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Placing of pitons.—Pitons are placed to reinforce the climber's judgment. If well placed (see fig. 3) they will limit his fall to twice the distance he is above the piton plus the amount of slack the belayer lets run. In placing pitons the climber should: Study the rock to see that driving of a piton will notweaken it. Test rock for soundness by tapping with hammer. Select a crack that is wide enough to take one-thirdto one-half the piton shaft before hammering. Select theright piton—one that the rock will support best and thatthe snap-link can be hooked into after the piton is driven. Drive the piton. While driving watch the rock to seethat it is not being weakened by further cracking. Watchthe piton to see that it goes in smoothly and to notice if thepoint hits a dead end. Listen to the piton's sound at eachblow; good verticals and horizontals usually go in with arising pitch; wafers and angles will have no noticeablepitch so long as the ring is swinging free. Drive the pitonhard, until the head begins to change shape. The greaterthe resistance overcome in driving the piton, the firmer it |
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