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How to climb series
Climbing Anchors
Includes complete instructions on placing and configuring solid secure anchors in a variety of situations.
112 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
67 people are currently reading
271 people want to read
About the author
John Long
52 books10 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
John Long is an American rock climber and author.
John Long is an American rock climber and author.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
July 13, 2025
Haven't died yet. There is a stipulation in my will that should I die in a climbing accident, one star be taken off my review.
March 7, 2022
I have been climbing for almost three years. I progressed from top-toping and lead-climbing in the gym to sport climbing on single-pitch sport climbs. Recently, I have been curious about multi-pitch and trad climbing, so I decided to read Climbing Anchors. Long answered all my questions about gear, anchors, and safety systems. Climbing Anchors is an excellent introduction to the broad topics of trad and multi-pitch climbing. Now that I have a solid foundation in anchors, I feel comfortable testing my knowledge at the crag and supplementing my knowledge with other sources.
February 21, 2019
This is a fantastic book to get a hang of the techniques used for multipitch climbing. It covers the main topics in great detail and the included images help in clarifying the ideas explained. Personally, I have learnt a lot from it and it has been useful to solve most of the questions I had about protection placement and building and rigging belay anchor.
It is a great book to keep for reference and, a part from that, I also enjoyed the way it is written.
It is a great book to keep for reference and, a part from that, I also enjoyed the way it is written.
August 9, 2021
A great primer on different types of anchors, their usage, and extensive testing done on them. Overall I thought the book was pretty good on showing different anchors, but goes into little detail, and focuses more on tests done on them, rather then teaching how they're made, you may argue that that's beyond the scope of the book, but the book goes into incredible detail on how to place most common pieces of trad gear.
July 15, 2019
Excellent
An excellent read. Superb flowing, good humoured prose on a subject which should be dear to every climber. My only critique is that the human factors in anchor failures, while constantly alluded to and described was not deemed worthy of a chapter of its own. Excellent writing and I will be reading John Long again.
An excellent read. Superb flowing, good humoured prose on a subject which should be dear to every climber. My only critique is that the human factors in anchor failures, while constantly alluded to and described was not deemed worthy of a chapter of its own. Excellent writing and I will be reading John Long again.
October 11, 2019
Highly recommended!!
Excellent resource for those starting out in outdoor climbing! The information is rich and avoids being “dumbed down” for the newbie, however, plenty of terms are defined and concepts explained to ensure that beginners can follow the authors thought process.
Excellent resource for those starting out in outdoor climbing! The information is rich and avoids being “dumbed down” for the newbie, however, plenty of terms are defined and concepts explained to ensure that beginners can follow the authors thought process.
May 3, 2020
I read this how-to book early on my climbing career, and it has really helped me master basic techniques I still use to this day.
Of particular influence on me was the Sliding X anchor, which I did not know prior to reading this.
John Long is a master of climbing instruction books.
Of particular influence on me was the Sliding X anchor, which I did not know prior to reading this.
John Long is a master of climbing instruction books.
September 10, 2009
Don't leave the ground without it... Stresses safety through a clear approach to the ERNEST fundamentals, and gives dozens of examples of proper and deadly anchors.
December 30, 2018
It took me 4 times to get into it, but was well worth it. Great intro / overview to safe anchor-building for rock climbing. Helped me get more confident in trad leading last summer.
July 5, 2019
Clear and concise - great guide/reference book for those getting into trad.
October 12, 2024
Great collection of information from Long and Gaines on building anchors. I intended to learn a bit more about setting top rope anchors, but walked away with a whole ton of knowledge about trad anchors and Jesus’ nuts… no wait, that can’t be right. The guide includes tons of photographs of bomber and not-so-bomber placements, anchors, and explanations of all the gear you could ever want, plus guiding principles and short physics lessons on directional loads and more. I’d recommend pairing this read with visual resources like Hard Is Easy on YouTube and practicing the knots they’re describing alongside.
July 9, 2024
Very well put together/written, John Long is obviously a very good and very competent climber. Lower rating solely because at the end of the day this is a practical handbook and some of the information is not up to date with modern best practices annd equipment.
April 1, 2021
Back in the day when advanced climbing training was difficult if even possible to find, this book almost certainly saved my and many partners lives with the skills and knowledge found within
January 23, 2016
I thought this was a pretty great book on climbing anchors. I should preface this review by saying I don't have on-the-rock experience with the subject matter nor have I done extensive research on the subject. At the time of reading this book my background in climbing has been limited to single pitch sport climbing and bouldering. I have never needed to setup an anchor or place a piece of gear.
This book starts with an introduction to to anchors and a brief history of rock hardware. The first four chapters cover using natural anchors, types and placement of trad gear, and fixed gear. An explanation of fall forces and the "Jesus Nut" continues the discussion on anchors and is followed by discussions on direction of pull. Next some basic knots are taught.
The second part of the book is all about anchor systems. It covers SRENE anchors and presents using cordelette, sliding x, and equalette methods for setting up a belay anchor. It explains where each one fails the SRENE guidelines and suggests scenarios where each is appropriate. It provides references to studies and suggests more topics to review. The final part of the belay anchor section covers some research done by Sterling on forces on various belay anchor setups (method of rigging, materials used, evenness of anchors).
The final chapter covers other anchors; toprope, rappel, etc.
Its not a super long book. A motivated reader could get through it fairly quickly.
There is also a bunch of discussion about materials used for slings. Which should you use? Nylon? High-tensile materials? Basically it depends. If you are building an anchor and aiming for equalization between the points then, according to their limited tests, nylon either equalized better (in the cordelette case) or the differences between materials were small (sliding x and equalette). The material seemed to matter more in the cordelette case because of the poor job it does actually equalizing, the stretch of the nylon helps equalize this extremely difficult to equalized rigging.
I came out of this book slightly biased towards nylon as the material of choice for slings and cord. I'd need to re-read (or skim) the book to figure out what text is making me lean that direction.
Great book. I'd recommend this book to any climber. The only people who might not benefit from reading the book are those who have a large amount of experience with anchor building and have kept up with research done by groups on anchors.
The book is full of nice color photos of what it is explaining.
This book starts with an introduction to to anchors and a brief history of rock hardware. The first four chapters cover using natural anchors, types and placement of trad gear, and fixed gear. An explanation of fall forces and the "Jesus Nut" continues the discussion on anchors and is followed by discussions on direction of pull. Next some basic knots are taught.
The second part of the book is all about anchor systems. It covers SRENE anchors and presents using cordelette, sliding x, and equalette methods for setting up a belay anchor. It explains where each one fails the SRENE guidelines and suggests scenarios where each is appropriate. It provides references to studies and suggests more topics to review. The final part of the belay anchor section covers some research done by Sterling on forces on various belay anchor setups (method of rigging, materials used, evenness of anchors).
The final chapter covers other anchors; toprope, rappel, etc.
Its not a super long book. A motivated reader could get through it fairly quickly.
There is also a bunch of discussion about materials used for slings. Which should you use? Nylon? High-tensile materials? Basically it depends. If you are building an anchor and aiming for equalization between the points then, according to their limited tests, nylon either equalized better (in the cordelette case) or the differences between materials were small (sliding x and equalette). The material seemed to matter more in the cordelette case because of the poor job it does actually equalizing, the stretch of the nylon helps equalize this extremely difficult to equalized rigging.
I came out of this book slightly biased towards nylon as the material of choice for slings and cord. I'd need to re-read (or skim) the book to figure out what text is making me lean that direction.
Great book. I'd recommend this book to any climber. The only people who might not benefit from reading the book are those who have a large amount of experience with anchor building and have kept up with research done by groups on anchors.
The book is full of nice color photos of what it is explaining.
January 13, 2016
The point of this book is to teach the reader how to create safe, solid anchors for big wall (multi-pitch) routes, and it does a very good job of that. There's a lot of emphasis on making the primary anchor bomb-proof and multi-directional, because hey, your life actually DOES depend on it holding.
If you're looking to learn how to make or improve your anchors for single pitch routes (top-roping) like I was, this book is overkill. The chapters on knots and anchor dynamics were definitely useful, though.
If you're looking to learn how to make or improve your anchors for single pitch routes (top-roping) like I was, this book is overkill. The chapters on knots and anchor dynamics were definitely useful, though.
January 29, 2016
I have heard that some dislike Long's writing style, but I quite enjoyed it. This book is concise and straightforward, which is critical when writing about technical climbing anchors and no miscommunication is permissible. Add in a touch of climbing humor and you've got a great guide. I haven't read Leubben's book on the subject, but have it on order to do a comparison.
May 20, 2016
Classic book on anchors updater
I own all 3 editions. It gets better each time . The real research is crucial. We want to make choices hased on knowlege instead of gut feeling. I loved the concluding paragraphs in this edition. Really hits home if it see climbing as something that relates to your philosophical and even religious ties in the world.
I own all 3 editions. It gets better each time . The real research is crucial. We want to make choices hased on knowlege instead of gut feeling. I loved the concluding paragraphs in this edition. Really hits home if it see climbing as something that relates to your philosophical and even religious ties in the world.
February 18, 2014
I just finished this, the most recent edition of John Long's classic instruction manual, and it's great.
I'm eager to experiment with the equalette concept, as an alternative to the cordelette, as well as the Quad setup for two-bolt anchors.
I'm eager to experiment with the equalette concept, as an alternative to the cordelette, as well as the Quad setup for two-bolt anchors.
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August 3, 2007Not only a primer of how to set protection, but also basic rock craft and safety. Good anchor analysis and comparisons.
December 8, 2008
Largo eyeballs your supposedly safe anchors, then rips you a new one.
December 23, 2008
Required reading for any climber. Setting decent anchors is far from intuitive even for experienced climbers, and this book helps a lot.
November 18, 2009
Must read for any climber. Excellent descriptions and illustrations.
August 3, 2011
learned a ton. pretty thorough, definitely useful for newbies like Mr.
August 27, 2011
Great book to learn anchors (in my case for setting topropes). Now I can't wait to try the technique out on some real rock once my ankle break heals!
March 13, 2012
very informative. a must-read for anyone considering leading trad or doing any type of anchor setting where your life depends on your anchor building skills.
April 6, 2012
The first of two awesome anchor references. Learn this stuff if you climb!
June 8, 2012
The Bible.
August 20, 2013
This is my second cover to cover read. The text is full of information to consume. I will likely need several more reads before I get familiar with it all. This is a great book.
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October 25, 2013The Trad climber's primer.
January 10, 2014
No matter the skill level, there are tips in this book to make anyone a safer and more efficient climber. Well presented and easy to follow.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews