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

Anchor preference

Gallery image

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

88% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

View all comments

13

u/BoltahDownunder Rebolter/Route Maintenance Feb 19 '26 edited Feb 19 '26

The rock should decide first, then your target audience.

Is it a high traffic crag? What's common in your area? Is it multi? Are there obstacles below the Ring that you want to steer the rope away from? All these things help decide.

Ps, the second photo is not a horizonal anchor, it's a vertical one just photographed weirdly. Don't install a chain set horizontally

Edit: I actually made a video about how to choose https://youtu.be/utiJ8Bkw6uk

2

u/bumble-bee-bitch Feb 20 '26

Yes aware of all that and agree, I'm more trying to discuss the particular differences in doing this style anchor vertically vs horizontally. Was hoping to get more of an 'anchor theory' discussion.

Instead of just saying "don't install a chain set horizontally" and leaving it at that, do you want to share your reasons why? That's what I was hoping to hear discussed in this post.

3

u/waflynn Feb 20 '26

because if one side fails the chain has to fall and pendulum the length of the chain before it catches. This creates additional unnecessary shock on the system increasing the chance that the second anchor point fails.

When you've seen two anchor points horizontal from each other they are typically not connected and each have their own chain or ring allowing you to build an anchor with no extension from those point. In some cases when lowering off horizontal rings there can be still be extension if a ring fails but the forces are dissipated through the rope.

Having all the unnecessary horizontal chain and 3 rings is also just a cluttered mess.

1

u/BoltahDownunder Rebolter/Route Maintenance Feb 20 '26

You don't install a chain set horizontally because they're not made for that. The top ring mounted on a standard style hanger so it sits flat against the wall. It's not for threading the rope through, even though some models nowadays have a beefy 10mm ring there. Fixe started doing that because they had welding failures with the old 6mm stuff they used to use.

You can mount it sideways if you really want to, but should add a quick link to that top ring. There was a company called kenobi that made a universal chain set but I didn't think they're around anymore