Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - General Discussion

General Climbing Discussion

Topic Date User

Rappel Station set up 16-Jun-2019 At 10:15:52 PM One Day Hero

Message

On 16-Jun-2019 bagotup wrote:
>Mikl has an interesting idea in his 2011 Bolting Guide where U bolts are
>placed horizontally at a rap station.

There's no point in the top bolt being horizontal. Just put it in vertically and chuck a mallion and rap ring on it. The lower bolt needs to either be horizontal or have it's own mallion to let the rope run straight through).

>For me, this setup needs lots of holes in the rock and is not equalised.
>Some links of chain off the top U bolt could fix the equalisation issue.

Equalization doesn't matter. Loweroffs will never be loaded past 3kN and a U bolt probably holds 30kN. The second one is just backup in case you fuched up placing the first one.

>By this stage the set up may start looking a bit odd though, and the cost
>is passing the $20 mark if you use the cheaper gal chain & shackle.

Welcome to the reality of establishing routes with proper hardware. It's fuching expensive, so make sure the climb is good enough to be worth it.

>Is there any other safe, price friendly rap station set ups out there
>climbers are happy enough to use?

Nope. In hard rock you can use expansion bolts and those Fixe hangers with captive rap rings. In soft rock, the standard is U bolts or ring bolts with mallions and rap rings as needed to prevent wear. Either way will be more than twenty bucks.

Why would you install gal hardware in 2019? If it's worth bolting, it's worth full stainless so that some sucker doesn't have to go back in 2035 to fix your shoddy work.