Mind the Carabiner Gate There Ice Climber

Oops! Check out what can happen if the crank handle on our Grivel 360 ice screw whips around into the gate of the carabiner we’ve got clipped into our ice screw. Kinda scary, eh? Yeah, I thought so too. The screw crank has cleverly opened the carabiner gate! Yikes! Don’t want to be taking a whipper on that thing, that’s for sure.

Here’s a close up for greater horrorshow.

Grivel-360-Ice Screw-Crank Close-up

My buddy Terry Brenneman took these photos while cleaning an ice climbing lead in the lower Ouray Ice Park. Before you freak out, assuming you climb with Grivel 360 ice screws, Terry suggests this might have been an early design flaw that’s since been remedied. “All my other Grivel 360s have a crank handle pivot which binds throughout its range and doesn’t flop around (see photo below),” he noted.

Current Grivel-360-Crank-Design left, Scary version on right.

As you can see, the current 360 (on the left) has this triangular bend in the crank handle wire to keep it from flopping about. The Grivel 360 Jive-Ass Edition® (on the right) doesn’t have it. It’s got some other sort of wire bend at the end.

Terry explains, “I suspect the rogue screw is an obsolete desipgn which made it onto the retail floor (purchased around 2007 but it was a good deal!). Don’t need this false protection jive-assery on my rack.” And how!

Something to keep an eye out for. Has anyone had something like this happen?

Climb safe out there kids. Ice climbing is hazardous!

Location: Ouray Ice Park, Ouray, Colorado, USA

 

 

Homage to Rube Goldberg: An Ice Anchor

Jive-Ass Ice Anchor

Wow! Where do I even begin with this Rube Goldberg contraption? This Ultra-Jive-Ass Ice Anchor was submitted by Ryan Cupp, who is proving to be expert at finding jive-ass anchors. If we could issue tickets for every anchor building best practice violation, this anchor would cost a fortune.

I think a ‘laundry list’ is in order for this one, so let’s count them off:

1. First, there’s the matter of the daisy chain personal protection leash (designed for aid climbing, not personal pro). It’s clipped in short to one of the ice screws, and the carabiner at the end if it–the one you usually use to clip yourself to the anchor for personal protection–is the power point of the freakin’ anchor! The belayer has thus trapped himself in the system. Short of cutting his leash, there is no way to escape the belay without un-weighting the anchor and at least partially disassembling it.
2. The left ice screw is slung with part of a quick draw. It’s not clipped to the screw with a carabiner to ensure it won’t fall off. The sling is simply, well, slung onto the shaft of the ice screw. It’s not even girth hitched to the shaft to keep it from potentially falling off. Scary.
3. Finally, look at that sling that joins the two screws into a power point. It is not redundant. Had he put a twist in one of the strands at the power point he’d at least have a sliding x. As it is, if one end of that sling comes lose (see issue #2 above), the whole system fails.

This thing is pretty sketchy. Whomever built it should really go get some instruction on anchor building. John Long’s classic Climbing Anchors isn’t a bad place to start. While it primarily addresses rock anchors, the principles are the same for ice anchors.

Nice use of a plaquette device (old school Petzel Reverso) though.

Location: Mt. Hood, Oregon, USA