Climbing anchors

After belaying, anchor building is the most fundamental climbing system. In this class we’ll dive deep into principles of anchor building and the different forces applied to anchors in various scenarios like a lead fall, top rope fall, rappel, or hauling.

Anchor building usually involves evaluating tradeoffs — timeliness vs strength, equalization vs extension, and so on. These tradeoffs mean that there isn’t a “best” anchor that’s appropriate for all situations. We’ll teach you strategies for evaluating an anchor along all dimensions and give you the tools needed to build the right anchor for a given situation. There will be plenty of hands-on anchor building practice in this class.

Required equipment: Harness, helmet. Rentals available for $10/person (select the rental package at checkout).

Optional equipment: Cams, nuts, slings, cordelette