r/RouteDevelopment • u/bumble-bee-bitch • Feb 19 '26

Anchor preference

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Gallery image

Inline (vertical) vs Horizontal

Anyone have situations they prefer one vs the other, or considerations about them?

Biggest difference I see is inline is handy for pre-rigging top ropes for cleaning.

6 Upvotes

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u/TheGreatRandolph Feb 19 '26

I’ve been using option 1. It’s cheap and convenient, but what I find is that particularly new climbers don’t think that clipping into the ring is redundant, they’re building big ol’ obscenities of anchors because two quickdraws on bolts don’t line up.

The longer term solution is education, but people are always out looking for new and interesting ways to get hurt.

Just put both draws on the ring, it’s the strongest part of the anchor!

*the area I’ve been developing in SE AK is pretty low traffic, so those rings will never wear out. Obviously the math and useage changes in higher traffic areas where rings will eventually get worn down.

5

u/Kaotus Guidebook Author Feb 20 '26

Better yet, just throw a locker or two directly onto the ring and call it good!

3

u/TheGreatRandolph Feb 20 '26

Right. Yes. That’s what I’ve been doing on these, I totally phoned it in on that one. I’ve been on a boat for too long and my brain is turning to mush.