Minnesota-style Anchor Attachment

 A recent trip report about canyoneering in Zion used this phrase: "Quite a few anchors in the canyon were tied with the Minnesota-clip style of equalization." (Photo on the left. The webbing should have some limiter knots in it or at least a half twist.)


I was puzzled about this reference to Minnesota. Until I looked at the photo. And remembered that in the 70s, three climbers from MN died on El Cap when they tied themselves into an anchor chain, and one of the bolts broke when their "pig" (haul sack) fell. Then they all fell because they weren't clipped into individual chain links. (I climbed a lot with one of the guys who was killed; he was an experienced, expert climber.)

Because of that accident, the common way to clip into an anchor with chains, is to use the individual links.