rope against the device, and then you try to move it up when it's weighted. Like with most ascenders, try to unweight the Tibloc before you move it.

• It's not for big walls. This is designed for improv and emergency use, If you're jumaring fixed ropes in El Cap or an expedition peak, get a larger handled ascender.

• Petzl recommends always using a locking carabiner with the Tibloc. With the older Tibloc, it’s best if this is a rounded oval or HMS carabiner to avoid damage to your rope and make the Tibloc behave properly. With Tibloc 2, a more modern I-beam style or locking “D” shaped carabiner works fine.

• Speaking of carabiners, the Petzl Sm’D is a great choice to pair with the Tibloc 2. In addition to being a svelte, modern locking D carabiner, it also has a tiny hole, intended for attaching a keeper cord for important bits of hardware like Tiblocs, Micro Traxion, Grigris, etc. See photo below. (This is a much cleaner way to attach a keeper cord then having it flop around the carabiner with a bight knot.)

• Add a keeper cord if you like. There is a small hole in the Tibloc to add one. If you're using it for winter or snow climbing when you might have gloves, make the cord loop fairly large. If rock climbing, you can keep it much smaller. 3 mm climbing cord, or my favorite, bank line (in photo) would be good choices. Some people find the cord is fiddly and gets in the way. It’s entirely optional, so try it and see what you think. See below - the Sm’D carabiner with a clever hole for a keeper cord.

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The video below shows a couple of things.

1. The difference between the original Tibloc and version 2. You can see that the original version can slide/fall down the rope if it's not under tension. Not good. No such problem with version 2.

2. You can move the Tibloc down the rope, but it's not very intuitive. You sort of rock the device forward with your index finger and thumb. It's a better show than a tell, watch the video to see how.

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Does it damage ropes?

Excellent question! Short answer: it doesn’t damage your rope significantly more or less than other toothed devices, such as Micro Traxion or a handled ascender. Check out the detailed video below from BreakTest Meister Ryan Jenks at HowNot2. Ryan found that the Tibloc destroyed the rope around 6-7 kN.

Some other testing from Richard Delaney at RopeLab show a higher value with an 11 mm static rope of around 10 kN. See that short video here.

Below is a screen grab from the online technical documentation for the Tibloc, showing results that are fairly consistent with what HowNot2 found.

Image: https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Ascenders/TIBLOC

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How to clip it (for ascending and as a “tractor”)

There is some discussion as to whether the carabiner should be clipped around the rope (left) or hang straight down from the Tibloc (right). According to Petzl, either way is fine when you’re ascending or using it as a tractor. However if you're using it as a progress capture or to simul climb, it's important that the rope be clipped through the carabiner, as shown below on the left. More on that below.

I got a few comments on social media saying that the rope must ALWAYS be clipped through the carabiner as on the left. Check out the video just above. It was made by rope rigging expert Rich Delaney (who runs the excellent website Ropelab), and you can clearly see that the carabiner is not clipped around the rope.

Petzl’s technical documentation says this is not true; see screen grabs from their website below.

(If you find it easier to remember to always clip the carabiner around the rope, that's great, go for it. But let's not slam on people who use this gear in a different and Petzl-approved way. =^)

Related diagram from Petzl website:

image: https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Ascenders/TIBLOC

Another diagram from the Petzl website, where the Tibloc is a tractor in a 3:1 haul. The carabiner clipped to the Tibloc is not clipped around the rope.

image: https://www.petzl.com/INT/en/Sport/Crevasse-rescue-no--3--haul-systems-for-crevasse-rescue

And finally, here’s a screen grab from a YouTube video produced by Ortovox and the German Mountain and Ski Guides Association (“Verband Deutscher Berg und Skiführer” or “VDBS”). You can clearly see the carabiner is clipping the Tibloc and not the rope. (If some of the top mountain guides in the world say this is how you do it, then I'm gonna roll with that. =^)

image: screen grab from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsTihq92IlQ

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Use #1 - As an ascender

For self rescue from a crevasse fall or improvised rope ascending, the Tibloc works great. It’s MUCH easier than the old school prusik! Clip it to the rope with a locking carabiner, add a double runner as a foot loop, and stand up. You can combine this with various devices clipped to your harness to capture your upward progress, such as a Grigri, a plaquette style belay device in guide mode, a progress capture pulley such as a Petzl Micro Traxion (photo below), or even another Tibloc rigged as a progress capture.

A few notes on the photo:

• The blue double length / 120 cm runner is the foot loop.

• Note the single length / 60 cm sling (yellow) from the Tibloc to the harness, plus the Micro Traxion on the harness belay loop. These give you the highly recommended two points of contact to the rope at all times.

• If you want to simplify things a bit, you can omit the yellow sling, but in that case you would want to tie back up knots in the rope below the Micro Traxion every 5 meters or so.

And, since we’re talking Tiblocs, if you happen to have two, you can use a second one on your harness as the progress capture, as seen below. (This is not going to be as smooth or hassle free as the options listed above, but it's possible. Generally, use a Micro Traxion or Grigri if you have one.)

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Use #2 - As a “tractor” in a hauling system

In a mechanical advantage hauling system, the “tractor” is the term for the rope grab that’s doing the work. The Tibloc is well-suited for this, and because of its camming action and lack of moving parts, it can bite down and hold on ropes that might be icy or muddy. (If you're not too thrilled with using a toothed cam as a critical component of a hauling system, you can of course use something soft like a prusik loop as the tractor instead.)

Note the orientation of the Tibloc: the orange top is pointed toward the load, not toward of the anchor. (If you set this up wrong, it will become immediately obvious when you pull the rope.) Also in the photo, we have the Micro Traxion progress capturing pulley on the anchor, which is a perfect application for this great piece of gear.

One advantage of the Tibloc if you ever have to pass a knot through your hauling system (such as you might have to do in a two person crevasse rescue scenario with brake knots in the rope) is that it's very fast to remove from the rope and reattach below the knot. (Learn more about dealing with brake knots in crevasse rescue at this article.)

Below is a standard Z drag, which gives a theoretical 3:1 mechanical advantage.

And, if you want to go a little crazy with the Tiblocs, if you happen to have three of them, you can rig a theoretical 6:1 mechanical advantage, as shown below. (If you'd like to learn more about rigging a 6:1, see the Alpinesavvy mechanical advantage pages.) A standard prusik loop can be substituted for either of the two tractor Tiblocs in the photo.

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Use #3 - As a progress capture

This is a clever use of the Tibloc that a lot of people don't know about. It grabs the rope with a minimum of friction while maintaining your pulling progress. Rig it so the hole with the keeper cord is in the direction of load. The device will flip back-and-forth over the carabiner sort of like a munter hitch as you change from hauling to resting.

Note: This is best used for emergency or improv (like hauling a backpack) not as a device for sustained hauling of heavy loads like on a big wall. Reason: there are two sources of inefficiency, which is to be avoided whenever possible when pulling big loads:

1. The flip-back-and-forth motion, because you lose a few centimeters of progress every time you rest.

2. You’re hauling through a carabiner which is about 50% efficient, instead of a good quality progress capture pulley such as the Petzl Micro or Pro Traxion, which are rated about 90% efficient. For big walls, you definitely want a proper progress capture pulley!

Safety note: be sure to clip the rope into the carabiner along with that Tibloc when hauling! A common mistake is to set this up as a progress capture with the rope NOT in the carabiner. It appears to be working correctly, but as you can see below on the right, the rope is not clipped in. Probably not a catastrophic mistake if you're hauling a backpack, but if your load is more substantial, you want the rope running through the carabiner for sure.

Note for eagle eyed readers: this setup is slightly different than the one above marked “How to attach it”. In the diagram, Petzl says it doesn't matter whether you clip the rope inside or outside the carabiner. (I’m guessing that for simply ascending the rope under bodyweight it doesn't matter if it's clipped or not, but for hauling a potential large load, having the rope run through the carabiner is best practice.)

Related diagram from Petzl website:

image: https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Ascenders/TIBLOC

And here's a nice video showing how to use it as a progress capture.

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Use #4 - Simul-climbing protection - ADVANCED CLIMBERS ONLY

And finally, for the very advanced climber, the Tibloc can be used when simul-climbing to protect the leader from getting pulled off by the second. I remember when this idea was introduced in Climbing magazine around 15 years ago, and it was extremely controversial, Since then, it's generally become more accepted, but it's still an advanced technique; think of it as making a dangerous situation only slightly less dangerous.

Typically in simul-climbing, if the second falls, they will likely also pull off the leader. (This is also why the more skilled climber will usually go second, a reversal from normal climbing.) But, if the leader clips a Tibloc to protection, and the second then falls, the second will probably not pull the leader off.

Typically the leader will place the Tibloc AFTER a crux section, not before as with regular pro. This takes a little getting used to and can be easy to forget in the heat of battle, ask me how I know this. =^)

This is for advanced climbers only who clearly understand the risks of simul-climbing. There are a LOT of cautions and considerations to do this properly, way too much to get into here. I only mention it here because Petzl has it on their website as an approved technique, so it's not such a fringe, crazy idea anymore.

There's lots of info on the web about this if you want to read further.

• Here’s one image from the Petzl website, and you can read more about it here.

• Outstanding article from Brent Barghahn about simul-climbing with Micro Traxions

image: https://www.petzl.com/INT/en/Sport/Progression-with-a-taut-rope-using-a-TIBLOC

In real life, it looks like this:

Anchor-induced rope twisting

Some configurations of anchor hardware can give you a smooth easy rope pull with no twists. Others can add some snarls to your rope. Here are a few examples of each.

Side note: if the rock below the anchor is slab / lower angle, that often leads to more twists. If it’s hanging pretty much freely or vertical, it’s usually less twisting. 

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Do you need to rappel, lower off, or redirect a lower from an anchor rigged like the top photo? Be prepared for some possible rope twisting.

When you run a weighted rope through anchor point(s) with the bottom link(s( lying flat against the rock like this, the rope drags at these two spots and starts spiraling, which can put some serious pigtails in your rope.

The general concept: the more friction and direction changes, the more twisting will happen.

(It's unlikely you will ever see this, because any halfway competent route setter will add another link so it looks like the second photo below, but it's possible; I've seen it a few times.)

If you have two extra quick links with you, or maybe want to donate a couple of carabiners, you can add those to the anchor to improve it as shown below. You might want to tape the gates of the carabiner closed, to discourage people from stealing them.

If you don't have any hardware to enhance the anchor, there's probably not much you can do about it. If rappelling, try to separate the rope strands when you pull them, so one doesn’t twist around the other which might make pulling your rope difficult to impossible. If it's your local crag, be a good citizen, climb up there another day with some hardware and re-rig it as shown below.

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One improvement: add a second set of either welded steel rings (preferred, as they rotate and last longer) or good quality quick links. Note that these are now perpendicular to the rock. This results in an easier rope pull with less twisting. But, depending on a few other variables, your rope might still get a bit pigtailed.

Of course, if adding rings you’ll need to open the sleeve of the existing quick link, so be sure and bring some pliers.

It helps if the bolts are aligned horizontally. If one bolt is a bit higher than the other in this setup, you still might get a little rope twist, but not nearly as badly as you might without the second link/ring.

The closer together the rings are, generally the less rope twist you will have.

Lowering someone tends to create more twists, because the rope has a higher load. If come across anchors like the image below, you might be better off rappelling rather than lowering.

Anytime you're putting a quick link on an anchor, especially at a popular climbing area, it's best practice to use at least 8 mm (and perhaps even 10 mm) and ideally proper CE climbing rated quick links rather than random ones from the hardware store. CAMP is one of several manufacturers to offer strong, inexpensive, CE rated quick links, read an article about that here.

One more quick link note: it's best practice to place quicklinks so the threaded sleeve closes in a downward direction. That way, if the sleeve ever loosens, gravity helps hold it closed. As the saying goes, ”Screw down so you don't screw up.”

If you’re setting quick links in a more permanent position, give them a good crank with some pliers or a wrench and maybe some Loctite on the threads. If you do that, it doesn't matter which way the threaded sleeve is facing.

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A great way to rig a rappel anchor for minimal rope twisting is to have two points that come together at the same level.

Even better, a single point of connection (like the welded ring rated for something ridiculous like more than 30 kN. Yes, you can trust this absolutely.)

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Tip: If your rope does get twisted, when you get to the bottom or maybe the next lower anchor, try pulling the entire rope through a tube style belay device clipped above you. This can be a fast way to remove the pigtails. Read how to do that at this article.

Download maps for an entire state in Gaia GPS? Yes!

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With most every backcountry mapping phone app, a necessary but often tedious chore is downloading the map layer(s) covering your outing to your phone before you leave cell phone coverage. Sounds simple enough, right?

But, if you want multiple map layers, at different resolutions, and especially if your phone has limited memory (maybe even forcing you to select and delete previously saved maps, or deleting the memory cache of the app to free up memory), coordinating all this can become a serious hassle. And of course, how about those times when you forget to download maps, or change destinations, or drive an unexpected route home? Whoops, maybe you’ll have no map at all!

Happily, those days are pretty much over. There’s now a convergence of two great navigation advances: phones with lots more memory, and high quality map downloads that require less space. A great example of the latter is the new and greatly improved “Gaia Topo”, the default layer from Gaia GPS, my favorite backcountry GPS phone app.

Making plans for a Utah road trip, with great places to explore and lots of remote areas outside of cell coverage? Before, downloading high resolution maps for the entire state would've been pretty much impossible, because it would max out the memory on most phones, not to mention taking hours to download. But not any more! On wi-fi, the download only took me about 8 minutes and about 230 MB. (Or is it 443 MB? See below.)

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You might think that decreasing the download size would also result in less useful map information. But, it's actually the opposite - the Gaia GPS cartography wizards somehow managed to make this map layer have MORE useful data, while at the same time making the download sizes much smaller.

How does Gaia fit so much data in such a tiny download? I don’t know all the details, but it’s pretty damn cool and I love it! (We could get into a nerdy discussion about raster versus vector map data, zoom levels and map scale, but that’s a little much for the non map-geeks.)

I cover the many improvements in the Gaia Topo layer in detail in this article. Here’s a screen grab from the Gaia GPS blog to give you a sense of the improvements from the previous version. Suffice it to say, the new Gaia Topo is much more useful than the old one. Plus, the Gaia cartography gnomes regularly add upgrades and improvements.

A note on map improvements: Map updates appear automatically when you open Gaia Topo in the app or on a desktop computer. However, if you download / save a portion of the Gaia Topo map to your phone and don’t have cell or Wi-Fi coverage, those map updates will not appear automatically; you need to download that area again for the latest map updates to appear. So, if you do decide to download say your entire state or country, you may want to delete it and re-download it about every six months, so you always have the most current map.

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Here’s a chart from the Gaia GPS blog giving a comparison of download sizes and speed between the different versions of the map.

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A few notes:

1. It’s highly recommended to download large maps like this on wi-fi instead of using cell data.

2. To download maps to your phone, you need at least a standard membership to Gaia GPS. (The cost for this is about the same is just one quality printed map, so in my mind it's a pretty screaming deal.) Learn more about their different subscription plans here.

3. Map scale: If you look at the map scale in the top part of the screen grabs, it says something strange like “Max Zoom 12, 1:192,000”. That scale is incorrect, don't let it throw you off. This map is based on “vector” (line) data as opposed to “raster” (or pixel) data. So, zoom level 12 corresponds to about a 1:8000 scale. If you download at this maximum level of 12, you’ll have an incredible level of map detail, even when you zoom in close. If you have lots of extra memory on your phone, this is recommended. If you're short on phone memory, you can reduce the maximum zoom with the slider bar to make a smaller download file.

4. I want to mention what appears to be a (hopefully temporary) bug with the app. There appears to be a discrepancy between the original “estimated” download size, and then what the actual download size turns out to be. I reported this bug to Gaia GPS in early July 2020, and their response was, “Thanks for letting us know, we’ll have a look.” For example, look at these two screen grabs. On the left is the estimated size of the download. On the right is the actual size after downloading. You can see there's a difference of about 200 MB. Now, if you have a phone with a huge amount of free memory, a few hundred extra megs and extra minutes of download time is not that big a deal. But if you’re short on phone memory and have limited Wi-Fi, then this download size might become an issue. Just be aware of this.

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International coverage

Travelling abroad? Gaia Topo has worldwide coverage in a metric version, along with the same high quality maps. Check out this screen grab; download all of Switzerland for about 100 MB.

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Downloading an entire large area ONLY works with the Gaia Topo layer, not other map layers!

Just for fun I tried to download all of Utah using Open Cycle, one of my favorite map layers. Bad idea! This would’ve been 5+ gigabytes to download, taking up way too much room on my phone.

Plus, Gaia GPS has a download limit of 100,000 map tiles for pretty much every map layer (except for satellite, which has a limit of 10,000 map tiles). If you try to exceed this, Gaia is clever enough to give you a red warning text in the upper right corner, letting you know that it’s probably not a good idea.

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Downloading odd shaped areas

It might appear that Gaia only lets you download rectangular areas of maps. That’s great if you're after Utah, Colorado etc, but not so helpful if you want to download a large area that's not a convenient rectangle, like Southern California, New Zealand, or some other large odd-shaped land area. But you can! Here's how.

On the phone app or GaiaGPS.com, you need to create and save what Gaia calls an “Area”. This is simply a polygon that can have as many vertices as you want. Then, after you’ve defined your area, you download the map tiles that cover it. Here are a few screengrabs to show the process.

Here's what would happen if you try to download Southern California with the normal download rectangle. Lots of ocean and Nevada that we're not interested in (sorry, Nevada), plus a 453 MB download, ouch! We can do better than that!

On your phone, tap the “Plus” icon from the top row, then tap “Create Area”.

You should see a selection triangle on your screen with five blue dots.

Tap and drag the blue dots to cover your area of interest. Every time you move a dot a new one appears, letting you select large irregular shapes. When you're done selecting Southern California, it should look something like this:

Tap “Save” in the upper right corner. You should get a prompt to “Choose Offline Maps”. Under Resolution, tap “High”. (It actually doesn't seem to matter what resolution you choose with Gaia Topo, the map downloads size stays the same.)

Now if you tap “Save” in the upper right corner the map should start downloading.

Note the download size in the very bottom, 248 MB. That’s a whole lot better than the 453 MB that you would've downloaded if you tried to use a rectangle!

Give the map a few minutes to download. (Remember to do this with a Wi-Fi connection if possible.) To check that it's properly saved to your phone, tap the “Saved” folder icon on the bottom, and select “Maps” from the filter in the top left corner.

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Testing your download

Once you’ve downloaded a big area, you can run a test to prove to yourself that the map is indeed saved properly onto your phone and it’s ready to use outside cell phone coverage.

1. Go to your phone settings, and turn on Airplane mode. This should turn off your Wi-Fi and cell coverage.

2. Zoom into some part of the country you’ve never been before. The map should look blurry and terrible, because your phone is not able to download the map tiles on the fly like it normally does.

3. Now, while keeping Wi-Fi and cell coverage off, zoom in to a part of the large map area that you downloaded. The map should look crisp and clear. This proves that it’s on your phone and ready to use when you don’t have cell coverage.

4. And, if you zoom / pan carefully right to the edge of your download area, you should be able to see a noticeable change in map quality between what was downloaded on your phone and was not. Here's an example of that. The bottom half of the image with the better quality contours is what's actually saved onto your phone.

The new (and much improved) "Gaia Topo" map layer

“Gaia Topo” Yosemite example, older version (top) and 2020 version (bottom)

IMAGE: HTTPS://WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM/P/B8HZPDJNB3B/

Gaia GPS is one of the most popular phone based backcountry GPS navigation apps, for good reason. It has lots of features that backcountry users love, but until recently, their default map layer was not necessarily one of them. (And, I’ll mention that I have a Masters in Geosciences with an emphasis in cartography, so I have a pretty good eye for this kind of thing.)

The default “Gaia Topo” layer, when it first came out, was pretty rough around the edges. The contour lines were jagged and visually obtrusive, the zoom layers were not consistent, the map colors were not very attractive, urban areas were lousy, the Points Of Interest (POI) were lacking . . . It got the job done, but it hurt my eyeballs to scan it more than a few minutes.  It was clunky enough so I rarely used it, instead cobbling together various combinations of Open Cycle, USGS quad maps, Forest Service maps, and satellite imagery, depending on sport and location. Yes, keeping track of these different map downloads was a substantial headache, especially on my older phone with limited memory.

Well, happily that’s all a thing of the past. In January 2020, Gaia GPS introduced a new and vastly improved Gaia Topo map layer that has loads of great features, enough to probably serve as the only map layer needed for many people. Let's look at some of these features, and then some examples.

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International coverage? Oui! Here's Chamonix.

image: gaiagps.com

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What’s cool about the new “Gaia Topo” layer?

• Progressive zoom levels - Greater map detail doesn’t show until you zoom in fairly close, making the map much cleaner.

• “Easy on the eyes” color palette.

• Subtle relief shading, enough to give you a slight sense of where the high terrain is but not so heavy that it overwhelms other map features.

• Public lands indicated by subtle color shading, A great help if you want to find a free place to pull over and sleep for the night on state or Federally owned (Forest Service or BLM) land.

• Much better in urban areas, showing major / minor road networks, parks, and color-coded Points of Interest (POIs) like restaurants, gas stations, medical clinics/hospitals, parks, museums, and more.

• More POIs of direct use to backcountry users, such as campgrounds, trailheads, popular rock climbs, hot springs, river campsites for multi-day whitewater trips, ski runs and nordic trails, backcountry ski huts, dog parks and more.

• Suggestions for nearby routes - Tap a campground or trailhead, tap the “info” icon, and get a highlighted map and often a photo to the destination. Scroll down a bit further to see other nearby hikes. (This feature has a few extra tricks to leverage for full advantage, read the article at Gaia GPS to learn more about it.)

• Worldwide coverage, available with metric elevations in the “Gaia Topo meters” layer (for those who live outside the only 3 non-metric countries: the United States, Liberia and Myanmar).

• Based on the Open Source map project Open Street Map, which means that the map is constantly updating as contributors around the world add data, making it is as accurate as possible.

• It’s the default free layer on the Gaia GPS website . (Free, one of my favorite words!)

• Probably the best thing, MUCH smaller map downloads! Why is this great? Now you can download an entire large Western state, (or say, all of Switzerland) onto your phone at a rather modest file size of around a few hundred Mb and a few minutes download time on Wi-Fi. This means you will pretty much always have the maps you need at the highest zoom level on your phone, with no need to remember to download them before you leave for a specific area that’sa outside of cell coverage. This is a HUGE convenience!

• A note on map improvements: The crew at Gaia GPS is constantly updating this map. You’ll see the latest updates appear automatically when you open Gaia Topo in the app (with Wi-Fi or cell coverage) or on a desktop computer. However, if you download / save a portion of the Gaia Topo map to your phone and don’t have cell or Wi-Fi coverage, you need to download that area again for the latest map updates to appear. So, if you do decide to download say your entire state or country, you may want to delete it and re-download it about every six months, so you always have the most current map.

• Note: while you can explore this map layer with a free account at GaiaGPS.com, you need a basic paid Gaia membership to be able to download maps to your phone, Go here to learn more.

Here’s a screen grab from Gaia showing some comparisons of download size and speed for different areas.

image: blog.gaiagps.com

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Let's look at a few examples, mostly some before/after screen grabs from the Gaia GPS blog. I don't think there's a need for commentary on these, the images pretty much speak for themselves. Which map would you rather use?

image: blog.gaiagps.com

image: blog.gaiagps.com

image: blog.gaiagps.com

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A good way to get a feel for it is to go GaiaGPS.com, find an area you're familiar with, click through the progressive zoom layers from far out to close in, and notice how the map detail changes. (You can do this for free, and you don’t need a Gaia GPS account.)

Let's do this for the south Lake Tahoe area. "(Note the scale bar in the lower left corner, starting at 10 mile zoom). Tap the “plus” icon in the upper left corner to zoom in one level at a time, or the mouse scroll wheel if you have one.

Good general overview. Public lands shown, major cities and roads, and the Pacific Crest Trail west of the lake.

Next level: More trails and smaller roads, a cluster of POI icons.

Next level: Still more trails, more POI icons, parks, peaks, roads, campgrounds, and waterways labeled.

Next level: Contour lines and smaller streets appear. POI clusters of smaller features shown.

Next level: Very detailed contour lines, pretty much every path and street shown, most every important feature labeled.

Old School Tools - opposite and opposed carabiners

Image credit: from the Ropelab Instagram @ropelab.richard, run by Australian rigging expert Richard Delaney, used with permission.

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With the bounty of options available these days for locking carabiners, many newer climbers may not know the (slightly old school) method of using two non-locking carabiners “opposite and opposed”, to replace a locker. (In the Dark Ages before locking carabiners were invented, this was the only way to do it.) If you find yourself short on lockers, this is still a good trick to know.

Here's the rule of thumb: Two snapgate carabiners, properly rigged with gates opposite and opposed, equals one locking carabiner.

First off, don't get hung up on the confusing terminology. Many rope experts do not use these terms correctly, so it's cool if you don't completely grasp it either. The important thing is to know how to set it up correctly, not necessarily the exact definition of each term.

There’s one correct way to set it up, and some that look correct but aren’t, so let’s have a closer look.

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It's best practice to try to use two carabiners of similar shape and size. This can be a good place to use your oval carabiners, if you have any. Like I said, old school. Asymmetric carabiners can sometimes pinch the rope a bit if used in this configuration, but if you don't have ovals, no problemo.

Top left: correctly rigged opposite and opposed carabiners.

• The gates are “opposite” (meaning, they form an “X”)

• AND the gates are “opposed” (meaning, they don’t open on the same side.)

• Or, to say it another way: the gates on opposite sides and the hinges are on the same end, so they are opposed when both are open.

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Image credit: Richard DElaney  @ropelab.richard

Let's look at the other three set ups and see why they’re not ideal:

1. Bottom right: Both carabiners are aligned the same. Not much more security than just using one.

2. Bottom left: The open gates do not form an “X”. Potential problem: if either carabiner flips 180°, the carabiners are aligned the same, like as the bottom right.

3. Top right: The gates do open to make an “X”, but the gate openings are on the same side. (Some rigging experts call this acceptable.) Potential problem: if the gates rub on a rock, both the gates can open at the same time. Carabiners are much weaker if loaded with the gate open, so we want to avoid this.

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Now, let's take it a step further. Here's another rule of thumb: Three standard carabiners, with gates opposite and opposed, is the equivalent of two locking carabiners. Yes, the math in this example doesn’t quite match what we saw above, but that's how it works.

In the left photo, we have two opposite and opposed locking carabiners, standard practice in the guiding world for a very secure top rope anchor. (Extra points if these lockers are the same make and model, and if they are a wide bottom HMS belay carabiner as shown, which can give a smoother feed of the rope.)

Equally secure to this is the right photo. It’s a bit hard to see, but the two outside carabiners are opposite and opposed to the middle carabiner.

Granted, most of the time when you’re setting up a secure top rope anchor, you're probably going to have two locking carabiners to rig opposite and opposed such as the example on the left. Rigging a top rope anchor with three standard carabiners is something more often seen in a teaching or instructional type situation and not when you were out climbing with your pals.

Please note: we're talking about a top rope anchor here, not the master point on a multi pitch climb. A top rope anchor is typically high up and out of sight, and you may have beginners on the route who may not know how to properly evaluate the security of the anchor once they arrive. For this reason, the extra security of two opposite and opposed lockers (or equivalent) is the guide “industry standard”. For a master point on a multi pitch climb, a single locking carabiner is adequate, because you’re right there to monitor it at all times.

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Do you in fact need two opposite and opposed locking carabiners at a top rope anchor? Some people will choose to set up a top rope from a single locker (or the equivalent for sport climbing, two opposite and opposed normal quickdraws) but it all depends on your acceptable level of risk. Personally, I always use two carabiners at the master point, with at least one a locker. The way I see it, you probably have the gear already, it takes another couple of seconds to rig, so why not have that extra level of security?

Remember, it’s YOU who’s accountable for your acceptable level of risk and comfort. Don't let it be dictated by someone else, regardless of their experience or credentials. If using locking carabiners everywhere on a top rope anchor gives you a warm fuzzy feeling, and you have the gear, by all means do it.

Below left is a top rope anchor with two opposite and opposed standard quickdraws, an anchor rig many sportclimbers are happy with. On the right is the same setup, only this time it has a “locker draw” to add extra security. A locking quickdraw is handy for all kinds of things, which we cover in this article. Which anchor would you prefer to climb on?

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Quickdraws for a sport climbing anchor: gates in or gates out?

There is an interesting subtlety to using quickdraws on a two bolt sport climbing anchor.

You can rig it so the GATES cross to make an “X”, or the SPINES cross to make an “X”. In both cases the masterpoint carabiners are opposite and opposed. WHAT?!

This is highly confusing to many people! I’ll admit it was a bit of a head scratcher for me at first. Like many things in climbing it’s a better show than a tell. Here are some photos to illustrate how this works.

Let's start with a pair of quickdraws stacked on top of each other. All the gates face left.

• There are two quickdraws in the photo, sorry it's a little hard to see both.

• There's some masking tape near the top carabiner on the draw; that's for another project, please ignore it.

Take the top quickdraw and flip it 180 degrees, so the gates face to the right. This creates opposite and opposed carabiners (green) at the bottom masterpoint.

To hopefully make this explanation extra clear, I put some yellow tape on the bottom carabiners. This shows they’re staying in the exact same orientation in the next two steps.

It's time to build our anchor, and clip the top of each draw to a bolt.

If we clip the bolts with the gates facing IN (i.e,, TOWARD from each other), the carabiner GATES at the masterpoint cross to make an “X”.

If we clip the bolts with the gates facing OUT (i.e,, AWAY from each other), the carabiner SPINES at the masterpoint cross to make an “X”.

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Note that in both cases, the bottom green carabiners have stayed in exactly the same opposite and opposed orientation. If the gates make the “X”, or the spines make the ”X” depends on how you clip the top of the draw: facing in or facing out.

This causes a lot of confusion! I hope these photos help clear it up.

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So what? Is one better than another?

There's no firm consensus, but most people prefer to clip with the gates facing OUT, or away from each other.

(Gates out seems to be the set up in every rock gym I’ve ever seen, so that ought to tell you something.)

If the gates face in, you can occasionally have the gates jangle around or the rope flip or some other weirdness, and the gates can get tangled and twisted on each other. When the gates out, this is much less likely to happen.

Or, as mentioned above, you can use my preferred option: gates out and use a locker draw pretty much on every top rope. That eliminates just about any potential problem.

All about sewn pocket daisy chains

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How should you use it? Black Diamond spells it out pretty clearly on their website:

image: blackdiamondequipment.com

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A sewn pocket daisy chain like this has been a part of climbing for decades. It's a tempting piece of gear to use for many things, especially for new climbers. Look at all those handy pockets! You could use that for all kinds of stuff, right? How about I use it to build a top rope anchor, or maybe I can clip in to the anchor with that along with the rope?

You can probably get away with many of these uses, but please don't. These are designed for body weight, aid climbing only (usually for connecting your harness to your ascenders when cleaning, or to your aid ladders when leading).

As Black Diamond says: a sewn loop daisy like this should not be used as part of the belay or anchor system.

Climbers who use these for other applications may not be aware of their primary limitation: While if it's loaded end-to-end it's rated as a full strength sling over 20 kN, the stitching that separates the pockets is only rated to a maximum of 3 kN. If you clip the pockets wrong and the stitching blows, the carabiner can come completely off the daisy, yikes!

Now, this is old news to many climbers. But as I recently discovered, not everyone has got the message (details below), so it bears repeating.

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It’s okay to use these as a personal bodyweight tether, as long as you know the drawbacks. There are a couple of acceptable ways to set this up. There’s also one way that's definitely not recommended, and that’s clipping the end loop and any other single pocket with one carabiner.

(And, if you're wondering about girth hitching to the belay loop instead of your tie in points, it's okay to do that.)

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Let's look at a few different ways to use this as a personal tether, first the wrong way and then two acceptable ways. For this to completely fail as shown, you would have to have an epic load that breaks the stitching on about 7 pockets. Highly unlikely, but still not best practice.

The next two ways are fine: gold carabiner in the end pocket, and blue carabiner in any intermediate pocket. If the stitching were to fail in the pocket clipped by the blue carabiner, you would simply move to the next pocket with no chance of becoming completely unclipped. Another way to think about it: you need two locking carabiners to stay safe, unless the daisy is completely extended.

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Black Diamond has some nice diagrams on their website. It's tempting to adjust the daisy length like in illustration #2, but that can have a very bad outcome, as we’ll see below in a couple of videos. Illustration #3 should be pretty obvious: if that stitching fails the carabiner is completely off, as in illustration #4.

image: https://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/

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Let's have a closer look at illustration #2. What's the problem with that, you might think? If the daisy takes a big load and the stitching in a couple of pockets were to fail, you're still clipped into the end pocket, right? Well, guess what, it can fail, and even when you watch it happen slowly it still looks like a sleight of hand, rope magic trick.

Now, if your daisy has a twist in it, then your anchor will not fail. But the twist is very subtle, hard to see and not something you want to rely on. It’s tricky to describe this, but if you want to play around with this, you can replicate it with a sewn runner and some masking tape.

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But, daisy chains can be misused in other ways as well. I was recently at a local top rope crag in Oregon, and right next to me some climbers had set up a top rope anchor with two sewn pocket daisy chains. Each daisy was clipped to a solid bolt and extended over a cliff edge. One daisy was fine, clipped only in the ends. But the bolt end of the second daisy was clipped into a pocket and the end loop, to shorten it and better distribute the load, in theory. 

The top rope anchor my neighbors rigged looked about like this:

At first glance, this might look okay. Two sewn daisies, locking carabiners everywhere, bomber bolts at the top, nice load distribution, small angle, fully redundant . . . good to go, right? Well, not quite.

Close up of the left anchor. If the sewn pockets were to fail under a sudden load, the carabiner might completely unclip from the daisy.

Here's another variation, this time using a single daisy chain for a top rope anchor. Please don't do this either.

And, one more variation. I think you get the idea. Don't use a daisy chain as a top rope anchor.

Now realistically, a failure here is VERY unlikely when top roping, when the maximum load your anchor is likely to see is around 3 kN. And, even if the stitching on the yellow daisy were to blow out on one pocket, you would drop to the next pocket and then the load would probably transfer to the purple daisy, and everything would be okay and you'd have a great story to tell.

But, having said that, we can all agree that using gear correctly whenever possible is the best practice. Please don't use a sewn pocket daisy chain for building a top rope anchor, and please don't clip the end loop and any other pocket with the same carabiner.

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If you want to see daisy pockets popping one by one in a break test, check out this great video from the Italian Alpine Club, forward it to about 13:20 and 22:10.

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When I started climbing wayback-when, daisychains like this were very popular to use as sport climbing tethers for anchor cleaning. Fortunately this practice has pretty much faded into oblivion, but like I saw at the cliff recently, not everyone has got the message yet. Please, if you see anyone using equipment in a potentially dangerous way, consider giving them a discreet and polite reminder of the proper use. 

Maybe a better question to ask yourself is why use a daisy chain at all? If you’re aid climbing, most climbers find an adjustable daisy is a better option. For most trad and sport leading, there may not be much reason to have a daisy /PAS / lanyard on your harness at all. When you’re cleaning sport anchors or rappelling, a simple sling works fine in almost all circumstances for a tether to the anchor.

But, if you happen to have a sewn daisy like this in the bottom of your gear box, there are a couple of things they are good for. One, they make a pretty good over the shoulder gear sling, and two, for big wall climbers, they can help you organize your vertical camping spot.

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These inherent problems with sewn pocket daisy chains prompted the invention of tethers like the Metolius PAS (Personal Anchor System) or the Sterling Chain Reaction. These are made of individual loops that are each rated to 20+ kN, so there's no more concern with the stitching breaking between pockets. Some climbers find these bulky and a little awkward to use, other people like them a lot. Give it a try and make up your own mind.

Below: Sterling Chain Reactor (top) and Metolius PAS

Use a quicklink as a wrench

Quick links are commonly used as rappel hardware, but they can loosen over time and of course work better when the sleeve is locked down tight. If you find a loose quick link on a route, here's how you might be able to tighten it, provided you have another link with you. This lets you apply a lot more torque then you can with just your fingers.

Notes:

• This method is meant for field improv. Obviously, the best tool for this job is a crescent wrench or pliers.

• It's best practice to install quick links so the sleeve threads down to close, not upwards. That way it's more likely to stay closed.

• Quick links are a rather heavy, single use piece of gear, and many people will choose not to carry them. For some routes it makes make sense to have them, for others perhaps not.

• It's best practice to use proper CE rated quick links for climbing rather than random ones from the hardware store. CAMP makes inexpensive, super-strong quick CE rated links in three different sizes, read more about those here.

Like many things in climbing, it's a better show than a tell. Here's a quick video I made to show how it works.

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"The Bolting Bible" - free PDF book

Ryan Jenks, a mostly fearless, generally hilarious and always high energy guy, is behind “How Not to Highline” (YouTube and website). He somehow manages to combine humor, science, and exciting real life testing to shows some of the break limits of climbing gear and rigging.

Ryan wrote a very detailed e-book on bolting, called “The Bolting Bible”. It's all here: ethics, metal types, rock types, hole drilling, mechanical bolts, glue in bolts, different types of glue . . . 130+ pages, 400+ photos, 200+ links.

If you ever plan on placing a bolt, this e-book will help. And for the rest of us who rely on bolts and really hope they are properly placed, this is a great tutorial on how they’re properly installed, and occasionally what to look for when they’re not. It's also updated regularly with new testing results and materials.

While you can download the e-book for free from the link below, Ryan would certainly appreciate it if you could make a modest donation so he can continue to produce more high-quality free educational material that benefits our entire community.

Note: Placing bolts is a BIG responsibility. Follow these best practices:

• Practice bolting somewhere obscure no one will ever see or use, not at your local crag. 

• Have an experienced person check your work. 

• Study and follow bolting regulations from land management agencies. 

• Don’t add bolts to an existing route.

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GaiaGPS - cell coverage map layer

GaiaGPS, the favorite backcountry GPS phone app for many outdoors folks, keeps adding map layers at an impressive rate. (To be honest, it's hard for me to keep up on all of them, but I try.)

As of June 2020, there’s a new one that might be useful for some folks.

It's a cell phone coverage map of the United States, which shows where in the backcountry you're likely to receive a signal. There's a layer for individual carriers such as Verizon, Sprint, AT&T etc, and also a layer for “all carriers”. The darker the color, the better the signal, at least in theory.

Should you be yapping on your phone and checking social media in backcountry? That's a question you get to answer for yourself.  =^)

Should you be yapping on your phone and checking social media in backcountry? That's a question you get to answer for yourself.  =^) But, if you have a backcountry emergency and need to get somewhere where you can make a phone call for help, or you're on a long backpacking trip and want to check in with folks at home before you move into an area with no coverage, this feature could be very helpful.

This map layer is available only on the Gaia Premium level of membership which typically is $40 a year.

As with all Gaia map layers, you need to download these to your phone while you have Wi-Fi (preferred) or a cell connection.

Read the full scoop about the cell phone map layer on the GaiaGPS blog.

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Let's start out small scale to large scale. Here is a good chunk of Colorado, Verizon layer.

How about Yosemite National Park? Good coverage (Verizon layer) if you're in the Valley, but not much anywhere else. Minimal cell coverage in an alpine wilderness; isn't that how it should be?

image: Gaiagps.com screen grab

A final zoom in to Mt. Rainier National Park. Hgh up on the mountain coverage should be good, but down in the lowlands driving into the park and even at the main Paradise visitor center, probably not. (This is the “All Carriers” layer, and yes that magenta color is a little strong on the eyes.)

image: Gaiagps.com screen grab

Clip a chain anchor directly with a master carabiner

You're on a multi pitch route. If you come across a stout chain anchor, and if the bolts are close together and/or the chain is quite long, lucky you! You’ve got about the easiest and fastest anchor you could ever build. (Note, a vertically oriented chain anchor is also perfect for this, we're going to cover that in a new article soon.)

Why is this a sweet setup? Extremely fast to build, minimal extra gear, no slings, no knots, really easy to break down for your second.

Get the largest HMS “pearabiner” belay carabiner you have, clip the bottom two links, lock it, done. That becomes your “master carabiner”.

Note: Carabiners are strongest when loaded along the spine. When you bring up your second, that will be a larger load than just holding your body weight. So, take a moment before you clip that master point carabiner to have a look at where the rope is running down the pitch. In this example, let's say the rope is coming up from the left side of the anchor. Ideally, that means the spine of the carabiner would be on the left to take the potentially larger load, and the gate of the carabiner should face to the right.

Check out the nice diagram from Petzl to see how this works. In the diagram, the loaded rope is closest to the gate, the weakest configuration. In theory, It would be better if the load strand were on the left, closest to the spine.

(In my humble opinion, this is more of a potential issue with large loads. When bringing up your second, the load is never going to exceed 2-3 kN, so it's probably not critical if you forget to do this step. But it’s best practice, so it’s worth mentioning.)

image: Petzl.com

Add a smaller locking carabiner and clove hitch to the master point to secure yourself.

Clip your plaquette style belay device and blocking carabiner to the master carabiner. (As mentioned above, ideally clip this closest to the carabiner spine, because that's going to be taking a slightly higher load than just your bodyweight on the right.)

Finally, if you’re feeling courteous and have a spare locking carabiner, you can clip that to the master point on the far left to give your second a convenient place to clove hitch themselves when they arrive.

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Possible concerns, addressed. (In some climbing situations these are valid concerns, but not necessarily here.)

• Clipping multiple carabiners together!

• Clipping directly into the rappel rings and possibly damaging them!

• Loading the carabiner in multiple directions!

Clipping multiple non-locking carabiners together and having them flop around is a bad idea, because they can unclip themselves. However, at an anchor like this, when you use all lockers and there is no flopping movement of the carabiners, this is acceptable practice. We cover this more in this article.

Clipping into the rappel rings is totally fine with aluminum carabiners. Aluminum, being softer than the steel ring, is never going to damage the rappel hardware. (It's like using a plastic ice scraper on a car windshield; the soft plastic is never going to hurt the glass no matter how hard you scrape.) We cover this in detail here.

Loading a carabiner and three or four directions at once (known as tri-axial and quad-axial loading) can weaken a carabiner. But in this case it's not a worry, because the chains are quite long and the loads are not going to exceed 2 or 3 kN. If the loads were higher, and chains were shorter and/or the bolts farther apart, it might be a concern. Multi axis carabiner loading is an interesting and slightly complicated situation, and we cover it extensively in this article.

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Detour to a toprope anchor: If you’re rigging a top rope on a chain anchor, and maybe you're short on quickdraws or other anchor material, you can clip two carabiners opposite and opposed to the bottom links. Ideally one of these is a locking carabiner.

This is generally not standard practice, it's usually a better option to use two quick draws or a mini quad, but if you're short on gear this is acceptable.

Note: if you do this on a link of the chain, you'll probably have enough room to pass the end of the rope through but probably not enough room for a bight of rope to lower from. In this case, there are large quick links at the bottom, so there's plenty of room to rig for lowering off, as shown in this article.

(I first saw this technique in a YouTube video (at 7:45) made by AGMA Rock Guide Cody Bradford.)

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Here’s a nice video from Outdoor Research that shows many of these concepts in action. Important points mentioned in the video:

• Avoid using smaller D shaped locking carabiners at the master point, because the carabiners become stacked on one another and the loading becomes less than ideal.

• Of course, always avoid directly cross loading any carabiner gate; that’s a bad thing.

• If the bolts are too far apart, and/or the chains too short, you might start to get some side loading on the top part of your carabiner. Be mindful of this, and re-rig with a sling if you don't like it. Here's an article on strength reduction from off-axis carabiner loading. (It's probably a lot stronger than you think; you'll be fine.)

How to view GPX files in Google Earth

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A GPX track file shows a continuous line of a mountaineering route, hike, mountain bike trail, or pretty much anything. It's of course great to have a GPX track on your phone GPS app to help with navigation in the field. But it's also really helpful to see it in Google Earth before you leave town to help visualize your route, and maybe save a few screen grabs to help with wayfinding on your actual trip.

(If you're looking for GPX files of climbing routes in the Pacific Northwest, a great place to start is right here on Alpinesavvy, where you can download more than 70 of the most popular routes.)

While Google Earth does import GPX files, it’s a bit of a bother. They display more easily if you convert them to a KML file first. A “KML” file (Keyhole Markup Language, in case you really wanted to know) is a file format of geographic data that plays nicely with Google Earth.

There are various ways to convert from GPX to KML. Here's a method that's fast and simple. Of course it’s my favorite mapping software, CalTopo! (If you'd like to learn the basics of Calopo, watch this video.)

Here’s a walk-through using the Liberty Ridge route on Mt. Rainier as an example.

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First, find a GPX file of your route and open it in CalTopo. A GPX file can be either recorded by you, drawn in mapping software if you know the route, or downloaded from the web. (For climbing routes, peakbagger.com is a good source to find and download GPX tracks. Read this article for a step-by-step how to do this.)

Step 1: Go to caltopo.com, click “Import” on the top menu, and import your GPX file. It should open in CalTopo.

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Step 2: Export the GPX file as a KML file. From the “Export” menu on the top row, select “KML for Google Earth”, and save the KML file to your hard drive.

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Step 3 - Launch Google Earth and open the KML file. This should open the 3D fly-around splendor of Google Earth, with your route drawn in. Looking at your favorite mountain in Google Earth is great, but having your route drawn in is much better!

Take lots of screen grabs, they’re free and weigh 0.0 grams. One way is from the Google Earth menu, File > Save > Save Image. You can print them to take with you, save some on your phone, or both.

Take some from farther back showing the whole route . . .

and also some “close ups” .

The "cowboy" figure 8 on a bight

What's a “cowboy knot? It's a way of tying a knot that's fast, flashy, and fun!

The figure 8 on a bight is one of the fundamental knots in climbing. Here's the cowboy version.

I learned this #CraftyRopeTrick a long time ago from the manager of a rock gym, and have loved it ever since. As always, dress your knot to remove any odd twists.

• A figure 8 on a bight can be difficult to untie after it's received a very heavy load. If you need a bight knot in a high load situation, a butterfly knot might be a better choice.

• This knot should always be loaded along the axis, and not “ring loaded”, or loaded across in two opposing directions. It’s possible for the knot to roll under heavy loading if it’s ring loaded. If you anticipate loading in strange directions, again a butterfly knot might be more appropriate.

Play around with this and enjoy!

Let's talk about off-axis carabiner loading

Short attention span version: Loading your carabiner in three or even four directions is not really a concern for climbers. The carabiner can take a higher load than you will ever put on it in a realistic recreational climbing scenario.

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Carabiner rating overview: To attain the CE (“Conformité Européene”) safety rating, carabiners are tested in three loading configurations: along the spine (major axis), gate open, and minor axis (aka, cross loaded). These values should be visible on every carabiner, and surely you’ve noticed them.

The optimal load for a carabiner is along the major axis, or spine. This number should always be the highest of the three ratings, which tells you that’s the strongest configuration. Hopefully you learned this on your first day of climbing, because it's pretty important.

image: https://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en_US/qc-lab-off-axis-tri-axial-carabiner-loading.html

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However, in many real world climbing situations, carabiners are loaded in something other than these three tested configurations. Let’s look at a few.

One of these is the weakest configuration, “nose hooking”. A nose hooked carabiner can break at a load as low as 2 kN, yikes! (Here's an entire article from the Black Diamond Quality Control lab about nose hooking.)

A nose hooked carabiner, yikes! This is super dangerous, if you ever see it, stop and fix this right away!

There are other ways carabiners can be loaded, which is from three or four different directions. Our engineering friends call this “tri-axial” or “quad-axial” loading.

Note, there’s no official strength rating for carabiners under these multi directional loads. (Probably because there are too many variations and it would be hard to test consistently? I don't know, that's a guess.)

What about these examples of tri-axial loading? Is this really something to be concerned about, or not? Most people would say yes, because when you see the Petzl “Yer Gonna Die - YDG” icon, that should get your attention!

But okay, you might be saying, these examples below are kind of silly, most climbers know you shouldn’t load a carabiner like that . . .

image: https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Examples-of-dangerous-carabiner-loading-?ActivityName=Rock-climbing

And, from this page of the excellent Petzl website, comes this interesting graphic.

Now, depending on your anchor building style, this might be something you see more often. Petzl says don't do it, but what are the real world values we're talking about?

(Let's not freak out about that 7 kN value. Petzl is talking about directly cross loading the gate, which we all know is bad, but still something to keep in mind.)

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Good thing the clever engineering gnomes at Black Diamond had the same question and decided to break some gear to find some answers. The premise: When a carabiner is loaded in three (or more) different directions, it’s weaker. The question is, by how much, and is it enough to worry about?

We have some real data and testing results below, but let's first look at a real world anchor.

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Let's have a look at this anchor below made by IFMGA Certified Guide Karsten Delap. The top “master point” carabiner is clipped through both of the rappel rings. (Some folks get concerned doing this might damage the rings. It actually won't, because the rings are steel and the carabiner is made of softer aluminum. It's like using a plastic ice scraper on your car windshield. The soft plastic doesn't hurt the harder glass.)

image: IFMGA Guide Karsten Delap - https://www.instagram.com/p/B5EjrGojxdI/

This is “quad-axis” loading, as the carabiner could receive a load in four different directions. Problem, or not?

No problem. Realistically, loads in this configuration are going to be low. It's the hanging weight of the belayer on the clove hitch, say 1 kN, and belaying your second up directly from the anchor, a max load of say 2-3 kN. (Also note that the second is being belayed on the right, or spine side of the anchor carabiner, which is the strongest orientation.) Once the second is at the anchor, and the new leader heads out, the new belayer will probably only have a clove hitch on the master carabiner.

As we see in this nice diagram below from Petzl, when you do clip two different loads to the same carabiner, it's best to clip the heaviest one closest to the spine.

So, once again the forces in the real world are going to be significantly less and in a different orientation than in the laboratory.

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But, breaking gear is fun, so let's see what Black Diamond has to say!

Here’s the original article from the Black Diamond QC lab archives. (Keep in mind that this testing was done on a very small sample size, on one model of carabiner, from one manufacturer, so the results do not apply universally.)

The Black Diamond website tells us that the Vapor Lock screw gate carabiner has a major axis, closed gate strength of 21 kN. Below are photos and test results from some tri-axial and quad-axial loading done by Black Diamond.

(If you're on a mountain rescue team or doing industrial rigging, or need to maintain your 10:1 safety factor, then you're probably using things like rigging plates to attach multiple carabiners to one anchor and not doing three or four axis loading in the first place.)

image: https://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en_US/qc-lab-off-axis-tri-axial-carabiner-loading.html

Summary of tri-axial loading test: With two loads on the widest end, the carabiner was weakened approximately 20%. With two loads on the small end, the carabiner was effectively not weakened at all (Remember, the carabiner is rated to 21 kN.)

image: http://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en_US/qc-lab-off-axis-tri-axial-carabiner-loading.html

Summary of quad-axial loading test: With the carabiner locked, the weakest iteration of the test showed about a 25% reduction in strength. Even so, this was still almost 16 kN, which is sufficiently strong enough for just about any climbing application. (Look at the loading angle onto the top of the carabiner in that top left photo, that is pretty extreme!)

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Here's a great video from our friends at How not to Highline. The video is on three-way loading in general. They test various configurations of quickdraws pulling at different angles, and different shapes of carabiners. In one example, and oval carabiner clipped with two quickdraws at about a 90 degree angle broke at around 21 kN.

A tiny CAMP Nano carabiner, one of the smallest made, broke at around 17 kN with the double pull on the narrow end, and about 11 kN with the pull on the wide end. (Screen grab below of the set up.)

So, it appears it if you are going to triload a carabiner, having the double directional pull on the skinny / hinge side of the carabiner gives increased strength.

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Here's another test, from Over the Edge Rescue in New Zealand. The carabiner is a CT Snappy screwgate, rated at 23 kN on the major axis.

Three-way loading, wide gate down, three different tests. Average breaking strength: 23.7 kN.

That’s higher than the rated strength!

image: https://overtheedgerescue.com/canyoning/vlad-master-carabiner/

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And, here's a 30 second video from Australian rigging expert Rich Delaney at Ropelab: “Three-way loading, no problem.”

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Takeaway:

• Always try to load a carabiner along the spine (the strongest orientation) whenever possible.

• Quad-axial loading can reduce carabiner strength by a maximum about 25%, to about 16 kN. Other configurations of tri-axial loading show essentially no reduction in carabiner strength.

• In all cases, this is considerably stronger than 9 kN, which is about the maximum force possible in climbing.

• So, in those oddball situations where optimal carabiner loading is not possible, it's probably going to be fine. Just don't make a habit of it. =^)

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So, that’s some lab break test results, admittedly on a fairly small sample size. Alpinesavvy does not give advice, we offer ideas and information.

I'm not here to tell you what you should or should not do when to comes to building anchors. Look at these results and decide for yourself.

What do you think?

The one handed clove (and munter) hitch

Big picture comment: When you’re getting started in climbing, a good approach to knots is learning ONE, and one way only, to tie all the important ones. It's much better to learn one method 110%, than to partially know several. After you've learned the basics inside and out, then you can get into variations like these.

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I’ll admit, for many years I thought tying one handed climbing knots was pretty much a party trick. Like most climbers, I learned to tie the clove in a standard two handed manner (aka the “air clove”, because you tie it “in the air”). 90% of the time, I had some kind of a realistic stance where I could use both hands, or if not, I would clip a tether into the anchor. So, the air clove worked fine.

However, there are times when you’re at a precarious stance, getting pumped/scared, and can JUST get in a good piece of rock pro or clip an anchor bolt. Here, momentarily grabbing the carabiner / quickdraw and securing yourself in two seconds with a one-handed clove hitch is pretty damn handy! And, I have to say, now that the one hand version is firmly in my muscle memory, it’s pretty hard to go back to the two handed method.

Why learn the one-handed clove hitch?

• It keeps you safely on belay while you are tying the knot.

• It lets you dial in the correct length between your body and the carabiner.

• It doesn’t twist the rope, such as the “air clove” does.

There are lots of YouTube videos on the one-handed clove hitch. Most that I've seen skip one critical point: You must pay attention to the direction of the carabiner gate. For the method I prefer, as a right-hander, I need the carabiner gate opening to to the RIGHT.

Once you get the method down, it's good to practice with both hands, with the carabiner facing in both directions.

Also a note for the nitpickers, this is not a “one-handed” version per se, because you still use your other hand to grab the carabiner / quick draw to stabilize it. I think of this as a much more practical, real-world way to do it, but if you want the true one-handed version, check out the video at the bottom.

There's a very similar method to this that's known as the handshake clove. The handshake clove results in the strand going to the climber (you) coming out the front of the knot toward you, as opposed to the back of the knot, facing away from you. There's no significant advantage to one or the other, so I'm teaching it the way I learned it which is not the handshake method. If you prefer the handshake and have some reason for wanting the rope to exit running toward you, then by all means use that.

For the one handed munter hitch, repeat this exact same process, except grab the right hand side of the rope (going from your harness to the quickdraw) with your right hand, thumbs down. Try doing this 10 times for each knot, and then 10 times with your eyes closed for each knot. That’ll help etch it to your muscle memory.

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Safety note: There is one unusual situation where it’s momentarily and potentially unsafe to do this: If you’re the second, and you’re using this to tie in to the anchor as you arrive, and you’re being belayed off of a plaquette style device directly from the anchor. If you were to fall during the second or two that it takes you to tie this knot, there's a chance that the belay device will not catch you, because the rope strand from the device is no longer going downwards. If there's the slightest chance this could happen, it's slightly safer to tie an “air clove”, and clip this into the anchor. (I'll be the first to admit that this is an extremely unlikely situation for you to fall in the exact moment that the belay device is that a less than optimal angle, but I thought I would mention it for you safety enthusiasts.)

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Now, for those of you who want the true one-handed clove hitch, here you go. I think I first saw this from Adam Fleming, adamflemingguiding.com, thanks Adam! Adam calls at the “party clove” because it's more of a party trick than a very practical knot, but it's still a fun one to learn. Just be careful not to get your thumb cut in there . . .

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Here's a nice video by AMGA Certified rock guide Cody Bradford showing how a tying one handed clove hitch first thing at a marginal anchor is pretty sweet! (The rest of the video showing how he builds an anchor is great too.

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.