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In my first article (
part 1 )
about simplifying alpine anchors by using materials other than
cordelettes, we looked at anchors which are designed to be belayed off
of directly with an auto-locking belay device.
In this article,
we will look at the use of pitons and ice screws along with using the
rope as our primary anchoring materials.
The use of pitons
in climbing does hold some potential ethical questions as the U.S.
climbing community has increasingly moved away from using pins
regularly due to the scars it leaves in cracks and the desire to
“leave
no trace” of our passage.
(click on photos to enlarge)
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I would not advocate using pitons on climbs or
on crags where routes are done without them, just as I
wouldn’t
recommend adding bolts to a route that has been climbed
without.
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Pitons
are often the only type of anchor (other than bolts) than can be placed
in the types of rock which are often encountered in the alpine
environments; limestone, quartzite, schist, and some types of granitics
will often only have thin parallel cracks and nothing else available
for gear placements.
In these situations, being on lead
without pins leaves one with little or no opportunity for lead or
anchoring gear and this is not an ideal situation to find oneself in.
Learning to place pins well takes some time and this skill can best be
developed on lead on big-wall aid climbs around the world.
In the
alpine realm, thinner style pins such as knife blade and stiletto
styles made by Black Diamond and Grivel are the sizes that fit best
when other gear won’t and usually up to a half dozen of
different sized
pins (not the shortest) are helpful along with the usual selection of
nuts and cams.
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In the anchor
above, the two pitons shown are a longer
knife blade
and a medium length lost arrow. The knife blade and lost arrow are
connected together with a shoulder length sling which looks
tied in
a “magic-x” but is actually
“pre-equalized” with an overhand knot which
separates the two loops connected to the pitons.
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Coaching one’s partner on how to remove these
pitons may be
essential if there is any hope of bringing the pins home.
If I
think that if a particular pin will be very difficult to remove, I will
often ask my partner to leave them in place,
especially on a climb that
I will be returning to or if there is some time constraint (approaching
storm) which makes the value of the piton diminish rapidly.
The photo at right shows one method for
using the rope to build an anchor.
The
knot is a double-bowline on a bight and attaching the belay munter
hitch to the belay rope carabiner is a clove
hitch.
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The rope is a more
ideal anchoring material than a cordalette due to it's strength,
simplicity and weight savings. The bottom strand on the left is going
to me and I tied a clove hitch in the other strand to attach my belay
device.
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In all of the anchors shown thus far in these two
articles, I’ve
demonstrated belaying directly off of the anchor in all of
the photos.
This is not to imply that a climber should
always belay in this manner
all of the time.
I only use the belaying directly off the anchor method when I am
absolutely sure of
the strength of the anchor on it’s own and if I need to add
more
strength to the system, I will belay directly off of my body in-line
between the anchor and climber below.
There are many situations, especially in
alpine climbing where
there are no cracks for anchoring and/or when complex anchors
aren’t
necessary.
In these cases, either belaying off of terrain features
directly (trees or horns) or belaying off of the body directly
(shoulder, sitting hip, or harness belays) with or without any
additional anchor is often the best solution.
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Three solid pieces connected together
with a 48" sling tied-off
with an overhand on a bight to make a pre-equalized anchor.
The sling
on the blue cam is connected to the nut above and unlike a carabiner,
the sling can be loaded in multiple directions without weakening the
system.
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The problem-solving inherent in figuring out what type
of anchor is
necessary or possible can be one of the most challenging parts of a day
of alpine climbing.
In the previous alpine anchoring article, I also
discussed the ideas of
kicking the rock and shock-loading (yanking) pieces to test their
integrity.
It should be noted that these techniques are not
always
necessary and in fact they are always secondary to the skills of macro
and micro rock and placement evaluations.
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A two-piece
pre-equalized cam anchor on the route "Martha"
in Rocky Mountain National Park
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Unfortunately, in the alpine environments, solid looking
rock and
ice placements can often be deceptive and I’ve seen
too many candidates
blow it on AMGA courses and exams in this regard.
This happens more
often than one might believe with fixed anchors and visually
solid-looking rock and gear placements. Dirt, ice, plants,
loose
micro-features, and looser than believed macro-features are common in
the alpine rock environment and they can all conspire to make our
anchors less than adequate.
Loose rock is something that we can’t
afford to let ourselves be fooled by as it can compromise our
team’s
security in the most essential way.
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If I am more sure of the strength of a given section of
ice, two
screws may be plenty for constructing a solid
anchor.
When the ice is
less predictable or ideal, then 3, 4 or 5 screws (or better yet, rock
gear) might be necessary to construct a solid enough
anchor.
It all
depends on the ice which is an inherently fragile and less-reliable
substance for anchoring.
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A typical two-screw ice anchor tied-off with an
overhand on a bight to make a pre-equalized anchor.
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Another two-screw anchor in the thick, dense
ice of the West
Gully
in the Glacier Gorge.
A vertical orientation is ideal with screws
as
it minimizes vector forces and as long as the screws are far enough
apart, it reduces the risk of a fracture compromising the entire anchor
system.
In this photo, I am using the orange sling
to connect myself to the "top-shelf" of the anchor. We are
preparing to make a v-thread and so I have connected to the anchor with
a sling so that the ropes are free for rigging into a rappel.
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