4

I'm just getting into climbing, and I have to say I still find it hard to trust the equipment, bolts etc sometimes (even though I know accidents with that are really rare.). Anyway, I try to understand as much of what is going on, to be able to better judge situations, and wether I feel comfortable about them.

So I went climbing with a friend of mine the other day. And To be able to toprope two different routes that where next to each other he set the diversion up like in the scenario B I sketched in the attached image.

Now, I somehow feel like that will put hella stress on the rope, and possible on the anchors, because the rope is running (almost) horizontally for a few meters. I'm not sure if that's right, though.

Is it a similar scenario force-wise as in the 3rd pictures on Ben's answer on this post: Why should the angle in a rope attached to two anchors be 60 degrees or less? ?

Can anyone tell me what the forces are on the rope and the anchors in the 3 different scenarios I sketched?

Thanks! Diclofenac

enter image description here

What is wrong with my line of thinking here?

Diclofenac_
  • 141
  • 2

1 Answers1

3

Going around a 90-degree corner will produce a force on the bolt 40% greater than the tension in the rope. (I.e., greater by a factor of the square root of 2.) The force on the anchor will be about the same as if there had not been a 90-degree bend, but it will be slightly less because of friction.

This is nothing to worry about. The forces generated by toproping are much less than the forces generated in a lead fall, which is what these bolts are intended to withstand.