Alpine anchor building seminar
On August 19th, 2023, I instructed a one-day anchor building seminar for some young climbers, one of whom I had skied with on a ski mountaineering trip to Norway’s Lyngen Alps in May, 2022. It was a hot day, and we chased the shade in Boulder Canyon while building all kinds of anchors, focusing on efficiency.
Building an anchor from three pitons, something you might encounter when rappelling in the alpine.
These guys are advanced mountain athletes, and wanted skills for building rappel anchors while ski mountaineering, as well as for multi-pitch trad climbing and alpine rock climbing. The good new is that the principles of anchor building are the same, whether you are rappelling into a couloir with your skis on your backpack, or climbing a multi-pitch trad route in the middle of the summer.
Rappelling from an anchor while skiing the Notch Couloir on Longs Peak, Rocky Mountain National Park
After covering the basics of anchor building and the most commonly used gear, including cams and nuts, we also covered the dying art of piton placement. Pitons are still a great tool for building anchors in the alpine, especially when small cracks are the only options, and when you want to leave gear behind and establish a long-term rappel anchor.
Hammering a piton into rock while building an alpine anchor
After much practice building alpine anchors from all sorts of gear, the guys put their skills to the test while leading a multi-pitch trad climb, building strong anchors after each pitch, and belaying each other up. From the top, we made two rappels back to the ground after building suitable rappel anchors.
A simple alpine rappel anchor, built with two pitons and a short length of accessory cord.
It only takes a day of focused instruction and practice to gain the skills necessary to build your own traditional anchors for alpine climbing and ski mountaineering.
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