The wall will be closed for exams, to reduce the load on leaders and help outdoor trips be a smooth experience for everyone if you plan on going outdoors more than a handful of times you should learn to clean top rope anchors.
At the top of sport climbs there are bolts glued into the rock, to prevent wear on those bolts by having many people go up and down the route, the person who climbs it first will attach our own anchor to those bolts. When we're done with the climb, that anchor must be removed. To do this safely requires practice, care, and certainty that you can tie a figure 8 knot correctly every time without someone to double check.
I will go through what the typical sliding x anchor that the club uses for beginners trips looks like, and how to clean it safely while always having redundancy in the system.
As stated in the acknowledgement box, I am not a trained guide, use what you learn at your own risk!
Equipment required for cleaning (I will bring gear for this session):
- Sling or Personal Anchor System (PAS)
- Two Locking Carabiners
The steps for the cleaning method I'll be teaching:
- Clip your PAS/sling into the bolted anchor, lock your carabiner
- Transition your weight onto the PAS to test that it is holding you
- Shout "[belayer's name] in hard!"
- Identify the lowering rings and inspect for wear/sharp spots that may damage the rope, if unsure communicate with your belayer, possibly come down and let someone else clean
- If the lowering rings look good, shout "[belayer's name] slack!"
- Starting from the figure 8 tied into your harness, take an arms length of slack
- Starting from this slack, tie a figure 8 on a bight, double check two-four-six-eight-ten strands
- Lock it to the belay loop on your harness with the second carabiner
- Double check that the rope from the figure 8 on a bight runs through the anchor, just like the rope from your original figure 8 did - this makes sure that you are still securely connected to the anchor and are not just relying on your PAS
- Untie the original figure 8, pass the free end of the rope through the lowering rings
- Tie a rethreaded/normal figure 8 with a stopper knot into your harness as you did at the start of the climb, double check two-four-six-eight-ten strands - you now have one redundancy from your PAS and two from the rope, so it is safe to remove the figure 8 on a bight
- Remove the figure 8 on a bight from your harness and untie it
- Shout “[belayer’s name] take!”
- Pull yourself up on your PAS and lean back to transition your weight onto the rope - check that the rope is holding your weight
- Remove our anchor from the bolts
- Remove your PAS from the bolts
- Shout “[belayer’s name] ready to lower!”
- Go climb the next thing
We will meet at the left side of the new wall. Priority given to folks who contribute to the club through helping with gear mainatanance, stocktakes, and leading trips.