Radioactive Rod anchor

[Dom]

Hey yall, for the longest time Radioactive Rod just had 2 bolts as an anchor without any hardware to thread your rope through. Can't blame it on the guys who developped the route as they poured a ton of money on hardware to equip the cliff.

So I added a maillon, a sling and locking biners. THESE ARE NOT BOOTIES!
That goes with any anchors you see that have locking biners. Locking biners on anchors are not booty, They are part of the anchor!!

Now people can lower off or rap off them.

https://picasaweb.google.com/100687177024103660261/Dom#5591713723068979458
The reason I added a sling, is because I only had one maillon on me. I will replace that sling with a maillon...

Also I spent half an hour cleaning the route. SO get on it (when it dries up)

[Adam]

hey thanks Dom. yeah... i likely had full intentions of going back and putting maillons on there.

that route is often wet when everything else is dry. were you were cleaning wet lichen???

[Dom]

that route is often wet when everything else is dry. were you were cleaning wet lichen???

Yeah, everything was wet at Sunnyside Saturday evening...Even the bottom section of Ra. I had nothing to do so I thought I'd clean wet lichen. Only works for really dirty sections... I think

[theriault]

found this in a Euro Mag this weekend... would work great!
http://www.directindustry.com/prod/pegu ... 12455.html
If we could find a way to get them around here at a good price I think it would be worth it.

[Adam]

found this in a Euro Mag this weekend... would work great!
http://www.directindustry.com/prod/pegu ... 12455.html
If we could find a way to get them around here at a good price I think it would be worth it.

those look great! tho you can achieve the same thing with two regular maillons...

[Fred]

I have about 20 or so binners that I'm willing to donate for the cause of sport anchors but I'm unsure if they would just disappear.

Thoughts?

[Greg]

I have about 20 or so binners that I'm willing to donate for the cause of sport anchors but I'm unsure if they would just disappear.

Thoughts?

If they are lockers you could torque them with a pair of vice grips when you install them. That should thwart the thieves.

[Fred]

yeah except that if it's a closed loop then I'd just buy Fixe rap ring hangers and leave those instead.

I'm talking about fixed sport clips like on Leviathan and Biohazard.

[Dom]

If they are lockers you could torque them with a pair of vice grips when you install them. That should thwart the thieves.

That explains why I couldn't open that F%&*? locking biner on an anchor in Kingston. Luckily there was a single non-locker so I clipped in that to lower down.

I think torquing them would defeat the purpose as you wouldn't be able to use them to lower off without untying your knot. It would just become a maillon...


Yes perhaps I am lazy but I love to go to a sport crag and tick 10 routes in a day. Not having to clean anchors does save some time. Depending on your partners it can save A LOT of time. I'm not saying that sport route developpers should equip anchors with biners like every single route in Rumney, I'm just saying that people shouldn't steal them if someone generously offered them to the community. They should just clip 'em to lower back down faster . If you're setting it up as a TR for every joe blo you know, then you should make an anchor and the last person can clip in 'em.

And if a climber doesn't want to clip em, he can always rap down.

[*Chris*]

Did somebody snatch up one of your anchors recently Dom?

Anyway I agree that a) clip anchors on sport routes are really nice, and b) welded shut lockers defeat the purpose. What you need is a way of rigging the biner captive to the hanger without locking the gate. In my head I'm imagining those fixed gym draws that had the little pin keeping the webbing captive in place. I think the point there was to prevent the biners flipping into a cross-loaded position but they also are a wicked little anti-theft device. I wonder if you could rig something at home that would make a biner a real pain in the arse to get off a hanger?

Either way... thanks for your anchor efforts Dom. Appreciated.

[Fred]

In my head I'm imagining those fixed gym draws that had the little pin keeping the webbing captive in place.

here's what I would get if my wallet was bit bigger

http://www.fixeusa.com/sale/sale_0133.htm

[Dom]

Did somebody snatch up one of your anchors recently Dom?

No hehe I guess I'm just on the defensive. I'll blame it on what I do for work...
Awesome forecast for this weekend! See you guys out there!

[granite_grrl]

I have about 20 or so binners that I'm willing to donate for the cause of sport anchors but I'm unsure if they would just disappear.

Thoughts?

If they are lockers you could torque them with a pair of vice grips when you install them. That should thwart the thieves.

Zip-ting them is an option for non-lockers (isn't foolproof, but at least you made it obvious that the biners were meant to be left). We have also taken the time to spray paint all our old biners for the tops of routes we've developed (shades of gray, nothing outrageous). This is because Nathan has always spray painted his bolts so they're a little less conspicuous, but it has the added bonus of picking out these biners on other people's racks if they decide to be dicks (or are just ignorant of the practice).

[*Chris*]

Zip-ting them is an option for non-lockers (isn't foolproof, but at least you made it obvious that the biners were meant to be left). We have also taken the time to spray paint all our old biners for the tops of routes we've developed (shades of gray, nothing outrageous). This is because Nathan has always spray painted his bolts so they're a little less conspicuous, but it has the added bonus of picking out these biners on other people's racks if they decide to be dicks (or are just ignorant of the practice).

+1
That seems pretty reasonable. A few zip ties make it obvious it isn't booty. I think I could come up with a few biners for this as well.

[theriault]

+2 for the Zip ties! and I also have a good stach of locking biners to donate to the cause!

[*Chris*]

Sounds like we could pretty much equip every decent route in Sunnyside. I think the trick will be to just let new climbers know politely that lowering is o.k. but extended top rope sessions are not.

[Fred]

We need a few chains to extend over the edge for those anchors that are on top of the ledge.

I've thought about the zip ties before but I wonder how they will last in the UV. Have you had good luck with these?

[Fred]

Did somebody snatch up one of your anchors recently Dom?

They will. It's inevitable. People are even taking tat rap stations with lowering rings.

[Dom]

Did somebody snatch up one of your anchors recently Dom?

They will. It's inevitable. People are even taking tat rap stations with lowering rings.

Well those that steal the anchors will look like this guy who is a total douchebag and was caught stealing draws in Smith rock:

http://vimeo.com/18267416

Secondly, whoever steals anchors will be utterly ostracized from the climbing community of NB. They will not be able to bring the stolen gear at any crag in NB as it will be distinguishable, thus rendering it useless. Is living in fear of being black-listed worth a 5$ biner? I didn't think so.

If you want to steal something, go shoplift at Sears. Don't take away something from your local crag.
No smiley faces.

[Fred]

I nominate Dom the as the head of the anchor-thief police group.

[j.root]

No smiley faces.

I nominate Dom the as the head of the anchor-thief police group.

RULE BREAKER!

[Nihoa]

we use them in the field and most of our camp was held together by ties in full sun. they are so cheap that if they do get old after a year or two you can replace them easy enough.

I've thought about the zip ties before but I wonder how they will last in the UV. Have you had good luck with these?

[Pierre]

I believe you can buy UV resistant cable ties. So I think using cable ties shouldn't be an issue.

[Deezydog]

Cable ties actually hold up pretty well in outdoor environments, if you have the right ones. We use them quite frequently on outdoor cable runs in industrial places. Something like this should probably last a long time.

http://www.panduit.com/Products/Product ... 0001%20244 3000552

And speaking from experience trying to cut this off with anything but side cutters or a razor sharp knife will probably result in a small loss of blood;)

You can pick these up at any electrical supply shop. I might actually have an extra bundle of these kicking around in the garage somewhere. If I find them I'll leave them in the CL sign in box next time I'm up.

[Fred]

thx for the link Deezy. I'll have to check those out.

[Dom]

I'm surprised and certainly glad that people are interested to help out revamp some sport anchors. Thanks!

I nominate Dom the as the head of the anchor-thief police group.

Nice! Now I won't be going to Welsford just to climb. I'll be that powertrip dick spying around for potential thieves. You have all been warned! hehehe! See you guys out there this weekend-awesome forecast! (60% chance of rain for 3hours on 1 website out of 3 = 20% chance of rain for 1 hour right? )

[jeremy]

make sure to clip the biner to the hanger first before zip tying the biner to the hanger. I can read it now "climber dies due to zip tie anchor failure"

[*Chris*]

Dom,
Thanks for upgrading those anchors. I was there yesterday and added a similar setup to Superstar. Steel biners on maillons with a few zip ties to make it seem like it's part of a deliberate setup. I also tightened the loose hangers on the anchor with lock-tight. Should make for an even quicker warm-up.


Again, if you'd like to top-rope this line you should be setting up a proper anchor:
BENER - (Bomber, Eqalized, Non-Extending, Redundant)

If you aren't sure how to do that I'd be happy to show you. These stations are intended to give leaders the option to quickly lower... they are not a substitute for proper anchors. I think we might install a few more around Sunnyside so it's good to know.

Cheers.

p.s. the two most aggravating trees in Sunnyside were also pruned yesterday! No more fouled up ropes on the Stairway to Heaven rap and no more threats of uncomfortable branch probing for a leader falling off the crux to Quantum Theory. Phew!

[Fred]

I should have posted an update last week... I also put a similar anchor up on Solaris.

[Dom]

That's awesome Chris!

Just thought I'd mention that I'm not the one that improved the anchor on Solaris. Fred did. I will upgrade the Ra anchor next time I'm up there.

p.s. the two most aggravating trees in Sunnyside were also pruned yesterday! No more fouled up ropes on the Stairway to Heaven rap and no more threats of uncomfortable branch probing for a leader falling off the crux to Quantum Theory. Phew!

HAHAHA I think my rope got stuck in that freakin birch tree every single time I rapped from Stairway to heaven. Glad it's been pruned.