Horizontal hangers - clip the ring, not the hanger
While by far the most common type of bolt hanger is vertical, you may find horizontal hangers (usually with a welded steel ring) that look like this. (These are from the Spanish company Fixe; other companies might make them too.)
The reason for the horizontal hanger is so the ring hangs perpendicular to the rock. This makes it easier to pull your rappel rope.
To be honest, I'm not a big fan of these. The rings can’t be easily replaced when they get worn out, and a downward load can put some strange leverage on the bolt and hanger. A vertical hanger, a quick link, and a welded ring or another quick link does pretty much the same thing and is much easier to replace.
But you will find this flavor of anchor in the wild, so it's good to know what to do with them.
With these horizontal hangers, it's best practice to clip the ring, and NOT the horizontal hanger.
While most of the time it's not a big deal if you do clip the hanger, with certain carabiners in some configurations, the carabiners can get twisted and torqued in a strange way.
I've never heard of one breaking, but it's not optimal. So clip the ring, and you’ll be fine.
More reasons to clip the ring:
Depending on carabiner shape, makes it easier to “clip it and flip it”, so you can arrange your carabiner gate facing down and out
Will never load your carabiner at a strange angle
Accepts a carabiner of any shape and size
Allows the ring to be used to more easily set up a rappel, either by you or someone else, (more on that below)
Questions, concerns, FAQ . . .
Is that ring strong enough? Answer, yes! It’s welded 10 mm steel rod. I've seen some break test results of these ranging from 50 to 100 kN, range which is of course ridiculously strong. It’s never gonna break. (Gear nerds: the rating on the Fixe vertical anchor is (I think) 22 kN. But that's the rating for all the components of the anchor. The ring itself is way stronger.)
Are you concerned that your carabiner might damage the rappel ring? Don't be. Your soft aluminum carabiner will not scratch the much harder stainless steel ring. It's like using a plastic ice scraper on the car windshield, the soft plastic will never hurt that much harder glass. (If you're using steel carabiners to make an “institutional” anchor, that's a different story.
Are you blocking the rings for other rappel teams? It shouldn't be a concern. There's plenty of room above your gear to pass a rappel rope. And if there's not, you can use this technique to allow a team to pass you.
Does Fixe actually recommend clipping the rings? This seems to be a long-standing myth. I took a careful look through the Fixe technical documentation for this anchor. I couldn't find anything that said how you should clip it. So, I say it's a myth. But if anyone has documentation or another source on this I’d love you to send it to me, and I’ll stand corrected.
Still not convinced?
Here is a screen grab from the Instagram of Dale Remsberg, an IFMGA Certified Guide and Technical Director of the AMGA (American Mountain Guide Association).
Dale says: Clip the ring.
Here’s the Fixe vertical chain anchor.
This is called a series anchor. All the load is on the ring and bottom hanger. The chain and top hanger only serve as a backup in the extremely unlikely event that the bottom bolt fails.
The same idea applies here. Clip the vertical hanger on the top or the welded ring on the bottom. It's best practice to avoid clipping the bottom horizontal hanger.
