Taken from “Today’s nominees for the Worst Toprope Anchor Ever,” posted Oct 25, 2014 on dumbanchors.blogspot.com. Photo: John Gregory
Hat tip to John Gregory, the “Mayor of Carderock,” for showing us what not to do through photos on his DumbAnchors blog.
My new life goal is to not get featured on this blog.
People who climb at Carderock and Great Falls know that the locals expect that top ropes will be set using static rope tied with bowline hitches to two natural anchors. These can be either trees or preferably, boulders, to reduce wear on the remaining trees. This is a variant of the classic “Joshua tree” setup and is optimal in both safety and materials efficiency.
Derek Braun 