Try some sort of soil drill. they often go deep (1.5m) and are quite light. They are easy to screw into the soil and if you hit a solid layer a bit down, you're set to go.

This is a photo I took of one of the anchors we used in the San Rafael Swell in soft sandstone:



Caption:

This is one of the anchors that we constructed in Poncho Wash. To some whom are new to this country, it looks "manky", but to be honest in this soft rock such anchors are actually often more solid than bolts.

Here's another one:

http://www.summitpost.org/view_object.p ... _id=309739

Of course all anchors were tested first and then were all backed up with "meat" for all but the last person.

This is the rappel as viewed from below:

If natural anchors are simply nonexistent no matter your ingenuity (you'd be surpised what you can do with your surroundings: deadmans, dirt bollards, hooks, counterweighting), and the earth is too soft for bolts or hooks, then it's time to sledgehammer in some rebar. This has been done in some of the canyons in the southwest. If the dirt is relatively soft, hammer in as many pieces as necessary. If it's mud then sometimes long snow pickets can work (lots of them). But that can be just plain sketchy because the mud won't pack solid like snow, it keeps shifting. Also I imagine that snow pickets can be hard to come by in Hawaii, in which case aluminum studs used in commercial construction work nicely. They are much longer too (as long as you need them really). But, in all honesty, if you're resorting to things like this, it's probably best tofind a better, safer way in. You might just have to find alternate ways into the valleys, maybe traverse from an adjacent more accessible one, or maybe even climb up into one. Going by your description of the ridges, it seems possible for a dirt bollard. But since it's dirt and not snow make your bollard deep and give it a large radius.

Scott wrote:This is a photo I took of one of the anchors we used in the San Rafael Swell in soft sandstone:



Caption:

This is one of the anchors that we constructed in Poncho Wash. To some whom are new to this country, it looks "manky", but to be honest in this soft rock such anchors are actually often more solid than bolts.

Is this a deadman? The webbing coming out the rock seems rather high off the ground (hope that is clear).

Mountain Impulse wrote:

Scott wrote:This is a photo I took of one of the anchors we used in the San Rafael Swell in soft sandstone:



Caption:

This is one of the anchors that we constructed in Poncho Wash. To some whom are new to this country, it looks "manky", but to be honest in this soft rock such anchors are actually often more solid than bolts.

Is this a deadman? The webbing coming out the rock seems rather high off the ground (hope that is clear).

The photo is a cairn anchor. A deadman anchor is buried.

Larger: http://c0278592.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/original/287556.jpg

if you can give me as much detailed info as possible about the soil you're trying to anchor into, i can ask the civil engineer behind me to do a little legitimate engineering for you (of course, you might get a bridge or a highway overpass from this guy...)

Bring lots of 3' x 3/8" rebar and a big sledge hammer. And 300' ropes.

HandjamMasterC wrote:Bring lots of 3' x 3/8" rebar and a big sledge hammer. And 300' ropes.

Yeah just throw that in your day pack with a sandwich or two and your set my friend!