NHC Basic Climbing and Anchors workshop information

Definitions
Belay: the act of providing a safety stop for a climber.
Belayer: a person is responsible for ensuring the climbers safety in the event of a fall.
Rappel: the act of lowering ones self from the top.
Firemans belay: a backup safety system for rappelling.

Listen & Ask: Climbing trip leaders will have a lot to tell you. Listen up and pay attention. Even simple things can be very important. If you dont feel safe, want to know if youre doing something right or the proper way, ASK! Dont always accept everything as gospel, your free to ask WHY we do something as well it promotes a better understanding and keeps us in check.

Care around the edge: Basically, find your comfort level but remember, if youre putting yourself in a situation where a fall could be disastrous and you arent sure of yourself TIE IN to a safety or MOVE BACK. Basically, leaders will be setting the anchors so there is no real reason for you to be hanging off the edge. No need for extra risks.

Proper fit: Your climbing harness should be adjusted so that it cannot come down over your hip bones. These belts are worn near the belly button to help out with that. It prevents you from being able to fall out if you fall upside down.

Double Back: Depending on the harness it most likely has buckles that re-weave the adjustment straps back through the buckle a second time. This locks it very securely. On the harnesses that I provide, if you can see RED on the buckle then you are NOT double backed.

Double check: Everything we rig for safety should be double if not triple checked. This includes each others harnesses and anchors. If youre climbing, your belayer is responsible for double checking you as well. If youre belaying, your climber should double check your setup. Make sure they do this.

Attentive Belaying: The only way of ensuring that you are going to be providing an adequate belay is to be very attentive. You don't need to try to "pull" your climber up, but instead merely eliminate slack as they go giving only the hint of slack in the line. If they fall, you should immediately lock off your belay device. If you are in the process of taking in slack, lock off anyways. It's more important to provide a secure lock than to get that last foot of slack out and risk slipping your grip or letting the rope slide which could mean rope burns on your hand.

Warnings
Anyone who sees it: ROCK!!!: This includes any item falling from the mountain, even a water bottle or carabiner. From 85 feet the velocity of any item especially a rock can be damaging or even fatal. If you are climbing near the top and accidentally knock a loose rock free immediately yell ROCK so EVERYONE can hear you. Belayers should immediately take cover but stay on belay locking off their climbers and everyone should react quickly. If its high up, keep repeating it until the item has ended its fall.

ROPE!!!: While less immediate of a danger rope being tossed from the top of a climb to the bottom can whip with amazing velocity. The anchor setters should call out the warning, then wait for a response for at least 5 seconds. If no response is heard they should assume that it is safe to toss their rope down. If you are below a climb being set and hear the warning, simply move out of the way. If you for some reason cannot get out of the way in time, call up a warning back to the anchor setter.

Edge (while hiking): Not yelled but said where the group knows to beware. Many of the hikes near the mountain edge take the climbers very close to large drop offs. The hiking leader should call out "edge" to get the attention of the group to be cautious about a potential fall. Sometimes these edges are not immediately apparent until you are dangerously close, hence the usage of the term. In low light scenarios this should always be done.

Basic Commands
Climber On Belay: instructs the belayer to set a safety belay.
Belayer Belay On: confirms to the climber than a belay has been set.
Climber Climbing: instructs the belayer that they are ready to climb.
Belay Climb On: confirms that the belayer is ready to provide a belay.
Climber Ready (or similar): confirms they have reached the top and are ready to come down.
Belayer OK (or similar): prepare to be lowered

Advanced Commands these should only be if youre belaying a group leader.
Climber - Off Belay: they have reached to top, are safety locked to the anchors and need the belayer to remove the belay device from the rope.
Belayer Belay Off: confirms that the belay is removed from the system.

Climber/Rappeller Rappelling: Instructs others at the bottom that they are going to self lower. One person should give a firemans belay if available.
Belayer Rappel On: Confirms firemans belay is on and that the landing area is clear.

Proper Technique for Top-roping Belay - Belaying for a top-rope setup couldn't be simpler. All you have to do as a belayor is to take in the rope as the person climbs higher. The important thing here is that you pay attention to the climber and never take your brake hand off of the rope. If the climber falls, they should not be falling very far (a maximum of three feet) if you are doing it correctly and keeping the rope tight enough. When the climber is done, all the belayor has to do is lower s/he to the ground slowly and at a constant speed.

Firemans belay: Belayer takes both ends of the rope that are touching the ground in hand very loosely without pulling. In the event that a rappeller looses control they should give a hard tug and hold it which will lock the rappellers belay device into action.

The above re-threaded method is usually used to tie into a harness, and is just a case of making a figure-of-eight on the single rope, looping through the harness, and following the knot back through itself.

One of the most useful knots for making anchors or other such things while using rope. Can be tied in the middle of a rope without threading either end through. Relatively easy to untie after being weighted. This knot works well in webbing or rope.

Commonly used while making anchors to create an easily adjustable point for equalization. This knot should be set well to prevent initial slippage. This knot works well in webbing or rope.

Most commonly used to tie ends of webbing together. Simply tie an overhand knot on one end, and thread the other end through started where the other tail came out. It is very difficult to untie after weighted, but is the ideal knot for webbing. This knot should be set well with tails of at least 5 inches and should be periodically checked to ensure the tails have not slipped towards the knot. This knot should only be used on webbing.

Trees are our friends! In local areas crags have plentiful trees at the tops of climbs and many are more than sturdy enough to attach to as an anchor. This is the strongest "knot" that can be tied as it keeps nearly 100% of the rope strength. This knot can work equally well in rock but more care should be used to ensure the edges are suitable. This knot works in webbing or rope.

This hitch's ability to hold the load depends on the number of wraps, the surface friction and the diameter of the tree, post or rock. Typically with a good solid tree 4 complete wraps is enough but do not hesitate to add extra wraps or finishing it off with a knot if time allows.

The anchor point must be at least 8 inches in diameter to be effective. Any edges or corners will reduce the rope's strength in proportion to the sharpness of the bend. Eliminate all edges with padding.

Because this hitch places a rotational pull on the anchor, be sure to evaluate the anchor point before using this hitch. Tie a Figure 8 Loop in the end and clip onto the main line as a safety knot for this hitch. 

All anchors whether they are for belaying, top roping, or rappelling should adhere to the concept of S.R.E.N.E.

Strong: Good anchor systems are built off of solid components, such as a good bolt, stout tree or immobile boulder. Well placed trad gear is perfectly acceptable.

Redundant: Anchor systems must be constructed of multiple components so that if any one component fails, the anchor will not fail.

Equalized: Building an anchor system so that the load is shared by all of the components decreases the chance that any one component will fail.

No Extension: If a component does fail, the anchor system should be constructed so that the remaining components are not shock loaded.

Typical climbing anchors are:

Equalizing anchors correctly reduces the potential load on each anchor by distributing the weight. This is a very useful tool, making two equalized anchors far superior too two anchors set in series. Two anchors that by themselves may not hold much of a fall, when combined correctly may well be stronger.

However, when equalizing anchors you should NOT spread them too far apart or the concept of equalization will actually work against you rather than for you. The diagram below shows that the reliability of the anchors decreases the wider they are spread apart. 

With the anchors set 160 degrees apart the load on each anchor jumps to 290% meaning that in the above example of an 80kg load, each anchor is actually taking a huge 232kgs! Also with widely spread anchors, slung in the fashion shown above, you are loading the carabiner poorly. I believe the term is tri-axle loading. As a general rule, try not to spread your anchors wider than 90 degrees. 

Webbing makes great anchors. It is light to carry, cheaper than rope and very strong.

American Triangle Rather than distributing the load between the two bolts, this setup actually puts greater force on each of the bolts because of the mechanics of the triangle. Doubt it? Get out your calculator, physics and trigonometry book, and look of the chapter on vectors.
What's wrong with this anchor? What will happen if one of the bolts or carabiners clipped to the bolts fail? What will happen if the webbing fails?
Twist and Clip By twisting and clipping, the rope's carabiners are clipped into the loop of the webbing so that if one of the bolts fails, at least the loop will catch the rope.
Will this anchor extend if one of the bolts or carabiners fail? How far? What happens if the webbing is cut by a sharp rock?
Self-Equalizing Anchor 1. In this setup the anchor will equalize in a variety of positions with out having to be retied
Extension! If one of the bolts or carabiners fail, the loop will catch the rope, but notice the extension that will severely shock load the remaining components of the system.
If you tie an overhand knot in the webbing before clipping it the anchor it will still self- equalize, but won't extend as far as in the preceding example. Furthermore, if you tie off both pieces of webbing you create redundancy because if the webbing is cut in one spot, the knots keep the anchor intact.
Self-Equalizing anchor tied off to minimize extension.
Mmmm....don't have enough carabiners, what to do? (buy some more!) Girth hitching the bolt as in this picture reduces the risk that it will slide across the sharp edge of the bolt. Maybe OK for rappelling, but DO NOT belay or top rope off of such a setup! Is this anchor system redundant?
Position Equalized Anchor A quick way to equalize an anchor in a single position is to tie off the entire bunch of webbing with an overhand or figure eight (easier to untie after loading).
With this configuration the anchor doesn't extend very much at all should one of the bolts or carabiners fail.
Cordelettes and Webolettes are great for building anchors too. You can build position or self-equalizing anchors just as with webbing. Create a loop by tying the ends together with a double fisherman's or figure 8 follow through, which is easier to untie after loading.
With a long Cordelette or Webolette you can equalize multiple anchor points, such as in this position equalized anchor.

Attach the rope to the system with two carabiners for redundancy. Constructed properly, the anchor system will hang the biners over the edge and not be hitting against the rock which may open the gates. Always clip the carabiners so that the gates are opposite and opposed. Lockers are preferable, but as long as two carabiners are used, they are not required.

A. These biners are neither opposite nor opposed. It is possible that they could hit on the rock and open simultaneously, significantly decreasing their strength or allowing the rope to pop out.
B. These biners are opposite. Biners that are opposite are less likely to open simultaneously if they slap on the rock, but one of the biners could rotate 180 degrees and you would end up with the situation pictured in A. above.
C. These biners are opposed, but not opposite. The rope is unlikely to slide out in this configuration, but like in A. above, if they hit on the rock and both gates are pushed open, they are significantly weaker than when they are closed.
D. These biners are opposite and opposed. This is the best what to set up your biners, way to go!

Its time to retreat on rappel and you don't want to leave any gear behind. You might have to make a choice between your life or your wallet; personally I'd rather be poor than dead.

Bad Idea. This setup creates the dreaded American triangle and the rope will probably be really hard to retrieve because of the friction as it runs through the sharp bolts.
There are at least two problems with this set up. What happens when one of the bolts or a single chain link fails? What angle does the chain make between the bolts. Is the load shared or magnified?
Better! (the rope is threaded through two separate links of the chain and the angle is improved). And this rope will be much easier to retrieve.
Okay, you've got a better angle to split the load, but its not redundant because the entire system fails if the webbing breaks or one of the bolts fail.
Better. Two pieces of webbing, equalized. You might end up with a lot of friction when you pull the rope through that much webbing. It might make it easier to retrieve if you tie in a rappel ring. Costs a little more, but hey, you're worth it baby!

Credit for photos and some descriptions go to:

http://www.rescue70.org/roperes.htm

http://www.chockstone.org

http://www.rockclimbing.com

http://www.ruckus.org

Good climbing books to read:

How to Rock Climb - Falcon Series

Freedom of the Hills

Climbing Anchors by John Long

More Climbing anchors by John Long

Complete Rope Techniques

Miscellaneous disclaimer: Any sport that involves height and trusting of gear can get you killed. In climbing you can do everything right and still end up dead. We take all necessary precautions to ensure everyone has a great and fun time. The reality is that your way more likely to get hurt falling down your stairs than climbing. Ultimately responsibility for going on these trips is up to the participant.

Climbing References

http://www.chauvinguides.com/Anchoring.PDF < - Good reference on setting single and multiple pitch anchors.

http://www.gunks.com/index.php?pageid=205&pagenum=1& smGroup=2&smID=4 <- Good reference on rope management. While not immediately a safety issue it is a good practice to learn as poor rope management can lead to bad situations.