How to Use Existing Bolts While Top Rope Rock Climbing

Video Transcript

"Hi! I’m Bill with Zoar Outdoor here on behalf of expert village.com. We are here today at Chapel Ledges in Ashfield, Massachusetts, the trustees of the reservations property. In this series, we are going to be talking about anchors for top rope rock climbing. So another option for anchoring at the top of the cliff might be bolts. You might be lucky enough to find some nice solid bolts right at the top of the climb you want to do. So they look like this. You’ve got a hole drilled 3 or 4 inches into the rock and expansion bolt with a nut on top and a hanger all made out of stainless steel. What you want to look for is that it doesn’t wiggle, the nuts are solidly on there, there is no shake here and these are relatively new; no rust or anything else. So that is a good solid bolt; attaching to that is pretty simple. Clip the carabiner, attach your sling; there you go. So bolt anchors are convenient and solid. You won’t find them everywhere but when you do, make sure you take a look at it and make sure it is solid and there you go. "