High_Strength_Cord

[john]

I have been hearing some misinformation about the following topic bering passed around recently. So here is some reading. The link is quite neat if you are into details.

http://www.xmission.com/~tmoyer/testing ... ech%20Cord

[mathieu]

What sort of misinformation where you hearing? I carry one Maxim Techchord (sold at MEC) and once 7mm nylon cordalette.

[Richard Eh!]

Hey John does that give you pause to think about all those new skinny "shoelace" slings from Beal that you're so hot for...?!!!

[The Mitt]

Allot of this info came out in RC.com in the sliding X thread, and is covered in John Long's new book. Basicly the rule of thumb is that if you are making an anchor and any point is less than bomb proof then do not use a cordalette. JL's new book is worth the read and really questions the merit of using a cordalette.

Mitt

[The Teth]

I like tying a figure 8 on a bight, and then passing part of the loop through the knot again. One loop is formed by the part stuck through the knot, while two more loops are formed by the sections of the two strands of the original loop which were not pulled through the middle of the figure 8 knot. The result is three self equalizing loops to build an anchor with. If a piece blows the knot will re-equalize the two remaining loops, but will not have the same shock load as a sliding X because the biner on the loop will not pull through the knot, so the other two loops will only extend the length of the first loop, and the equalization will likely happen more slowly due to the friction of the knot, thus reducing the shock further.

It is a nice trick, which has been working well for me recently for aid climbing, but since you use the rope to build the anchor, I guess it would not really work for Top-rope.

Teth

[martha]

The Knot you are referring to is a double loop figure of 8.

http://www.animatedknots.com/fig8loopdo ... dknots.com


It is great for anchors if you don't need to lead a second pitch and if your gear is equal distance apart as the 'ears' are the same length and thus can't equalize an off set anchor.

[The Teth]

Close, but no.

Stop at step 5 on the demo you linked to and you have it. Three ears and self equalizing. You got to tighten up the figure 8 knot and put biners on the loops so they do not pull through of course. Try it! You got to see for your self.

It is not my idea by the way. It is indorsed by several alpine clubs in Europe.

Teth

[The Teth]

Correction, if the piece on one loop fails and the knot re-equalizes, the other two loops will only extend by half the length of the loop the failed gear was attached to.

[The Teth]

Finally tracked down where I got the knot from. See the post by Ultrabiker with pictures of the knot on the third page:

http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/threa ... &tn=0&