Use a “gear closet” on a big wall

On a long pitch, a leader may not want to take the entire rack of gear with them. Or, your route may require some extra large cams higher up, but not on the lower pitches. So, the question: what do you do with the extra hardware? The place you probably don’t want it is buried down in a haul bag, making it hard to access. (It’s good practice to minimize the amount of time you spend burrowing through your main haul bags during the day.)

Instead, try this. Get a Fish Beef bag, size large, or similar heavy duty stuff sack. Girth hitch an old-school sewn loop daisy chain into the sturdy loop of the bag.

Clip your extra gear to the daisy loops. Never put loose, unclipped gear into the bag, because the chances of dropping it are huge. The leader can add and subtract gear from this “gear closet” bag before they start the pitch, or they can use a tagline, trailing a small diameter tagline and hauling up gear as it’s needed. (Tagging is a great approach on a long pitch, because you start with a much lighter and easier to manage rack.)

You can keep the gear closet on a gear tether hanging from the main haulbag, if you really trust the tie in points, but most folks will probably want it inside the top of the main haulbag.

Add a release loop to your Fifi hook

The fifi hook, a near indispensable tool for big wall climbers to take a short rest, (emphasize short) often has a hole up near the top. (Use of the traditional fifi hook, as shown here, has decreased a bit in recent years, due to the popularity of the adjustable fifi, but this older style still has a place.)

This hole is for you to attach a short loop of cord. If the fifi is loaded, you can grab this cord, pull down on it, and it will lever the hook off whatever it's hanging on. (Sometimes this little “pop” can happen quickly, so be ready for it.) This can be quite handy in certain situations.

I'm using parachute cord tied with a double fisherman's. The orange webbing loop is fairly short, and I have a girl attached to my upper tie in point, that's my preference. Different links and connection options work for different people, try a few methods and see what's best for you.

"Riding the Pig" - rapping with your haul bag

Note - This post discusses techniques and methods used in vertical rope work. If you do them wrong, you could die. Always practice vertical rope techniques under the supervision of a qualified instructor, and ideally in a progression: from flat ground, to staircase, to vertical close to the ground before you ever try them in a real climbing situation.

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Descending with your haul bags is the sort of opposite of hauling them, but many of the same principles apply. Here are a few words on hauling, from the excellent big wall climbing book, “Higher Education”, by Andy Kirkpatrick (Buy it here):

“Hauling is potentially one of the most dangerous aspects of big wall climbing. This translates to ultra-caution in all parts of your hauling system and interaction with bags, haul lines, docking cords, and pulleys. If you rush and make a mistake, drop a load or have it shift where it's not wanted, you could easily kill someone or yourself. I try and teach climbers to view their bags as dangerous creatures, like a great white shark, rhino, or raptor that is in their charge. The ability to keep them calm and under your control comes down to paranoia, foresight, and heavy respect for the damage they can do.”

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Left: Light to moderate pack or haul bag, hanging from the belay loop. Right: Seriously heavy haul bag, hanging from master rappel carabiner (and definitely not hanging from you!)

Learning to safely rappel with a moderate to heavy haul bag (or pack) is an important big wall skill. You may use it if you have to retreat, and you may do it as part of the normal descent, such as the East Ledges of El Capitan.

With a light to moderately heavy pack or bag, you can get away with clipping it to your belay loop. (In terms of weight, that's roughly the amount you can haul up with one arm.)

However, when you're dealing with a larger load, you do NOT want to attach it directly to yourself in any way. This is much harder to control and much less comfortable; yes, I’m talking sensitive groin area anatomy here!

For a heavy bag, you essentially put the bag on rappel, and then attach yourself somewhere to that system. This puts the weight of the pig on the rappel carabiner, and not on you.

(This is similar to a rescue style “spider” rappel, when you might have to rap with an injured partner.)

Here's a story that provides a great example of why you do NOT want to have your haul bag attached directly to you.

“Two climbers attempting the West Face of Leaning Tower in June decided to descend after arriving at Ahwahnee Ledge (the top of the fourth pitch), due to excessive heat and sun. While rappelling the very overhanging first pitch with the haulbag, Climber A rappelled over a small roof and got too far away from the wall to reach the ledge at the bottom of the pitch, despite clipping some directionals during his descent. With no way to anchor the haul bag, he could not detach it from the ropes nor reascend the ropes to reach the ramp.”

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Let's have a closer look at one method in the photo below. There are lots of different ways you could set this up, but this photo shows the main concepts. Some elements are removed for clarity.

1. Grigri and dedicated HMS carabiner. This is a good place for a triple action or Magnetron carabiner, you absolutely do not want that puppy coming open. There are pros and cons to using a Grigri, more on that below.

2. ATC works also. You can also rappel on a tube style device with one or two strands of rope. This can work better on old / crusty / large diameter ropes. If you do this, an autoblock backup hitch is mandatory.

3. Adjustable daisy chain (purple). Used to attach and release the haul bag at anchors. Having an additional longer docking cord could be a fine idea to back up this daisy. Whatever system you use, it must to be releasable under load.

4. Haul bag master HMS carabiner (gold). Here there's only one bag, but more bags and gear could be attached to this single point.

5. Adjustable daisy chain (green) and locking carabiner (blue). This is your primary connection to the system. The daisy is attached to your harness and clipped to the Grigri carabiner (#1) with the blue locker; this lets you easily separate yourself from the haulbags if you need to. Note that this connection is very short, so you can reach the Grigri handle. (If you're tall, you can lengthen the connection. If you're short, you could skip the daisy entirely and clip a carabiner from your harness directly to the rappel carabiner.) Not shown, some kind of additional tether for attaching yourself to anchors as you reach them. You can use this additional tether as a backup to the green one after you leave the anchor. (This adjustable daisy is optional, but very handy to fine-tune the length of your connection. If you don't have one, try a locking quick draw or something similar.)

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Notes:

• As with all critical climbing skills, practice this in advance in a controlled environment before you ever have to do it for real. Small variations in the system can have a big difference in comfort and function.

• Wear gloves.

• Descending with a Grigri (or similar device) can work well. However, be sure and practice this. Sometimes large loads on a Grigri can be difficult to control, plus your hand can get tired from constantly holding the handle open.

• With a standard tube style rappel device, gravity does the work and the rap is generally smoother. If you use a tube device, use a third hand auto block below it as a backup.

• Keep any slings connecting you and the haul bag to the master carabiner fairly short. Keeping the slings short means you can easily reach your rappel device. This is of course mandatory if you use a Grigri, slightly less important if you don't. A 60 cm / single length runner works well. Feel free to double up the slings for redundancy if that makes you comfortable.

• You need to have a way to dock the haul bags at each anchor. With a heavy bag, this needs to be releasable under load. Hopefully you've been using docking cords on your way up, so you can continue to use them on the way down. Learn more about docking cords here. You can also (as in the photo) use an adjustable daisy chain, such as a Yates.

• If you have a lighter bag and don't need a docking cord, have a 60 cm sling with a locking carabiner attached to the bag to secure the bag to anchors.

• Depending on your rappel device, you may want some extra friction. To increase friction, clip an additional belay device on your belay loop, and put the brake strands of the rope through that. You can also put two identical carabiners on the master point, and clip the rappel device through both of those.

• In a two person team, the haul bags usually come down with the second person.

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Have both you and your partner take a close look at your rigging before you start heading down. Keep things as simple and streamlined as possible. Haul bags have been dropped and people have been hurt from doing this incorrectly, so sure and double check your systems.

Begin heading down. Have the bag between your legs so you can kick off the rock as needed and guide it around obstacles. If you have things set up correctly, this should be a pretty relaxed and straightforward process. If you find yourself fighting the pig or straining with your brake hand to hold the extra weight, you're doing something wrong.

Pig riding is relatively easy if your rappel goes straight down. If it starts to traverse, is overhanging, or both, things get more complicated. Check out this article on negotiating over hanging or traversing rappels.

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Finally, here's a great video from the always amusing and informative Ryan Jenks, from HowNot2.com, showing different ways to rappel with your haul bag. Yes, it's long, over an hour, but lots of good stuff if you have the time.

Big wall bucket - 5 gallons of stout storage

Want to have delicate items on your next vertical camping trip remain unsquished from the grinding wear and tear of the big wall haulbag? How about keeping your phone, camera, water, snacks, rain shell, fleece jacket and sunscreen close at hand during the day? You should not be diving into your hall bag in the middle of the day, pull out what you need in the morning.

The answer: the big wall bucket.

What you need:

• 5 gallon plastic bucket, paint store or big box hardware store (or maybe free from a doughnut shop or big supermarket bakery)

• Gamma lid. This is a clever contraption that lets you install a screw-on lid to a 3 or 5 gallon standard bucket. This is a WAY better option than fighting a tight paint bucket lid with beat up wall hands!

• A few feet of 3 mm cord or other really strong cord, like bank line

• About 5 feet of tubular webbing, diameter not really important

• Drill and bits (or knife with sharp tip)

This is a gamma lid:

Install the gamma lid “ring” onto the top of your bucket. I found about the easiest way to do this is to position the ring part of the lid on the top of your bucket, put a 2 by 4 or piece of scrap wood on the top, and tap the wood a few times with a hammer.

Reinforce the handle with 1 inch webbing. The wire handles on these buckets are fairly strong for around the house, but not stout enough for the rigors of big wall climbing. Back up the handle by drilling a small hole in the side of the bucket near where the handle connects to the bucket, inserting one end of the webbing, tie a stopper overhand knot on the inside, spiral wrap the webbing around the handle, and then repeat the hole and knot program on the other side. Wrap some duct tape around the webbing/wire handle to keep it tidy.

Try to make the holes you drilled as small as possible to make it harder for water to get in. You’ll probably need some needle nose pliers to pull the webbing through the hole, and consider putting a dab of silicone sealant around the webbing hole junction as some additional water protection.

Add a keeper cord to the lid. Everything on the wall needs to keep record so you don't drop it. Take about 3 feet of thin cord, like 3 mm from the climb shop (or bank line) and drill two small holes, about 1 inch apart in the side of the bucket about 2 inches down from the top. Make these holes just a hair larger than the cord in the side of the bucket. Pass the cord through the holes, and tie a bowline knot to secure it.  Repeat this near the center of the lid. Now your lid is permanently attached to the bucket and you can’t drop it.

Hang this bucket on a tether cord below your main haul bag. You can pull up on the cord to access the bucket anytime you want during the day. And, anything inside it is guaranteed to be uncrushed and pretty much watertight. Read more on gear tethers here.

Wall buckets have been around for a long time. I first heard about this tip from Climbing magazine, published in 2002. The Gamma lid is a definite improvement.

Note the tied off ends of brown webbing inside the bucket, backing up the wire handle, and the lid keeper cord. Duct tape keeps the webbing and wire handle together.

Ascending - have both tethers the same length

When you’re setting up your tethers and jumars for ascending a rope, getting the correct length for the tethers is critical. If it’s too short you’ll be making short, choppy, and efficient strokes. If it’s too long, you can’t easily reach your upper ascender from the rest position, and you’ll flame out your arms and abs in a few minutes. 

(You may want slight variations on this “ideal” length. For lower angled slab pitches, you might want the tether a bit shorter; for steeper pitches, maybe a bit longer. But you do need a starting point.)

Here are a few guidelines for getting the tether length set correctly.

• With the tethers girth hitched to your belay loop or tie in points (there are pros and cons to both, see below), pull the daisy tethers up vertically in front of you.

• The bottom of the locking carabiner should be just about at the middle of your forehead. (See photo below)

• Now, clip the ascender to your fixed rope and put full body weight on it. If you reach straight up, your wrist should be at the top of the ascender. This positioning ensures that you have a gentle bend in your elbow when your hand is grabbing the handle, and you can easily reach the trigger on the cam. Take the time to get this right. (It’s been my experience that most new aid climbers initially make their tether too long.)

• Tip - Once you determine the correct connection length, mark this on your tethers. If you have adjustables, add a Sharpie pen mark. If you have traditional sewn pocket daisies, add a loop of 2mm or so cord or stout string (or burly tape like hockey tape) to the correct loop to mark it. By doing this, you set it once, and you can quickly adjust it to the right spot anytime in the future.

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Big wall ace Mark Hudon shared a good tip with me. Most people think only your dominant hand tether needs to be the perfect length, and the length of the other one doesn’t really matter.  

Mark says: have them both at the same length.

Reason: When ascending, whatever way the route goes, you should lead with that hand. Say that you’re right handed. If the pitch goes pretty much straight up or to the right, you’ll be leading with your right ascender. But, if the pitch leads to the left, you should be leading with your left hand ascender. In that case, the tether length should be the same as the right. 

Here’s a photo of the proper set up. See that the bottom of the carabiner is just about at the climber’s forehead? When weighted on the rope, it should settle into the correct position.

So, where to attach the daisies to your harness, the tie in points or the belay loop? Both locations have pros and cons. (The front of your harness is going to be a clustered junk show no matter what you do, so get used to it.) Try both and see what you like. If you want to take a deep dive into this, check out this article.

• Tie in points: redundancy, gets you closer to the gear and thus higher in your aiders (if you have an adjustable tether), but can be uncomfortable as it’s squeezing your groin as your tie in points are smushed together, like you just took a fall.

• Belay loop: more comfortable, can be redundant if you have a harness with two belay loops, puts you farther from placed gear.

Skip the carabiner in the top jumar hole

A lot of beginner aid climbers want to add a “backup” carabiner to the top hole in their ascender, all the time. It’s not wrong, but usually not optimal. (Note: a locking oval carabiner works well here.)

I get it. The first few times you use ascenders it’s pretty scary, and you probably want every possible shred of psychological safety. If that carabiner on top can lessen the chance of the ascender coming off by 0.01%, that is a good thing, the reasoning goes.

Here’s the main reason why you usually do NOT want a carabiner in the hole. When you clean a traversing pitch, you probably will remove the top ascender and leapfrog it past the piece of gear you want to clean. To do this, you need to remove and re-attach that carabiner every time, which is a major time waster if you have a more than a few pieces to clean.  Now, if you’re cleaning an absolutely vertical crack, then sure, add a carabiner in that hole if it makes you feel better, because you won't need to leapfrog it past any gear. But such a crack is the exception, not the rule.

You only really may need this backup carabiner if the rope is stretched tight and you can’t tie backup knots, and/or if you’re cleaning a roof, and/or if the rope is running at an angle greater than about 45 degrees off to either side. In other words, some oddball rope angles not encountered on a normal pitch of cleaning.

If you’re worried about the ascender popping off, remember this. If it does, you have your second ascender, and hopefully the rope running to your Grigri and/or tying backup knots as a third point of contact.

Try this - set up a tensioned horizontal fixed line, clip an ascender to it, and try to torque it in every crazy way you can think of to get it to pop off. It’s darn hard to do it! Not to say it can’t happen, but it may be more secure than you think.

Also, ascenders usually pop off the rope due to user error. After you remove the top one and leapfrog it past a piece, it's a common mistake to not click the toothed cam back properly to the rope. Always be sure the ascender fully clicks closed onto the rope every time you put it on, especially if the rope is under tension in a weird direction.

So, it’s best practice, most of the time, to not clip a carabiner through the top hole. If you do, it’s probably best if you use an oval carabiner. Also, be sure you clip it correctly around the rope, and not in the completely incorrect position shown below!

Be sure you don’t clip the hole like the photo on the right! At first glance it appears to be clipped correctly, and will probably hold your weight. But only a small part of the cam is engaged on the rope.

If you’re ascending a severely traversing pitch, it’s probably a better plan to clip the locker that’s connecting your tether to the ascender to the rope with spare carabiner, something like this:

Doing this can help keep the ascender more in proper line with the rope. (Aider and locking carabiner not shown.)

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Finally, it's common when big wall cleaning to tie back up knots and clip them to your belay loop. This does a couple of things. It's a safety system in case your ascenders for some crazy reason fail, and it also helps with rope management, keeping the rope fairly close to you so it doesn't blow around and get stuck.

Using a Grigri to ascend fixed ropes

With just a Petzl Grigri and an ascender, you can quickly and safely ascend and descend a fixed rope.

Note: if you’re doing any kind of big wall climbing or going up multiple pictures of rope in a day, you’re probably going to find it more efficient to use the more traditional two jumar system. Once you get that dialed, it's probably going to be less strenuous.

This setup is favored by riggers, rock gym employees and climbing photographers, who often need to go up AND down to fine-tune their position on the rope. So, if you are not going out very far, and need to adjust your position, this system works great.

This system is also great for cleaning traversing aid pitches, because the Grigri is releasable under tension, letting you do a mini lower out as needed. This is extremely helpful - no more fighting with your lower ascender.

Note: while this system it does give you some mechanical advantage to lift yourself, you don’t want to get into the habit of trying to use your arms when you're ascending. You should always be stepping up in your ladders to gain the height, and then using Grigri and pulley to capture your progress.

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What’s slick about this system?

• You always have two points of contact to the rope (three, after you tie a backup knot, and technically four, because you’re tied into the end)

• You can lower yourself/rappel if needed with the Grigri at any time

• It requires a minimum of gear, most of which you probably already have on a big wall climb

• It uses some mechanical advantage to raise your weight

• You can mix and match hardware depending on what’s available

• The length of your tether chain connecting your harness and the ascender doesn’t matter (unlike using a tether with a regular two-ascender setup, where the tether length is crucial)

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Ascender hack: On my Petzl ascender, I added a 5mm stainless steel quicklink to the smaller of the two bottom holes. This makes a convenient place to clip a carabiner for the upper redirect, as well as a spot for clipping your ladder.

Read more on this modification here.

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There are a few ways to rig this. Here’s one that works for me.

You need: a Grigri or similar device, a handled ascender, an aider (or 7 feet or so of webbing), a tether, a few carabiners, and a pulley (optional).

1 - Feed the rope through your Grigri, and attach the Grigri to your belay loop with a large locking carabiner, just like you would for belaying.

2 - Clip an ascender to the rope above the Grigri. (Note that the ascender is usually for your non-dominant hand; ie, right handed climbers ideally should use a left handed acender. This example is set up for a lefty.)

3 - Clip a redirect carabiner (and ideally a pulley) through the quicklink (or webbing) tied to the bottom of the ascender. (Do NOT clip the carabiner through the hole at the top of the ascender unless you’re not cleaning any gear or if the rope is traversing more than about 45 degrees. If you have to pass any gear, you need to remove and replace this carabiner each time you do so, which is a Major Hassle.) The pulley is optional, but will make the system more efficient. If you have a DMM Revolver carabiner, you could use that in place of the carabiner and pulley combination. The blue webbing loop is optional; it allows the carabiner to twist and align itself with the pull.

4 - Clip the rope coming out the bottom of your Grigri to the pulley. This acts as a redirect, letting you pull downward rather than upward, which saves a lot of energy over the course of a pitch.

5 - Girth hitch a tether through your harness tie in points or belay loop (pros and cons to both, won’t get into those here) and clip it to the ascender with a locking carabiner. This is one of your two connections to the rope, so this carabiner needs to be a locker. If you don’t have an adjustable tether, a 120 cm / double runner should work as well. The length of this tether is not critical, but it should be at least 3 feet.

6 - With a non-locking carabiner, clip your aider to the locker joining the tether and ascender. (Note: This can be a simple sling or length of tied webbing, it doesn’t have to be an aider.)

To use:

1. Sit with your weight on the Grigri . This is your “rest” position.

2. Slide the ascender as far up the rope as you can, while advancing your foot in the aider in the same motion.

3. Stand up in the aider, and at the same time and pull down on the rope coming out of the pulley carabiner. (It can help to do a little “pop” up with with your hips to get a few extra inches.) The Grigri will lock up as you finish pulling down on the rope. Sit in your harness, weight the Grigri, and slide the ascender again up the rope. Repeat.

Need to rappel? That’s the easy part! Because your Grigri is already properly attached to the rope, all you need to do is unclip the ascender, and you’re ready to head down.

As with any climbing skill, this is a better show than a tell.

(Note that in the video below, the climber does not have an aid ladder, it's just a sling that serves as a foot loop. This is simpler, cheaper, and lighter.)

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Same concept, less gear

You can also set this up with a Grigri on your harness, and a friction hitch or emergency ascender such as a Petzl Tibloc (preferred) above you. Here's a photo of that setup.

Notes:

• If the terrain is fairly low angle, you may not even need the Tibloc. Just push your feet off the wall and pull the roof through the Grigri to make progress. The Tibloc and foot loop will be needed when things get steep.

• The yellow sling is somewhat optional and then it provides a second point of connection to the rope. If you wanted to skip that or didn't have it, you can tie back up knots below your Grigri To give yourself a second point of connection. (The blue sling is for your foot.)

• You can make the ascending process a bit easier by taking the tail of the rope coming out of the Grigri and running it through the carabiner on the Tibloc. This gives you a 3:1 mechanical advantage, and lets you pull down with your arm rather than up, which really makes a difference on a long climb. See the video below for an example of this.

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Here's a short video by IFMGA Certified Guide Karsten Delap on a more minimalist way to set this up, using a Grigri, a Petzl Tibloc, and a double length / 120 cm sling.

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Here’s an action video. Note a few differences: He’s using a sling as a foot loop, not an aider, and he has the redirect carabiner clipped to the top hole on the ascender, because he’s not aid climbing and cleaning gear. Other than that, it’s the same basic system.

Six features of your aider carabiner

The carabiners on the business end of your aid ladders will probably become your single most used piece of hardware. Choose them carefully. When you find a good one, buy two, because you need one for each aider. Note these are all my personal preferences; consider it a starting point. Try a lot of different styles in your training and see what you like.

Consider these qualities for your aider carabiner:

1. Non-locking - Sounds obvious, but I’ve seen beginners have a locking carabiner on their aiders. This is a carabiner you’re going to be opening and closing hundreds of times a day on a big wall, and you for sure don’t want a locking mechanism getting in the way.

2. Oval (or other standard shape) - Depending on how you set up your aiders, you might be clipping several things into the bottom of the carabiner. Having the classic oval design gives room at the top to clip a big wad of webbing, and at the bottom to get in whatever else you need. Having said that, some people prefer a slightly easier handling of a bent gate carabiner. Generally, avoid a very asymmetrical design.

3. Standard size - You're after the Goldilocks carabiner, not too big, not too small, just right. You don’t want a mini carabiner; harder to clip bigger random things. And, no need for a wide mouth belay style HMS carabiner either.

4. Solid gate, not wiregate. Wiregate carabiners are generally hard on your fingers to open hundreds of times a day, solid gates are a little more finger friendly.

5. Thin nose and thin metal stock - Having a narrow profile, or “nose” at the top of the open gate makes it easier to wiggle the carabiner into occasional small loops of webbing, rivet hangers, etc, and to unclip under load.

6. Distinct color - You can either buy an odd colored anodized carabiner, or even spray paint something creative yourself. Why is a distinct color important? You want to be able to glance your gear harness and always grab the aider fast. (Yes, you should get into the habit of always clipping your aider into the same spot on your harness every time, but having a distinctively colored carabiner makes it even easier to locate.)

Note that these carabiners are going to get pretty beat up, especially if you are clipping lots of bolt ladders. Check it regularly for any small burrs of metal that might hook up on webbing, and retire them if you need to.

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The Black Diamond keylock oval carabiner, a tried and true design, and the Petzl Spirit, are both solid choices.

• non-locker

• classic oval style and bent gate with lots of room at both ends

• medium size, not too small

• solid (not wire) gate

• thin / narrow nose

• okay, not a distinct color for that oval, but five out of six ain't bad. All you need is some spray paint!

(I think BD also makes a non-keylock oval carabiner; be sure you get the keylock, aka notchless, version.)

Also, check out the DMM PerfectO, a classic shaped oval carabiner that comes in lots of cool colors. No spray paint needed!

image: https://www.backcountry.com/dmm-perfecto-straight-gate-carabiner

The “25 foot” notice

This tip is from big wall expert Mark Hudon. See more great tips and El Cap route photos at his website, hudonpanos.com

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When the leader gets close to the anchor, they yell down to the belayer, “25 feet” and an estimate of the time it might take to get there. This signals the belayer to wake up from their nap (napping, one of the joys of big wall belaying with a Grigri), start breaking down the anchor, make sure the haul bag is ready to be released, get ready to clean, etc.

Add clip in tethers to your wall rack

Rule #1 of big wall climbing: everything has a clip in point.

There are a lot of critical items on the big wall climb, but probably the most important (and expensive!) one is your gear rack. You absolutely never want to drop it! Here's a way to minimize the chance of that ever happening.

Get two strands of stout cord, each one about arm’s length. (I’m kind of a cheapskate, so I use parachute cord; it’s rated to about 550 lbs. and plenty strong enough. 5mm cord would also be a good choice, and a bit more durable.)

In one end of the cord, tie a bowline around each shoulder strap of your gear rack so the cord is permanently attached. In the other end, tie a small figure 8 on a bight loop, just small enough to clip a carabiner. Repeat for the other cord and other shoulder strap.

When you finish your lead and are at the anchor, pull the two cords around to the front, and clip each one to a separate anchor component. Only then, after the rack is secured to the anchor by these two redundant points of connection, do you take it off your body.

By clipping to two parts of the anchor you spread it apart a little bit, giving easier access to restock the gear when your second arrives after cleaning the pitch.

This tip is from big wall experts Pete Zabrok and Mark Hudon

Assorted "vertical camping" tips

Mark Hudon Is a Yosemite free climbing and big wall veteran. His systems are thoughtful, dialed, and generously explained both on his website and various online forums. The following collection of tips were mostly taken from a post on his website. You can read the entire thing at hudonpanos.com. Here, I'm posting the ones that seem especially brilliant, but I encourage you to go to his site and read the whole article.

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See related post - Portaledge set up - Top Tips

Each climber has their own separate haul bag. Mark likes the Metolius Half Dome, about 125 liters. If you are a little taller, you can get the next size up which is only a little bit more in cost and weight. (Here's another post about had to choose a haulbag.)

You want to minimize rummaging around in the bag during the day when you’re climbing. Before you leave your bivy in the morning, pull out items you think you might need to access during the day and keep those handy. This might include snacks, water, lip balm, sunscreen, wind shell, warm hat, visor cap, and camera/phone. Keep these in a wall bucket or sturdy small big wall bag like a Fish Gear Beef Bag that hangs outside of the haul bag on a gear tether cord.

Mark has a comprehensive clothing list, see his website for details. All fleece and synthetic; no down, no cotton. He keeps it all in two separate size large Metolius Big Wall Stuff sacks. These bags are stout, have nice clip in points, are fairly inexpensive, and (best of all) from a company based in Bend, Oregon (my home state).

Mark cleverly organizes his core equipment into five different color coded stuff sacks: clothing (2 sacks) kitchen, food, personal care, and technology. This makes pulling out exactly what you need from the bottom of the haul bag a lot easier. (Any small item will migrate to the bottom of the bag unless it’s clipped to something or in a stuff sack.) Every stuff sack has a carabiner clipped to it.

Personal care bag: Mostly small stuff to deal with the constant dings and cuts that are going to happen to your fingers. Athletic tape, Advil, sunscreen, hand lotion, earplugs, unscented baby wipes, and paper towels instead of toilet paper. A little Bag Balm underneath a Band-Aid can really help heal your hands overnight. Take care of little cuts early before they become a larger problem.

Technology bag: phone, maybe a Bluetooth speaker, maybe a Kindle reader, all fully charged up, fully charged large spare battery and needed charging cables, headlamp with spare battery, camera, 2 way radio.

Once your ledge is set up, bring all of your stuff sacks out of the haul bag and clip them to your ledge. You want everything close at hand and avoid burrowing in the bag any more than necessary. You will need 8-10 spare “bivy” carabiners for this, so be sure and bring some. It's helpful to make these bivy carabiners all one obvious color or strange style that you don't use for climbing. Some people even mark them with spray paint.

Everything needs a clip in point. If it doesn't have one, you're going to lose it. Plan this on the ground, and bring extra small diameter cord to improvise as needed. Bank line, a sort of heavy duty black twine rated to over 300 pounds, is an excellent choice for adding tie in loops.

Consider using an old-school sewn daisy chain with pockets (photo at top) to help organize your belay. Having a confusing cluster at your anchor is stressful, because you are never quite sure what you can safely unclip. By using a dedicated sewn daisy chain(s) to clip things like rope bags, water bottles, etc, you can have a much cleaner and more manageable belay. Read more on this here.

Once your ledge is set up, try using a separate length of rope to tie your harness to the anchor, rather than the climbing rope itself. Get 6-7 meters of some old rope (about 8-9 mm) that's only used to tie you to some solid point on the anchor once everything is set up. Tie one end to the anchor, tie a barrel/stopper knot on the other end, and use your Grigri or a friction hitch to adjust your position as you move around the anchor. You certainly don't need to use all 20 feet, but if you're at a larger ledge, you want to be able to freely move around. This lets you tuck away all your lead rope to keep things a bit more tidy.

You generate a surprising amount of garbage on a big wall climb. You need a plan to deal with it. Having some sort of extra stout bag or stuff sack will be needed. It's easy to overlook this, ask me how I know. You can hang this below your main haul bags on a gear tether.

Do NOT bring a down sleeping bag, regardless of how sunny at the weather forecast might be.

Having a thin fleece sleeping bag liner gives warmth and feels great against your dirty skin, and having a bivy sack offers further moisture protection for your bag and makes it warmer.

If you’re warm and dry in your portaledge, do everything you possibly can to stay that way. Anything that gets wet on a big wall is probably going to stay that way for a while. That means not going outside into the rain to fix another pitch unless you absolutely have to.

Many modern ledges have flies with some rigging to keep them away from your face. If yours does not, bring a tent pole that you can rig inside the fly to help push it away from you, so you have a bit more room.

Speaking of staying dry in your ledge, bring a sponge to mop up spills, drips or condensation inside your fly.

Metolius Big Wall Stuff Sacks, perfect for organizing your vertical camping.

image: https://www.metoliusclimbing.com/big_wall_stuff_sacks.html

Girth hitch a cam hook to your aider

The humble cam hook is an essential modern aid climbing tool for moving quickly in crack systems that are generally too narrow for spring loaded cams; i.e., slightly smaller than Donald Trump's pinky finger.

Instead of fiddling with a micro stopper or (gasp!) banging in a piton, just slot a cam hook vertically into that micro crack, carefully step onto it, and it magically locks itself into place. The first few times you won't quite believe that it actually is going to hold, but your trust and confidence will grow quickly.

Repeat as needed by alternating your aiders, and when the runout starts getting spooky, then put in solid gear. (That little stopper you place with a gentle tug for fall protection will be a lot easier for your second to clean than one you have bounce tested with your full weight.)

It's best not to bounce test cam hook placements if you’re doing several in a row. Just ease onto the upper placement with a firm step into the aider, and move up.

You want to buy at least two cam hooks, one for each aider. Fortunately they are quite inexpensive. MountainTools is a fine place to score some. They come in four sizes, with the middle two generally being the most useful. Pictured below is I think the Leeper medium, which has worked well for me.

Note that cam hooks are generally not used in soft rock like sandstone, because the force they can generate can literally break the rock. The smaller size hook, the more force is generated. Apparently the newer cam hooks made by Moses have a model called “fragile flake” that’s acceptable for use in softer rock, but I haven’t used them.

The typical way to deploy cam hooks is to have them on a short loop of webbing, and clip them to the top of your aiders when you need to use it. (Like this; a perfect placement in my wooden deck!) Yes, that webbing loop could be about 2 inches shorter, but we’ll get to that in a moment.

However, here’s an alternate set up - if you anticipate a lot of cam hooking, you can girth hitch the hook directly to the top loop of your aider. like this:

This offers a few benefits.

1. You can deploy your hook fast; no reaching for gear on your harness

2. You get a few extra inches of reach on the placement, because there’s no carabiner involved

3. You can never drop the hook

You could tie the hook directly into the top of your aider. However, this makes the hook pretty much permanently attached to the aider, because the water knot connecting the webbing is going to get welded. Aid climbing is confusing and clustered enough without adding anything unnecessary into the equation, so in climbing where you don’t need the hook, it’s cleaner and tidier NOT to have it always on the business end of your aider.

With a girth hitch, the cam hook is ready to use fast when you need it, but is easily removed when you don't.

To rig this, get 18 inches of 1/2 inch webbing for each hook (or 3 feet for 2 hooks). Yes, this looks like a lot of webbing, and you may have an inch or so left over, but those darn water knots always seem to take more webbing and than you think.

Tie a water knot through the cam hole to make a loop, that's a half inch or so longer than the length of the cam. You’ll probably have to experiment a couple of times to get this loop just the right size. If the loop is too big, you lose reach on every placement. If the loop is too small, you won't be able to girth hitch it.

Water knots are notorious for loosening under repeated cycling loads, so tighten down the knot with a pair of pliers, and check it often to be sure it's not loosening up.

The original and classic cam hooks were made by Ed Leeper, so they are sometimes referred to as Leeper hooks. They are now manufactured by Moses, and available through various outdoor retailers, such as MountainTools.

Here’s a nice video that shows the basics of using cam hooks. 

Anchor your haul bag with a docking cord

Standard big wall practice for many decades was to girth hitch a sewn loop daisy chain to your haul bag, and then clip the daisy to the anchor with a locking carabiner.  Seems like a decent idea on the surface, doesn’t it?

But just try to unclip that monster bag from an awkward stance, if the bag is being pulled sideways, and any number of other scenarios, and the shortcomings quickly become obvious - you have to lift the entire weight of the bag with one hand/arm, and use your other hand to unclip the carabiner on the daisy. Yes, it sucks!

You don’t EVER want to be doing this if you can possibly avoid it!

Here’s the modern way: always attach your haul bag to the anchor with a system that is releasable under load - the docking cord. This is simply a 15 (or so) foot doubled length of 8 mm (or 7 mm) cord that’s used to tie a munter hitch plus a “barber pole” wrap to the anchor that can be easily released, even under full tension.

A Munter Mule overhand, aka MMO, on a single or double strand, work as well.

The lineage of the docking cord method is a little hard to trace, but it's generally attributed to Chongo, a legendary Yosemite aid climber, and then further popularized by Yosemite veterans Pete Zabrok and Mark Hudon. (Let's give credit where credit is due, eh?)

Nice diagram from vdiffclimbing.com. (Note that the docking cord is clipped to the master haul bag carabiner. I prefer tying it to the long strap on the haul bag, more on that below.)

image: vdiffclimbing.com/bigwall-hauling/

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Where do you attach the docking cord?

Many people clip it directly to the master carabiner, as shown below on the right. However, if you do this, when the bag is docked, you have the weight of the bag also loading the master carabiner, which can make opening at the bag bit more difficult.

I think a better option is shown in the left photo below: tie the docking cord with a retraced overhand knot directly to the long strap. If you do this, after the bag is docked and you release tension on the haul rope, you have slack on the master carabiner, which makes getting in and out of your bag much easier.

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Here's one more tip on where to tie your docking cord (which I unfortunately learned after I shot all these photos). Most haul bags have some sturdy sewn tabs around the opening. If your tie your docking cord to one of these tabs, you can dock the bag higher up on the anchor, which often makes accessing the bag more convenient. Plus, there is no tension on either of the black straps, which makes getting in and out of your bag easy, One potential downside of this is that your bag may not hang level which is usually okay.

The photo below is not mine, I borrowed it off of Instagram and no longer know the source. If it's yours, please let me know and I will give you proper credit.

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Consider where the bag should go on the anchor. Something to keep in mind: does the next pitch traverse? If it does, you want the bag on that side. For example, if the next pitch traverses to the right, you want the bag docked on the right. If it’s docked on the left, when it's released, it's going to do it's best to treat you as a bowling pin as it’s lowered out. You will probably make this mistake only once. =^)

If the next pitch goes pretty much straight up, it doesn't really matter where the bag is docked. Generally, you want it away from where your partner is coming up, so if the last piece of gear is on the right, you generally want the bag docked on the left.

If it's the last pitch of the day and you're spending the night in a portaledge, you need to give some thought to where are you going to hang the ledge and hopefully dock the bags somewhat close by. If you're going to put on the ledge fly, you need to know where the opening is, and hang the bags next to the opening.

And one more thing: some people will tell you to always pull the bag up tight to the anchor. But, unless this is your bivy spot, that's really not so important. The bag can hang down quite a ways below the belay after docking. You shouldn't need to get into it during the day, because you were smart enough to bring a wall bucket, or day bag, right?

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Here's a tip: After you have your pigs docked, you need transfer the load onto your docking cord. To do this, you need to release the cam on your hauling pulley. Here's one way way to do that. Put a Grigri onto the “pull” end of the haul line, close to the pulley. Sit down hard, push off the wall with your feet, whatever you need to do to lift the bag just a centimeter or so. Once you lift it, release the cam on your pulley. Now, use your Grigri to slowly lower the load onto the docking cord. Clever, no? (This crafty rope trick comes from the excellent big wall instructional book “Hooking Up”, by Pete Zabrok and Fábio Elli.)

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While you're at the gear shop buying the cord, you might as well get another 30 feet of 8mm cord, of a few different colors, so you can make gear tethers, something we cover at this Tip.

Note: it’s a Good Idea to make your docking cord a bright obvious color that’s different than your gear tethers, so you can see at a glance which is which.

You probably wouldn’t be too excited about having your only connection to the anchor be a bit of 8 mm cord, and your haul bags probably feel the same way. After you make the primary connection with the docking cord, consider backing it up to something solid. If you have one bag, this could be clipping the haul rope to some other point on the anchor.

If you have two bags side-by-side, each bag is clipped to a different master point in the bags are clipped to each other, so one essentially backs up the other.

(Think through what would happen if that docking cord were to fail - your haul bag could potentially free fall 60 meters the length of the haul rope, which would then put that force onto your anchor. Bad news!)

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Here’s what big wall expert Mark Hudon has to say about this system, from his website Hudonpanos.com:

“I use 15 feet of 8 mil cord, doubled. Tie an 8 knot loop in the middle and clip it to the main haul bag carabiner. When you reach an anchor, reach down and grab both strands of one docking cord. Run them up through a carabiner on the anchor (I hang a carabiner down from one of the large lockers of my “Anchor Kit”) and tie a Munter hitch using both cords. Once the Munter is tied, separate the cords and wrap them in opposite directions (aka “barber pole”) around and down the docking cord coming up from the haul bag. After five or six wraps, secure the ends with a simple square knot. Each haul bag has its own docking cord going to different master point carabiner (and each haul bag is clipped to the other) so my feeling is that one is backing up the other.

Releasing this knot and the bags is one of the great features of this system. Untie the square knot and unweave the 8 millimeter cord.

Only when you get to the Munter will you feel any pull on the cords from the bags. It’s casual to let the cords slip from you hand and set the bags free. If I’m with a partner, I can hold both bags with one hand and only one Munter, while waiting for the haul line to come tight and the bags to start moving.”

Here’s a nice video by Mark that shows a very clever way to transfer the haul bag from one part of the anchor system to another, using “far end hauler”, a Micro traxion pulley attached to the haul bag.

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Here’s a video that covers it well.

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Finally, here's a great diagram from the always amazing artist Mike Clelland, showing how the docking cord works with the other components of a tidy big wall anchor. Note that the diagram shows a single strand of rope tied with a Munter Mule; a bit different than the double strand method shown above, but accomplishes the same thing.

image credit: Mike Clelland

Use a tagline

Imagine you're leading a long pitch on a big wall. The anchors are in sight, phew, you’re almost done, and suddenly . . . the Bad Climbing Fairy suddenly clips a 20 pound / 10 kg weight onto your harness! Would you want to climb with an unnecessary 20 pounds on you? Well, that's going to be the approximate weight of your haul rope plus everything you need at the upper anchor hanging on you near the end of a pitch. Leading a long aid pitch is strenuous! Don’t make it even harder by carrying more than you need.

This is even more important if you are doing some free climbing.

Rarely do you need to start a pitch carrying a load like this! Send out that heavy gear up on the tagline later as you need it.

There’s a fair bit of gear that the leader will need when they arrive at the next anchor. This typically includes:

• An anchor kit (at a minimum 4-5 locking carabiners, possibly a mini quad or PAS to make an equalized hauling anchor)

• The hauling kit, either a 1:1 or 2:1, typically a locking carabiner, progress capturing pulley, and an ascender, for a bare-bones 1:1

• The haul rope, which if it’s a 10 mm 70 meter long static rope will weigh around 5 kg / 10+ lbs (about 70 grams per meter)

• Maybe a rope bag to put the haul rope in

• Maybe a windbreaker, water, and snacks

Instead of schlepping all this gear on the back of your harness, instead climb the pitch trailing just a lightweight tagline. This is typically 60 m of 5 or 6 mm cord. At the lower anchor, this can feed out of a small designated stuff sack. When the leader gets to the next anchor, they pull up the tag line, which is attached to a small bag with all the needed hauling gear inside.  

Note: the leader needs to be extra careful with this tag line, otherwise it's going to be an unmanageable mess if you don't lap coil it carefully or ideally put it in its own designated small rope bag. That's how it goes with a long length of thin cord. The leader can carry a lightweight, compressible nylon stuff sack to store the tag line.

The belayer must be sure this “tag gear bag” is ready to get hauled, unobstructed, and has everything inside it that the leader needs.

The medium Fish Beef Bag is a good choice to hold all the tag gear. 

http://www.fishproducts.com/pics/beefbags.jpeg

The tag line can also be used to haul up any gear as needed when leading the pitch, such as that number 4 Camalot you might need up high. If the leader needs gear sent up and they are more than 30 meters up and have a 60 meter tag line, their partner can use the haul rope to extend the tag line, and then can retrieve the tagline back down. 

Note: It is super important that the leader not drop the tagline! At the upper anchor, good practice is to pull up some slack, tie it off somewhere safe, and only then unclip the locking carabiner connecting it to your harness, which is probably on the back of your harness and easy to fumble.

Using a tagline can dramatically lower the weight you’re carrying as a leader and free up some precious room on your harness. The one small downside is that it takes slightly more time to set up your “real” hauling system, but the effort you save is usually worth the extra time.

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This 65 m, 6 mm static cord from Black Diamond would be a good choice.

image: www.blackdiamondequipment.com

The most common rookie aid cleaning mistake

Probably the classic beginner cleaning mistake when using ascenders on a big wall is not pay attention to what’s above you, jam your top ascender up tight against a carabiner or knot . . . and get hopelessly stuck. Your ascender needs to move a tiny bit forward for the cam to disengage, and if you slam it up hard against a carabiner with the rope stretched tight under your body weight, this is not gonna happen. (This becomes even more of a problem if the rope is heading off on a bit of a traverse. I learned this the hard way on my first big wall.)

A good rule of thumb: always stop your ascender about the width of a fist, or say 4 or so inches, away from a carabiner or knot. This will ensure you always have enough room to back it down or remove it.

Here’s the WRONG way. The ascender is jammed up tight against the carabiner, making it near impossible to move it up, down, or remove it from the rope.

(Note - climber, harness, daisy chain etc. not shown for clarity.)

Here’s the CORRECT way. The ascender is stopped about 3-4 inches below the carabiner. This gives you room to move the ascender up, down, or remove it from the rope and reattach it above the carabiner you need to clean, a common cleaning tactic on traverses like this.

Intertwine stoppers for reachy aid placements

Need to reach a few more inches for that aid stopper placement? Try intertwining the cables.

If you’re trying a reachy stopper replacement, you may not be able to see if the stopper fits well. Be sure and bounce test carefully before committing to it.

If you’re reaching for a rivet head, just slide the top stopper down to expose the wire loop.

It’s easy to do, but here’s a step by step.

Use rope bags - decluster your big wall anchor

Big wall anchors can turn into an incredible cluster if you don't stay on top of things and keep it tidy. An excellent way to do this is to keep the lead and haul ropes contained and feeding smoothly by using rope bags. It may seem like one extra bit of a necessary gear, but it can keep your big wall belays WAY more manageable and less tangled.

You have several options.

Low budget: Doubled grocery bags. Put one inside the other, Gorilla tape the handles together, and tape the two top edges together.

(This “double bag” trick is from the excellent big wall climbing book, “Hooking Up”, by Pete Zabrok and Fabio Elli, highly recommended for a big wall climbers.)

Metolius Big Wall stuff sack, size large.

image: https://www.metoliusclimbing.com/

Fish Gear makes some great rope bags. fishproducts.com > Product catalog > Big Wall

double and single Fish rope bags:

fishproducts.com

fishproducts.com

Aid climbing - bring a “beak” piton

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My partner and I were on the classic big wall route The Prow, on Yosemite‘s Washington Column. He was leading around the fifth pitch, which the route topo said had a few fixed heads. He was making pretty good progress, when the rope came to a halt and I heard a few mumbled curse words floating down. 

“This friggin head has the cable broken off”, he yelled down. “Send up the pecker!”

I clipped it to the haul line, he pulled it up, and in a minute the rope started to thankfully move again.

When I was cleaning the pitch, I saw the spot that had stopped him cold. There was about a 8 foot section of blankness, with only a very thin crack and a copperhead with the cable broken off. The pecker saved the day - my partner had carefully looped it over the copperhead and stepped on through.

image: from the great aid climbing book “HOOking UP”, by Fabio Elli and Pete Zabrok

Even if you’re climbing an aid route cleanly, meaning without a hammer, having a “beak” style piton can come in very handy.

A beak piton (a shortening of the broader term bird beak) is a very thin piton with a V-shaped downward hook at the end. It looks a lot like a bird head, hence some of the clever names: Toucan, Tomahawk, Pecker etc.

Black Diamond Pecker piton blackdiamond.com

They’re designed to be hammered into extremely thin cracks, and have been a key piece of gear that have opened up many of the most cutting edge difficult aid climbs.

But, if hardcore A4 isn't your thing, having a beak piton with you even on a hammerless “clean” rated route (like C1, C2, etc) can be helpful.

Rather than hammering it into a very thin crack in traditional piton style, a beak can sometimes be gently hand placed in a very thin crack without a hammer.

In our case, hooking a beak over the top of the smashed in copperhead saved the day. If you come across this scenario even once on a route, it can stop you cold unless you have a way to get past it. 

You can even place them in a shallow horizontal crack and use the tie off point near the head to minimize leverage. Granted, this is a creative and fairly uncommon placement, but it just might get you past that tricky part.

The Black Diamond Pecker is the one I have and it's great. It comes in three sizes, 1, 2, and 3. I suggest number 2. If you're going to be hammering them on a real aid route, be sure and tie a sturdy bit of cleaning webbing in the top hole. (Also, the steel cable that comes with the Black Diamond beaks is not very robust, so you might want to back that up with some webbing as well.)

The “Tomahawk” beaks made by Moses are another well regarded design. As you can see, these have a slightly different profile and a stout clipping loop.

image: http://mosesclimbing.us/home/tomahawks/

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Finally, here's a great instructional video with some action photos and really nice animation showing how to use them in detail.

Lowering Out - Consider using a designated cord

This tip is from big wall expert Mark Hudon. See some more tips and El Cap Route photos at his website.

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Monkey face, smith rock oregon, image: https://waynewallace.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/p1010600.jpg

Many aid routes have long bolt ladders, such as the first couple of pitches of Leaning Tower in Yosemite and Monkey Face (shown above) at Smith Rock Oregon.

If the bolts go pretty much straight up, cleaning them is easy. But if the bolts traverse, and/or the rock becomes overhanging, and/or (especially) if the leader decides to backclean, cleaning becomes more difficult. When you reach the offending bolt/protection you’ll know it, because of the sharp angle of the rope as it shoots off to one side.

As the second, you may curse your backcleaning leader with enthusiasm: You’ll be stuck at the bolt, unable to clean the quickdraw because of the rope tension pulling off to one side.

In this situation, the standard technique is to remove the top ascender/aider, reclip it above the piece, and weight that aider. In theory, this removes the tension from the rope below, letting you clean the gear. (It can be a LOT easier to do this if you have a Grigri, recommended gear for cleaning traverses.)

This works fine on moderate traverses, but not so well if it's more extreme. When the next clipped piece is 4+ feet to the right, because you’ll be left hanging in space, unable to reach the piece you were trying to get out. More importantly, your lower aider will likely have been sucked into the quickdraw in such a way that you will be unable to get it out without cutting the quickdraw . . . Plus, unclipping your ascenders and re-clipping them to tensioned rope heading off sideways can be a little tricky and introduces the possibility you didn’t re-clip them correctly, which could be a Big Problem.

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For a shorter lower outs, or for cleaning a roof or a traverse, consider this: use a designated short lower out cord.

Note that on a lower out, you leave the gear behind. So, it works best through a fixed point. If you're going to lower it through your own gear, better not go too far or you won't be able to swing back to clean it! (Just about every big wall climber makes this mistake at least once . . .)

Using a designated lower out cord like this can be especially helpful when climbing with folks relatively new to aid climbing, who may not have the more advanced following / cleaning skills.

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The cord I like is a simply 5 or 6 mm cord, about 15 feet / 5 meters. This works perfectly for cleaning the bolts on Monkey Face as shown in the top photo, as well as roofs and traverses.

(Mark suggested using a longer length, about 40 feet / 13 meters for lower outs on big walls that are under about 20 feet. Much longer than this, you're probably better off using the climbing rope in the traditional manner. Check the topo, and bring a cord of the appropriate length for the lower outs that you anticipate.

Keep the cord bundled up out of the way on your harness until you need it. If the second knows that the pitch they’ll be cleaning requires a lower out, they can tie a figure 8 on a bight with the cord through their belay loop before they leave the belay. You should be looking at the route topo and knowing that a move like this is coming up, right? If you see the leader doing a pendulum, or maybe even a couple of horizontal hook moves, you should anticipate having to do a lower out.

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Here’s a much better way to clean a traversing bolt ladder.

Once at the lower point (which is some sort of permanently fixed gear, like cord/webbing, bolt with hanger, piton, stopper. etc), here’s what you do:

• Tie your lower out cord to your belay loop.

• Clip a spare carabiner to your belay loop.

• Attach a fifi hook to your harness. Yes, usually you only use a fifi for leading, but in some cases like this, it's pretty handy for cleaning as well. Just keep it on your harness all the time. (I prefer girth hitching it through the top tie in point.)

Note: in the photos, tethers, aid ladders and the often-handy Grigri are omitted for clarity.

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1. If there’s a mess of old tattered webbing at the lower point, cut away the junk with your knife and leave only one good piece. If you don't, there's a chance your lower out cord is going to get stuck in the tat when you try to pull it. This is more likely to happen when you use the standard method with the rope, which involves passing ad pulling a bight through the lower out point, but still, do people behind you a favor and cut away the junk. If you want to be even more courteous for the next team, add a quick link or your least favorite carabiner.

2. Pass the free end of your lowering cord through the lower out point.

3. Tie a munter hitch on the lowering cord, and clip it to the free carabiner on your belay loop.

4. Hoist on the free end to pull yourself close in to the lower out point, holding your weight on the munter hitch.

5. This takes the tension off the rope you’re ascending, which lets you unclip the lead rope and clean the carabiner the leader probably left there.

6. Slowly lower yourself out with the munter hitch. You will hopefully now be hanging directly below the piece of gear the leader placed after they did the pendulum. Hopefully it was not more than about 7 feet away, because you can only lower yourself half the distance of the length of your cord. If you're not quite in the fall line, be prepared for a little swing. (Yes, this will be exciting!) Let go of the munter hitch, and pull your lower out cord through the lower out point and back to your harness.

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Here's the basic set up, using an untied / open cordelette that's about 5 meters long. (It can be much longer, this short length was easier for the photo.) Tie the rope to your belay loop.

For clarity, the following two photos do not have the normal gear you’d need cleaning on a big wall, such as the lead rope, ascenders, aiders, daisychains, etc.

Pass the free end of the rope through the fixed protection, and tie a Munter hitch in the spare carabiner on your belay loop. Now you can hoist yourself with a 2:1 mechanical advantage toward the fixed piece of gear. The Munter holds your weight. Now you have slack in your climbing rope, which lets you unclip and clean whatever the leader clipped to the fixed piece.

After your gear is cleaned, release the Munter hitch, and lower out. You should end up hanging vertically under the next higher piece of gear. Untie the Munter, pull the cord through the fixed gear, and continue ascending and cleaning as normal.

Using gear tethers for items outside your haul bag

image: from the outstanding book “higher education” by Andy Kirkpatrick, used with permission

Not everything is going to fit in your haul bag. And, there are some things you don't want to put in there! Typically, these items might be your portaledge, poop tube, gear bag, garbage sack, empty water bottles, day bag and maybe a gear bucket.

The Old School technique for dealing with extra items like this was to clip them underneath your haul bag. Even if you've never climbed a big wall, you can probably imagine what type of problems this creates.  Every time you’d need to access your extra items, you'd have to finagle yourself underneath your haul bag, a major and unnecessary hassle.

Fortunately, there’s a Superior System - gear tethers. Rather than clipping your gear under the bag, you tie it with the tether attached to the top. This allows you to grab the gear tether, and simply pull up whatever you need.

A tether is simply an 8 mm cord about 15 feet long. Tie a figure 8 on a bight in the middle and clip it with a locking carabiner to your main hauling carabiner. This gives you two tethers about 7 feet long each.

Get another 15 foot section of 8mm cord of a different color, and do the same thing. The color coding helps you remember which rope to pull.

And, as long as you’re buying 8 mm cord, you might as well get yourself another 15 feet to use as a docking tether for the actual haul bag, which we cover in this Tip. (Ideally the docking cord is a different color from the cords you use for gear tethers, to be sure you don’t accidently release the wrong one.)

Be sure the cords are long enough so whatever is attached to them hangs below your haul bag, otherwise it gets pinched between the bag and the rock.

Important: everything on a gear tether has to be on a locking carabiner. (Use a ”cheapskate locker” if you need to, a regular carabiner taped shut.)

An excellent use of gear tethers. Image: Mark Hudon

image: https://hudonpanos.com/Wall-Tips/All-Things-Haul-Bag.pdf