Last summer I saw a family climbing on an American Death Triangle in
Leavenworth. They were blissfully unaware of the danger of such a
set-up and appeared to be even more unaware of pre-equlaized anchors.
It's incredibly important to avoid the American Death Triangle. The
term "death" isn't in there for nothing.
This entry is about pre-equalized
anchors. The Canadian guide, Mike Barter has put together a variety of
videos on youtube that are valuable to both the novice and the advanced
climber alike. Following are three of his videos on pre-equalization.
The first two are for novice anchor builders, and the third is for all
those looking for a short-cut.
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.
In this first video, Mike describes a sliding-x,
followed by the basics of pre-equalization.
The
following video takes what Mike just described to the next step. In
this video he demonstrates a pre-equalized anchor off three pieces.
The
stuff in the preceding video is quite rudimentary when it comes to
anchor building and most advanced climbers have this skill dialed. It's
important to practice a variety of anchors with legs that are a
variety of different lengths. It's also important to practice building
anchors with many pieces as well with only a few.
Speaking of
building an anchor with only a small number of pieces, more advanced
climbers that already have a strong understanding of their anchoring
skills may find this next video a bit more valuable.
In this
video, the guide provides a quick tip for keeping the power point high.
Practice
makes perfect in every one of these techniques. So keep on
practicing!
--Jason D. Martin
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
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1 comment:
I love all of the climbing tools videos. He posts some great stuff! And they are funny too!
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