How to Setup a Top Rope Outside

This video shows how to setup a top rope system outside and also how to clean anchors after climbing. Rappelling is also highlighted. This is great for new climbers who want to start climbing outside. Rock climbing is inherently dangerous but this video shows how to minimize risks when climbing.
#climbing #rockclimbing #toprope

[@jeffreyschmidt3997]

So clearly explained. Really safe. You have a friendly voice and a great cadence. Thanks for putting out such fantastic content!

[@sanhanma8881]

Amazing video series, I am new to climbing/rappel world(only have 3 month experience). Besides the sports themselves, setting up and building system are also lots of fun, I am so lucky that I found your videos at the very beginning stage. I now understand not only how to build them, but also why we are building them this way! Thanks a lot and will continue learning from you.

[@summitseekersexperience]

Sweet, hope you get a lot out of the content.

[@brookebeddow9716]

This is a great video. I appreciate how thorough you are in explaining the two cleaning techniques!

[@ericbaggen9962]

At 2:20, you specifically mention using 2 non locking carabiners when attaching the quad to the anchor bolts. Why non locking instead of locking? Just for convenience or weight reduction? Or is there another reason?

[@jettbaldwin7040]

I’m also curious

[@kylegarbs374]

Best climbing tutorials out there by miles. Thanks!!

[@johnbragg127]

This was amazing pal thank you new to rock-climbing from the uk just doing inside stuff now but your vids are giving me the confidence to try out side

[@paulmorin2582]

Your content and teaching style are excellent. Thanks!

[@summitseekersexperience]

For sure!! thanks for the compliment

[@robingranlof8042]

Hi! Love your videos! Thank you for your time and effort doing them! //Robin from north of sweden

[@timesvideoproduction3833]

Your videos have been so helpful in getting the necessary info to practice with! No one on youtube has such complete and clear information as you, thanks so much!! One question I do have is if your rappel rings are spaced as far apart as they are in the video (looks about 3-4in when weighted) would rappelling be preferred over belaying in order to prevent significant rope twist? (assuming the climber is proficient in cleaning/rappelling) I've seen videos where the rings are about that far apart, the climber gets belayed down after cleaning, and then the rope is a coiled and twisted mess after it comes down. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

[@summitseekersexperience]

Thanks for the compliment. I would recommend if one feels completely confident in rappelling and is using third hand back up so you are essentially always redundant then I'd recommend that. I hate rope twists. That said, if for any reason someone is uncomfortable with rapping, I'd say just do the lower and pull the rope through the long way to try and relieve some of the twists.

[@mabaker013]

Love the use of your Skillzboard.

[@skillzboard6330]

We do too!

[@summitseekersexperience]

Love it!

[@DVMCellini]

Super helpful

[@JustJo647]

So useful!

[@majkelb3057]

Great, next video to learn something :)

[@andydufresne2818]

Great instruction.

[@summitseekersexperience]

Thank you!

[@Joni_I]

💪 very well explained

[@summitseekersexperience]

🙌🙌

[@bloodmonk125]

Love your videos! Been so nice going through them for good refresher info on stuff. One thing I think might be missing from this video is what to do if you can’t feed a bight through the chains at the top. What I’ve done is usually pull some slack and tie a knot and clip it to my harness, untie the figure 8, feed the end of the rope through the chains and re-tie the figure 8 back onto my harness. Then just undo the knot holding the extra rope up and you should be good to clean and lower. Does that all sound correct?

[@summitseekersexperience]

Yep, that's perfect, maybe we'll highlight that in a future video.

[@Beech1900pilot]

I'm new to all this but have taken an anchoring workshop with an AMGA mountain guide. Your videos are great for review and also for exploring new content. I'm curious why non-locking carabiners for clipping quad to bolt hangars (as opposed to locking)? Would it not add additional safety?

[@summitseekersexperience]

The guidance from the AMGA website and what we’ve been taught in our training is that if just you and a couple climbers will be on the route, then non-lockers are fine. If the group is larger (think like a boy scout group), then you would utilize locking carabiners. A lot of it is situational and judging risk and if it's necessary.

[@GeorgiKarabonev]

Hi! Is it possible to use the quad anchor as a rappel extended rappel system?

[@kylenav1]

Do you have opinion for the top rope anchor being a static lanyard vs dynamic cordlette tied with double fisherman's? Does it make difference ?

[@summitseekersexperience]

Thanks for the question, I assume you are talking about the material utilized for the top rope masterpoint when you say "lanyard". Normally I would recommend trying to utilize static material for making an anchor system with a master point, however, climbing rope can be utilized as an alternative when other material is not available... but I wouldn't make a habit out of it.

[@kylenav1]

Yeah I meant sling vs lanyard. Does your answer also apply to a trad anchor or would that change?

[@summitseekersexperience]

@@kylenav1 I would still try to use static material if possible.

[@paulhyland7637]

at 15:20 i'd leave the loop on the atc attached to the locker whilst feeding the rope into it, avoiding any fumbles and dropping the ATC. i know and learned this my own mistake the hard way!!!

[@summitseekersexperience]

This was one of my early early videos. In some of my more recent videos dealing with multipitch settings, I make this clarification. Good point.

[@Tman94]

Where did you get your anchor bored in your videos? Or do you make it?

[@summitseekersexperience]

@skillzboard skillzboard.com/

[@ferrismac]

Can you tell me about our quad anchor material and size? Is it dyneema/dynex sling? Is it 240 cm? Also, what is your third hand? Is it aka a prusik knot?

[@summitseekersexperience]

Quad is 240 dyneema. Third hand is NOT a prusik knot but similar, it is called an "autoblock".

[@ferrismac]

@@summitseekersexperience Awesome! Thanks for the info. Can you tell me about your preference between using nylon slings vs. dyneema/dynex as top rope anchors?

[@summitseekersexperience]

@@ferrismac Dyneema for quads are normally what I prefer because they are light. For a single masterpoint sling, I prefer a 120cm nylon sling because it is easier to untie than the dyneema ones in that application.

[@KennyFontan]

Perfect! Thank you! The only thing missing for me is most two bolt anchors are at a cliff edge so how to safely anchor before getting to work on your top rope, also the process of tying in and throwing the rope down wasn't mentioned, i'm assuming you should do that after setting up a PAS, then tie in and then throw it down, because if not the weight of the rope might pull you over lol let me know if that sounds right?

[@summitseekersexperience]

Hey Kenny, It sounds like you need a video on how to set-up a top rope anchor from above. This video highlighted how to set it up from below (hence climbing up to the top). I should be able to make a video on that in a few weeks as it is a little more involved and I'll need to do it at the crag instead of my front yard. Short answer to your questions is don't do ANYTHING until you have tied yourself in safe with a PAS.

[@KennyFontan]

@@summitseekersexperience exactly I'll be hiking up not leading to set the anchor, I have a good idea how to do this just wanted a good video that showed everything and couldn't find it all to show my partner as well. Appreciate all your help! And yes some people mention using cord to anchor to a tree first for edges safety first if possible if not going straight into the edge bolts with the PAS first

[@KennyFontan]

But again thank you having that video will really help with the logistics as well as knowing all the gear to buy. The top ropes aren’t already set up like in the gym unfortunately 😅

[@summitseekersexperience]

@@KennyFontan No worries, man, we'll get one like that up soon. Those are fun to do also.

[@johnmartin4427]

Why do you use non-locking carabiners at the top of quad? Would locking carabiners be safer?

[@summitseekersexperience]

The guidance from the AMGA website and what we’ve been taught in our training is that if just you and a couple climbers will be on the route, then non-lockers are fine. If the group is larger (think like a boy scout group), then you would utilize locking carabiners.

[@henleymarshall]

​@@summitseekersexperience is the throught behind using non-lockers at the hangers with a few climbers is that the anchor will be weighted by the climbing rope and be very unlikely for the anchor to hop and move and thus the carabiners being unlikely to open the gates and hop off the hanger? and with a larger group, the lockers are because you have more people meaning more traffic and more possibilities for those unlikely scenarios to happen, even though still unlikely as well as longer sessions and less time with sight on the anchor? really enjoying the videos, I've been leading a handful of sport routes the past month, and I really liked your trad rack video as i am piecing my rack together and getting ready for trad!

[@summitseekersexperience]

@@henleymarshall Yeah exactly, more climbers equals more risk since you won't see the anchors for a while and the system is getting more reps, so just beef up the system a bit with some lockers. Good luck on getting into trad! It opens up a whole new world!

[@allisonbiek2986]

At 1:11 could those carabiners be wire gate? what is the rationale behind a locking carabiner?

[@79istp]

Glad you didn't edit out the dropped biner. Good to be reminded that even pros make mistakes. But why didn't you yell rock?! :)

[@summitseekersexperience]

lol

[@daviewavie112]

Why non lockers on the bolt hangers?

[@rockklimber]

Why are the load limiter knots so high?

[@summitseekersexperience]

Depends on the size of the masterpoint and equalizing ability you want and the amount of potential shock load you are willing to risk. At the end of the day, it's a case by case scenario on how high you make them. In this video, main goal was to just show the setup.

[@jordandobson4558]

Can you not just repel with the grigri or no?

[@Bobleverone]

Front Yard Mountain?

[@summitseekersexperience]

A mountain everyone can top ;-)

[@Putzinator]

So at 6:55 instead of feeding the bight through why can't you just untie the figure 8 and feed it through the bolts, then retie it like normal to your harness? You could even grab some extra rope like at 10:45 as to not drop the rope and lose it. But I mean if you're anchored in to your PAS why not just untie the rope and keep it simple? Then you would still have a top rope anchor through the bolts and the belayer can lower you and pull the rope through after...?

[@Putzinator]

Thinking about this a bit more; is it just for redundancy? Let's say the PAS is 1 safety point of contact, the rope being the 2nd point. Undoing the rope like I mentioned above would leave you with only 1 safety point and therefor a bit more dangerous?

[@steventhaw3765]

The SAFEST way to clean a top rope anchor: Instead of tying slack line to gear loop, tie rope to belay loop with locking carabiner! Redundancy! Never untie completely from rope! Refer to Dale Remsberg AMGA for the SAFE way to clean top rope anchors video! CLOVE HITCH for all anchor points and the masterpoint!!! Every knot weakens the system by 50%! And Refer to Brent Peters ACMG "Clove Hitch for Anchors" videos! Lowering down is recommended instead of rappelling!

[@rockklimber]

The height of the load limiter knots looks pretty extreme. Cant imagine a scenario where you would ever need a toprope anchor that equalizes at a more than 45deg angle to the side. If you’re going to teach it for the world to see you should at least teach it correctly. Newbies dont have the knowledge to discern how to do it correctly and are prone to just duplicate whatever they see online. Better to start them off with the correct setup. Also, if this is a toprope anchor its better to use lockers up top. The likelihood of failure is low but from 60+ feet down you cant see if a carabiner gets flipped and crossloaded while flipping ropes around. Lockers would be a better solution for newbies.