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Rockfall resulting in chopped anchor report 25-Feb-2015 At 10:11:01 AM kieranl

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On 25/02/2015 ajfclark wrote:
>On 25/02/2015 kieranl wrote:
>>I'm utterly bemused by the way this thread keeps coming back to talking
>about the sliding-X, which wasn't even a feature of the incident.
>
>Why?
>
>The thread is about an anchor partially failing because a leg was cut
>and so it seems reasonable that the discussion has moved to what happens
>to anchors when a leg is cut. Sliding x probably gets more air time because
>it does more in the same situation.

That's where I think it's being misinterpreted, confusing cause and effect. The cause of the incident was that the anchor was exposed to rockfall, it wasn't that a leg of the anchor was cut.

So, the important question, as I see it, is how do we avoid a belay being compromised by rockfall? That's a harder question because it's not as simple as deciding which tie-in method to use - it's about being able to evaluate the situation, exercising judgement and then controlling what variables you can.