Luebben - Rock climbing: mastering basic skills

ROCK CLIMBING ANCHORS
A Comprehensive Guide

American Mountain Guides Association

The author Craig Luebben has undergone internationally recognized training and certification exams in the highest levels of professional guiding. Although the content of this book does not officially represent American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) guiding techniques, the AMGA does endorse the author, who is a certified guide, and the content of this book which provides the most current techniques used in the craft of technical mountaineering.

Craig Luebben

1001 SW Klickitat Way, Suite 201, Seattle, WA 98134

2007 by Craig Luebben

All rights reserved

First edition: first printing 2007, second printing 2008, third printing 2009, fourth printing 2011

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Manufactured in the United States of America

Acquiring Editor: Christine Hosler
Project Editor: Mary Metz
Developmental Editor: Christine Clifton-Thornton
Copy Editor: Colin Chisholm
Cover and Book Design: The Mountaineers Books
Layout: Mayumi Thompson
Illustrator: Jeremy Collins
Photographer: All photographs by the author unless otherwise noted.
Cover photograph: Karissa Dunbar prepares to clip on Angular Motion (5.12a), Carver, Oregon.
Brian Stevenson/Aurora Photos
Back cover photograph: Guides Bill Libertore, Matt Wade, and Joe Crocker rappelling off Frigidaire Buttress, Red Rocks, Nevada
Frontispiece: Topher Donahue spicing it up on Lock of Rages (5.12R), Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Luebben, Craig.

Rock climbing anchors : a comprehensive guide / by Craig Luebben. 1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN-13: 978-1-59485-006-6

ISBN-10: 1-59485-006-2

1. Rock climbingEquipment and supplies. 2. Rock climbingSafety measures. I. Title.

GV200.15.L84 2006

796.522'3dc22

2006024760

Printed on recycled paper

ISBN (paperback): 978-1-59485-006-6

ISBN (ebook): 978-1-59485-239-8

This book is dedicated to all outdoor educators. By helping others discover, explore, and enjoy the outdoors, you enrich countless lives. Mark and Marcia Van Skiver helped me and some friends begin skiing and backpacking at age fourteen, and high school math teacher Barb Evert took us skiing and climbing Colorados fourteeners. These early adventures had a profound influence on my life.

Learning never stops in the outdoors. Last season my great ski teachers Chad Vander Ham and Doug Coombs showed me how to get down when its really steep. May you rest in peace, brothers.

One day in 1984 Chuck Grossman and Kent Wheeler thought they were on the Petit Grepon in Rocky Mountain National Park when they were really on The Saber, a harder and more serious climb. Thats where I met them, as we all raced to beat an electrical storm. The following week I had to submit ten ideas for a wide crack protection device to my mechanical engineering professor Jaime Cardenas-Garcia. On the hike down from The Saber Chuck mentioned the words expandable tube: that became the eleventh idea, and ultimately the Big Bro expandable tube chock.

Through marketing the Big Bro I met the Rock & Ice editors and began writing for them. This led to working on some John Long books as the technical editor, including his first Climbing Anchors book. The next evolution was working for Climbing magazine, and writing several instructional books of my own. Without Chuck there would have been no Big Bro, and probably no magazine articles or books, including this one. Thanks, Chuck.

Im also grateful to my project editors at The Mountaineers Books whose patience I have taxed time and again (hey, its not easy to write and photograph one of these books!). Christine Hosler directed this project from beginning to end, providing guidance and pressure without cracking the whip too hard while Mary Metz oversaw the project and steered the book through its final stages. Developmental editor Christine Clifton-Thornton taught me how to actually write a book, and she helped immensely with the organization. Copy editor and climber Colin Chisholm took the book through its home stretch, making sure that the photos and captions jived (they often did not), and making the book readable. Mayumi Thompson masterfully designed the layout.

Some of my friends gave the text a look-over and made valuable suggestions. Thanks to Colorado Mountain Club mountaineering instructor Meredith Lazaroff for reviewing an early version of the book, and to Casey Bernal, Silvia Luebben, and Ron Douzanis for busting me when my climbing physics was wrong.

All climbers owe thanks to Jim Ewing, research and development director of Sterling Rope company, for his tireless testing of ropes and anchoring systems, including his recent tests showing that cordelettes sometimes do not equalize as well as we hoped. Thanks to John Long for helping me get started in this business, and for his research into anchoring systems. And thanks to all the participants in the online rockclimbing.com thread pertaining to anchors, equalizing, and the cordelette versus sliding X versus equalizer. Many new anchor rigging designs were created in this thread, and some of the ideas are used in the Belay Anchors chapter.

I also owe thanks to Malcolm Daly of Trango for hiring me as a climbing guide at Colorado State University in 1981, for marketing the Big Bro, and for the million other things that he has done for the climbing community. Thanks also to my fellow American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) rock guide instructors and students who have given me many ideas, especially Jeff and Steve Banks who showed me some new sling anchoring techniques.

The gear shown in this book is the best stuff currently available; its the gear that my climbing partners and I use regularly. Much appreciation goes to Metolius, Misty Mountain, Omega Pacific, Petzl, Sterling Rope, Trango, and Wild Country for providing gear for the photographs.

Individually Id like to thank Caroline Brodsky, Malcolm Daly, Jim Ewing, Lisa Gnade, Mike Grimm, Goose Kearse, Michael Lane, Seth Murray, Paul Nyland, Steve Petro, Doug Phillips, Rudy Rasmussen, and Brooke Sandahl. I also owe appreciation to Gary Neptune for allowing me to photograph some historical chocks in his climbing equipment museum at Neptune Mountaineering in Boulder, Colorado.

Thank you to the models that grace these pages. They include some of Americas best climbers, including two climbing World Cup Champions. Thanks to Mike Auldridge, Mia Axon, Francisco Blanco, Cassie Bloss, Katie Brown, Tommy Caldwell, Stacy Carrera, Joe Crocker, Cameron Cross, Steph Davis, Topher Donahue, Sarah Gross, Skip Harper, Kennan Harvey, Lynn Hill, Andy Johnson, Brad Jackson, Sue Kligerman, David Lazaroff, Bill Libertore, Curtis Love, Giulia Luebben, Silvia Luebben, Charlie Mace, Anna McConica, Carol McConica, Jeremy Medley, Pascal Perrier, Kathy Plate, Jeff Skoloda, Laura Strauss, Kevin Stricker, Lauri Stricker, Toti Valdez, and Matt Wade.