In the Pines ledge anchor re-work

A couple weeks ago I was on the In the Pines ledge belaying the SLF and was looking at this anchor. The single quick-link is always a frustration to me because I’ve had bad experiences with my rope getting kinked as it forces the rope to move unnaturally. These are stainless hangers and these are cheap hardware store plated links. My guess is this is galvanic corrosion at work as the plated steel is the preferred material to corrode in this setup.

So today I decided to re-work things a bit. Below are the photos, before and after. I replaced the hardware store links with UIAA/CE rated stainless steel 10mm links and stainless steel rap rings. This orientates the rope in the proper plane and will be more sustainable than a fixed link that can’t spin. That said, I don’t think this is really a concern on this route.

Even with this upgrade, this anchor is still not ideal. The bolt on the right is poorly placed for the direction of pull and becomes barely loaded during a rappel. All it gets is a constant load/unload cycle being pulled to the left which contributes to loosening the bolt; hence why that hanger is loose. What needs to happen is that bolt needs to be moved up to be properly orientated.