The Abalakov

I hope that anyone reading this magazine knows what an ice or Abalakov thread is and knows how to build one. If not then here's a recap.

Firstly the Abalakov is one of the most important safety techniques to learn if you're heading out on to the ice, because with it you can abseil off any ice route without leaving any gear behind, construct bomber belays or even runners if you're short on screws. Basically an Abalakov (named after the ground breaking Russian mountaineer Vitaly Abalakov) is a constructed V-shaped ice anchor and in some conditions may even provide more strength than an ice screw. Here's a blow by blow run down of how to construct an Abalakov anchor in its usual role as an abseil anchor.

Arriving at the end of the rope place a solid screw and secure yourself to it via a sling. Staying on the rope find a solid patch of ice approximately 30cm in diameter, clearing away any poor surface ice if necessary. Avoid getting too close to any ice that people have obviously bashed or has V-threads in situ as the ice may be fractured. Next take a 22cm screw and drill a full depth horizontal hole at 45° to 60°, pointing slightly downhill. If you have two long screws back this first screw so it sticks out halfway so as to act as a guide for the next hole. Drill the next hole slightly below the first (aiming uphill) so that it intersects with the first. Offsetting the holes reduces the chance of a horizontal fracture forming between the two holes. If you only have one long screw use your threader as a guide.

If you make a mistake after drilling more than three centimetres don't try and drill another hole as you are weakening the anchor, just move 50cm to either side and start again. For maximum strength both holes should be approximately 20cm apart in order to gain the most strength (use the length of the 22cm screw to check this). If the holes are closer than this then don't worry as in good ice the holes can be as little as 10cm apart yet still provide a strong enough anchor (10cm = 6-7kN, 15cm = 10-11kN, 20cm = 11-12kN, figures for good ice).

Once the holes are finished thread with either thick cord or sling, tie and you have a solid abseil anchor. It's possible to abseil on any strong cord but I'd recommend going for something like pre cut 7mm 60cm cord slings, meaning you can use them as slings on the way up, then untied and threaded on the way down. If the ice is really poor then you can also make multiple anchors (make sure each anchor is at least 50cm apart), equalizing them to form a solid anchor (you can also include icicle threads when building anchors in low strength ice).

Once the anchor is built, clip into it and give it some solid bounces to convince yourself it's good and then unclip from the rope, remaining clipped to the screw as well. The screw acts as a back up with the last person down taking it out.

Ice threads can also be used as runners and belays, a technique used by Paul Ramsden and Mick Fowler in China last year as they were short on screws. When constructing these types of anchors thread with full strength slings as it's no good having a 12kn anchor threaded with 6kn cord. The increasing popularity of this technique means there are more and more Abalakov anchors appearing in situ and these should always be treated with extreme caution, both because it's hard to tell the depth and quality of the anchor and the strength/damage to the cord (at least one climber has died due to a old anchor failing).

The trick to this technique is practise and testing, so you become familiar with the technique and confident in its effectiveness and strength. So the next time you find yourself with some time to kill, spend an hour drilling increasingly smaller threads and testing them, I guarantee you'll be surprised how strong even the smallest thread can be.

Grivel Candela
Price: £10
Weight: 27g

Every now and again a product comes along that is so simple and unsexy it's easily overlooked - stowed at the back of climbing store displays, given one-line descriptions in mail order catalogues and passed over by reviewers because it seems of marginal interest. The Grivel Candela is just such a product, although easily overlooked it's a piece of simple design that's just so practical and well thought out it's a surprise that all winter climbers don't own one, being that perfect a climbing tool that just exudes the experience of the designer, someone who was obviously as at home on the ice as their drawing board.

The Candela looks very odd at first and most people would be hard-pressed to guess its function, being a 25cm long yellow plastic rod, looking more like something a surgeon would use for some unmentionable probing than a climbing tool. The Candela is actually designed to avoid having to deal with the medical profession, being the cleverest and best designed ice threader on the market.

In the early days most climbers who were switched on to this technique made their own threaders, but now there are several commercial ice threaders on the market, with the Simond Abalahook (£15/35g) and Petzl/Charlet Multi Hook (£8/40g) being the best, but unlike those tools the Candela has several advantages. Firstly it's lighter, being made out of tough plastic and, unlike a flexible wire threader, the Candela is far more controllable, making snagging stubborn cord much easier, crucial if you've got a long descent with many anchors ahead of you. Another useful feature is that the length and stiffness makes building icicle thread runners on routes much easier, especially if you're using new style 8mm Dyneema slings. The Candela also features a serrated metal edge for cutting abseil cord, a far safer option than swinging around with a sharp knife on a weighted rope, but by far the cleverest feature of the Candela is its ability to be stowed within an ice screw, saving space on your gear racks and putting it close at hand (most ice threaders aren't carried on the harness as they also snag on everything. If you end up using all your screws then no problem, as the rod features a built in clip so you can just clip it on to your rack. Also, because the rod is designed to fit inside the body of an ice screw, it can be used to clear stubborn ice cores without risking damage to your expensive screws. Highly recommended.