The far end haul, explained
The far end haul haul for big wall applications is generally attributed to Chongo, a legendary Yosemite dirtbag who was famous for extended vertical camping trips on El Capitan with ridiculously large loads.
Having a Petzl Traxion (or similar progress capture pulley) on the load also lets you set up what’s called a “far end haul”, which at first seems like some sort of sorcery. (This load can be you, or another person pack, haul bag etc.)
Usually, hauling happens from the top end of the rope next to the anchor. However, with the far end haul, you to lift your load with a theoretical 2:1 mechanical advantage (MA) by pulling on the “far end” of the rope next to the load, rather than from the primary anchor.
This rig can be useful for big wall soloing / hauling. If you’re hauling your bag from the top, and it gets stuck, you can rap down to it, lift up a little bit by setting up a 2:1 MA with an ascender and a pulley, and free the bags.
I learned from a caver that this is also called a “traveling haul”, used in rescue to raise someone up a large drop. (Hope I never have to do that!)
It also has some self-rescue applications, and can be really helpful for moving your bags around at the anchor, see video below.
To rig the far end 2:1, clip an ascender (or a prusik if you’re short on gear) on the loaded strand of the haul rope, clip a carabiner with a pulley onto the ascender, and pull down on this redirect. Your bodyweight should lift the bags with this theoretical 2:1 MA and the micro traxion will “climb” up the rope and capture your pulling progress, sweet!
In the photo below I'm using a handled ascender. You could use any kind of ascender here like a Tibloc, a second Micro Traxion, Ropeman, etc. The pulley is optional, but definitely helps increase your efficiency when pulling.
Note the real mechanical advantage you will have in the real world when you try this. Below are pull test results with a 10 lb weight from another Alpinesavvy post, mechanical advantage in the real world. You can see that about the best you can do with the far end haul pulley is 1.3 to 1. And if you don’t have a pulley, you probably shouldn't even bother putting the redirect through a carabiner, as the mechanical advantage falls below 1:1. (Note, DMM Revolver carabiners don’t really do anything to reduce friction over a regular carabiner, avoid using those.)
But, even if you’re not soloing, it has a few advantages.
The far end haul can minimize rope abrasion, because the haul rope doesn’t move.
If you have to haul from a point or over a ledge with a LOT of rope friction, you can instead far end haul and have zero friction.
You can easily move the bags around at the anchor; more below.
Here’s a video by wall ace Mark Hudon who shows exactly how to do this. Rather ingenious, no?
