Today's Special: Phoney Guide $100.

 

Tiny nuts, carabiner gate down...

Way far away from he anchor.

In the parking lot, really?

The climbing rope is dragging over the face below. When the black rope tightens it rubs the lighter colored rope on the ropes below.

Bad habits lead to worse.

Stuff is piling up on the bulletin board. The shoes have been there for three weeks.

The AMGA came up with a "High re-direct" anchor to make rappel anchors comfortable despite pretty much defying the laws of physics. They are happy to rip trees out of the ground with the leverage of the tree. Now we see the "High just direct",no attempt at mitigation, just pure leverage on the tree.

 

Sometimes more is less.

A serious contender for strangest thing seen in an anchor. Could you just tie the webbing together? Yes, that is a double gated carabiner.

The whole mess ends up with cross loaded anchors.

Hardware is never a good idea at Carderock.

 

The latest bad idea.

 To deal with someone's angst, why not put everyone at risk?

The dead tree calls.

 

They can't resist the dead tree.

The girth hitch on rope and webbing isn't great, dragging it right over the rock is a concern.

Shiny new gear day at Carderock.

When you have a shiny new quickdraw, you must use it.

Sling the tiny block, and the refrigerator-sized one, note how precariously it balances.

If the enormous tree fails, they have slung the entire top of the crag.

 

"This tree's not dead, it's just resting."

With apologies to Monty Python, the yellow paint is an NPS mark indicating the tree is dead and selected for cutting. Note the bowline with no stopper knot. That rope is about to slip off the ledge. When the climber got up there, he opted to go over the top rather than lower.

 

Don't buy crap on the Internet.

Single strand webbing and 6MM cord as anchors.

An unstable clove hitch in 7MM cord, four feet up the tree.

Same thing, note the eye at the end of the rope. This rope is not certified for climbing use. This is cheap crap off the Internet. Amazon doesn't care, somebody just wants your money. Both anchors were sawing away on the cliff edge

Padding the trees and rock edges is a great idea. Buying all the teal blue bath mats to do it is a bold esthetic choice.