Photos by Shan

Well, the timing was perfect on this one.  While waiting in line for some tacos (very long wait, but very well worth it!), I met some awesome climbers.  Our conversation was directly related to last weekends adventure climbing with the adaptive climbing group and seeing how everyone was setting these days.

Like I mentioned somewhere below, I did not see a lot of webbing being used.  Saw a lot of static lines.  One method I learned years ago, was to bring a lot of webbing to tie anchors (from cracks and trees).  This always seemed to take a long time and kind of limited the desire to climb.  Equalizing the legs of webbing worked (I think), but took a little time, and needed a lot of adjusting.  The method for adjusting seemed somewhat particular, and only few people that I knew felt confident in doing it. 

It was a very good learning experience and I'm very thankful for those who taught it.  But it just took so long...

Anyway, we discussed how we used to use the SERENE & (ERNEST) methods when building anchors 

S: Solid or strong
E: Equalized
R: Redundant
E: Efficient
N: No
E: Extension

E: Equalized
R: Redundant
N: No
E: Extension
S: Solid or strong
T: Timely

Now, don't get me wrong.  I love these acronyms.  They are simple, very easy to understand, and are definelty good things to consider when building anchors.

But there seemed to be a newer acronym called FEMA.  I did some looking around and found out more about it.  Might be new, might be old?  I found a post from 9yrs. ago that talked about it.

So, from what I gather, FEMA stands for:

F: Fixed Leg
E: Emergency Knot
M: Masterpoint
A: Adjustable Point

Heres a breakdown:

F = Fixed leg, this goes to the most bomber of your anchors.  Tie a bowline around something super stable (tree, boulder, etc).

E = Emergency Knot, ie. alpine butterfly from original leg... Gives you close proximity to the edge to be able to work on your masterpoint.

(I did see this being used various times)

M = Masterpoint, a lot of people tie the BHK (redundant, and easy to untie).

A = Adjustable Point, the second leg (after your BHK) usually attached to another bomber anchor with an adjustable clove hitch.

Using static line, you can incorporate this acronym to build your anchor.

...More to come.

Part 2.

Now, I've also seen a mention of FEMA meaning this:

F: (High) Friction
E: Equalized
M: Multidirectional
A: Angle

So, my question is this... What do you use?  

As its states in a lot of books... No two anchors are the same - so its not always a one size fits all technique when setting anchors.

I took an anchor building class, one time, and the lead instructor made it very clear that theres no acronym that will make your anchors safe...  Its up to YOU to make your anchors safe.  You have to try things out, have them work, and have them fail to be able to be a confident anchor setter.

All in all, there are some key concepts to keep in mind when building an anchor.  Sure, you can use an acronym, sure you can have a checklist... In the end, it really comes down to the moment you are setting and what you have (gear-wise, knowledge-wise, terrain-wise, and time-wise...)

In my own experience, people are somewhat set it their ways, and often favor the way they were taught, or know how to do it one way, and don't feel that awesome about straying from what they know.  There are exceptions, for sure...

So, what do you use?