Saturday, September 12, 2020

Name This Anchor

 

This is a vintage SMC snow fluke, circa 1980, last used somewhere in the Tetons. In a way, it functions like a boat anchor, except they are driven into firm snow and the Spectra bridle replaces the shank. Notice the slight dihedral angle, in part for stability, but in fact primarily to place a larger cone of snow in compression than a flat plate would.

The point is that a slight angle does not make a plow. It is well know that soil anchors can be made stronger through the use of a blunt V-angle. This is part of what separates the Excel from the Delta--small differences in how the angles fit together.