Cordalettes

A piece of gear no climber who ventures out of a gym should be without. A cordalette is simply a large (2.3m) loop of 8mm cord and its function is to equalise two or three pieces of gear to make a bomber anchor. It will turn an otherwise complex and iffy setup into a simple, safe, cliff-tower!   So, you’re on Mt Tibrogargan and you’ve cruised the first pitch of Trojan (72m 13) [see the Featured Route of this issue] to find not a bolt in sight at the belay. The natural pro belay looks quite tricky. You get in your #4 camalot, a #2 cam (both of which are non-textbook placements), and a #4 wire in a slot on the ground. Ordinarily, you might use the rope to tie a figure eight for the two cams (your primary), and then clove hitch the wire. Fine. But what happens when your second greases off, you load the belay, and your cams rip out? You get ripped 50cm forward and shockload your poor #4 wire. What happens? Take two. You arrive at the belay, place the gear and whip out your cordalette – sherrrwing! You clip all three pieces into the loop and pull them together so that each piece now has its own loop (doing so in the anticipated direction of pull – hard to explain, easy in practice).

Now figure eight the three loops together and you have a single tie in point to a 3-way, perfectly equalised anchor. Sweet! This time when your second greases off and those cams start to slip even slightly, the load is transferred elsewhere in the system. You ain’t going nowhere. Above: Why does Pip look so happy? Because she’s hanging off a cordalette of course! The climb is Wasted Days Wasted Nights (75m 15) at The Crown, Urbenville.

Pros: (1) Maximises strength and redundancy of given anchor by equalisation (2) Fast and simple to set up (you’ll be the envy of all your friends) (3) Single tie-in point (maximises belay simplicity and therefore safety) (4) Cheap (5) Light to carry Cons: (1) Only convenient for equalising two or three pieces (although more can be incorporated as failsafes) (2) The individual pieces can’t be too far away from each other (although you can sling them) (3) You must be carrying it to use it! (make sure the party has two on multipitches) You want one? Here’s what to buy: 485cm x 8mm cord to make a cordalette with 235cm loop length.   You can find more information about cordalettes in your local library. Hmm, actually, save some time and have a flick through John Long’s “Climbing Anchors” instead. You can also order the book online and check out reviews of it here.