Posted by jimjuliem on 7/1/2008
We were at Exit 38 (a rather large and varied Western Washington sport climbing area) in the Interstate Park area doing some of the sport routes there. At the top we always found two chains nicely bolted into the rock. But there were no rings that joined the chains like I see elsewhere. The only thing we could think of was to put the rope through both end links of the chains at the middle point of the rope and rap off of that. Is there something we are missing? Is it common to not have a ring joining the two chains? The only other thing I could think of was to tie a short piece of webbing between the two chains, but none of the anchors had any webbing from previous climbers, so I guess that isn't the common practice. JIM
Dr. Goodwack says:
It is normal, and safe, for chains to be configured as you described above. Ok, this is basically how it goes: You are leading, and you are within reach of the chains. Clip a quickdraw to one of the chains, a link or two up from the bottom. Clip your rope in. Repeat on the other chain. But, if you are jibbin', just clip your draw to the bottom link of the chain, as that will be easier than clipping between links, then sort it out later. The basic idea is to clip your draws, daisies, PAS, or whatever between the links, then thread your rope through the bottom links, making sure to tie backup knots in the ends of your rope, and rappel as usual.
woodchuck07 says:
Yep. Dr. G-Wack has it. Takes a bit of time when first done. Most make mistake of clipping in desperately to lowest link, then have a mess to fix with ropes and body weight all trying to share the same space. Don't forget to tie a big bight of rope off to your harness before you untie yourself to pass the rope. Nothing sucks worse than to be anchored in nicely and then drop your rope with no tie in. Oooops, somebody relead this route please!
jimjuliem says:
Good point Woodchuck! Simple mistakes can lead to dire consequences. In fact we talked about that on top. We were in T-shirts and shorts and our packs were down below and out of reach. It was a remote area and had we dropped the rope there wouldn't have been anyone to lead it back up to us. We would have been there for the night, and it would have been very cold if not fatal, there was certainly no way to down climb.
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