"Retrievable Anchors" are those where the webbing used to form an anchor is retrieved, leaving nothing
behind. There are several good reasons for doing this including:
- leaving no trash behind in the canyon is elegant;
- in places where the anchor sling is visible to hikers, removing it is generally a good idea to decrease the visual impact - and in many places is good to avoid the potential wrath of land managers.
- a retrievable anchor may be a good way to conserve anchor materials.
Of the many ways to retrieve anchor materials, this is the simplest and safest method. This is called a "3X" solution, as it requires three times the length of the rappel in rope/pull cord.
[A]. Make a 2-ring sling: tie a sling with a ring on each end. It can be single strand or double strand, long or short. It can be a good idea to use aluminum rings or rapid links, so that they hurt less when they fall on your head.
[B]. Locate an anchor that is strong, well-positioned, and where the sling, when pulled, will not get caught. It may be helpful to fill in spaces with sand, dirt or rocks to improve the smoothness of the pull.
[C]. Put your sling around the tree. Load your rope into both rings, and set the rope length for a single-line/blocked rappel, or a simple double-line rappel.
[D]. Tie a pull cord to one side of the sling. It is best not to tie the pull cord to the ring, as it may tangle with the rappel rope.
[E]. Everone rappels using the rappel strands.
[F]. Retrieve the rappel rope.
[G]. Retrieve the sling, using the pull cord.
For other situations, there are other methods that might work better - but this is the most basic, and most useful, retrievable anchor.
