There is a little bit of controversy over pre-equalized anchors. Some feel that one leg of the anchor will get more force than another, which means that such an anchor could never be fully equalized. While there may be some truth to this concern, the impact on the anchor as a whole is minimal and professional climbing guides throughout the country are generally not concerned about it.

This may be basic stuff for many of you, but a quick refresher never hurts!

The post Pre-Equalized Anchors and the American Death Triangle first appeared on All Climbing.

This climber, however, disregarded the new anchors, choosing instead to thread his rope directly though one of the old bolts. He top-roped three routes off the single old bolt and then according to Josh, a fireman and climber who was on the rescue, he switched to the other old bolt â??because he didnâ??t like the way his rope was running in the anchor.â? He then began to rappel, but after descending 25 feet down the slab the bolt snapped off and he fell 50 feet.

The old ½-inch eyebolt that the climber had rappelled from had broken cleanly at its juncture with the rock surface. A close inspection of the bolt indicated that the break was caused by the stress of rappelling and the single anchor being loaded with the weight of the 230-pound climber.

Read the entire analysis, but the moral of the story to me is don’t be complacent – always check (and potentially backup) fixed gear.

The post Never Trust a Single Anchor, an Analysis of a Rock Climbing Accident first appeared on All Climbing.