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Lowering a lead climber from an anchor

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Revision as of 16:38, 2 November 2025 by Karl (talk | contribs) (→Lowering directly from bolts or fixed ring: - minor flow fix)

This method is used for removing gear from a sport anchor, with a subsequent lowering of the lead climber. An alternative is to abseil from an anchor. For routes with no fixed protection at the anchor point (trad), you have either to leave some gear behind, or where it is appropriate and reasonably safe, use for example abseil with an equivocation hitch.

Lowering from a pre-built sport anchor

Preparation for lowering generally consists of five steps:

  • Making a temporary tie-in in a middle of a rope to free the rope end without loosing the rope
  • Removing the original tie-in
  • Threading the rope end through the anchor
  • Retying to the rope end
  • Safety check and cleaning up

Find below a brief description of a method which works for all discussed cases. If you need more insight for any of the steps, check the detailed description.

Lowering from a pre-built sport anchor - quick method

This method can be used if the anchor is equipped by a rappel ring, or if the bolts or maillons are big enough. This method have two variations - either you get lowered on a Figure 8 clipped through the carabiner as depicted below,[1] or you re-tie to the end of the rope in similar fashion as described in the chapter above. If you decide to leave a long slack, be mindful of its placement. Either wrap it around the rope just in front of the Figure 8, or put it over one shoulder, or clip it to your harness. Having a slack around your neck leads to a risk of a potentially fatal injury.[2]

  • Grab a bight of the rope and pull approximately two meters of slack through the rappel ring (1)
  • Tie a Figure 8 on a bight on it (2)
  • Clip the Figure 8 to your harness belay loop (3)
  • Inspect the tie-in (4)
  • Completely untie the Figure 8 which is directly at your harness (5)
  • Remove the toprope carabiners (6) and pull the loose rope strand out of the rappel ring (7)
  • To test the system, ask your belayer for a block (8)
  • Before committing to the system, check once more that you are truly hanging in the rope which is threaded through the rappel ring (9,10)
  • After you inspected and tested that the setup is safe, you can remove the rest of the gear from the anchor (11,12)
  • And you are safe to get lowered (13)

Lowering from bolts with maillons

Lowering from maillons is analogous to the lowering from a pre-built sport anchor, except that you thread the rope through the maillons instead of the rappel ring. To ensure redundancy, you must thread the rope through both maillons, as there is no chain connecting the bolts. The quick method can be used only if the maillons are big enough, othewise it quickly becomes cumbersome.

  • Thread the rope through the maillons. Both maillons should be threaded in the same way - either in->out, or out->in
  • Once the maillons are threaded, you continue as in the method with the rappel ring by tying in by a Figure 8, the rest of the steps is analogous

Lowering directly from bolts or fixed ring

This method is forbidden by climbing associations in some countries and places.[3] The ban is due to an increased bolts and fixed rings abrasion which leads to unnecessary and undesired shortening of the material replacement cycles. For example at traditional sandstone routes which are (due to a tradition) almost exclusively equipped with fixed rings, it would mean additional drilling into a rock which is often protected by a law due to nature preservation for further generations.[4] In addition, this method cannot be used for lowering directly from hanger plates as the friction over the plates edges would severely damage the rope.

The method is very similar to the method with maillons, only the rope is in this case threaded directly through the bolts.

Step by step detailed descriptions

Lowering from a pre-built sport anchor - detailed description

References

  1. ↑ Methodická komise ČHS (December 23, 2019). "Zrušení vratného bodu prvolezcem s následným spuštěním" (PDF). horosvaz.cz. Český horolezecký svaz. Retrieved 1 November 2025.
  2. ↑ Fatal injury of a mountain rescue member due to a rope around the neck/shoulders: Turek, Jakub (30 October 2019). "Na Žabím koni zahynul slovenský horolezec (Slovakian climber died on Žabí kůň)". Horydoly.cz. UpDown Media, s.r.o. Archived from the original on 1 December 2022. Retrieved 1 November 2025.
  3. ↑ For example the czech mountaineering association allows abseiling exclusively. For toprope, it explicitly orders to place carabiners into the fixed protection (Article 3, number 4): Výkonný výbor ČHS (June 12, 2020). "Pravidla lezení ve skalních oblastech ČR" (PDF). horosvaz.cz. Český horolezecký svaz. Retrieved 1 November 2025.
  4. ↑ Kublák, Tomáš. "Horní jištění". Horolezeckametodika.cz. HOROLEZECKÁ METODIKA. Archived from the original on 5 March 2024. Retrieved 1 November 2025.
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