The American Death Triangle or “ADT” for short, has always been touted as a horrible technique. Is this really true?
American Death Triangle
The ADT actually doesn’t put a whole lot more force on gear but it does change the way the gear is being pulled. The angle that the gear is been pulled is called a resultant and is shown in the photo below. This is the main reason for gear failure. Of course with modern bolts this angle and the forces are completely fine.
Forces shown on the American Death Triangle
If the angle is greater at the load, we start to multiply the force on the protection as well as the resultant will have a more perpendicular pull to the load.
Greater angle at the load causes more force on the protection.
One other obvious problem with the ADT is the fact that it isn’t redundant in the material itself. So if there is a failure with the material then you have a complete system failure.
In the end, it is fairly easy to use another method like the one below, making a master point anchor, that will give redundancy and minimize force on the protection. So I would generally advise folks to do this rather than use the American Death Triangle.
Master-point or fixed focal point anchor