Alpine Tips
Double portaledge, or two singles?
Buying a portaledge is $$$! You want to be sure and make the right choice. What are the pros and cons to a single versus a double ledge?
A portaledge is probably the single most expensive item of gear or you'll ever buy for climbing. So, you want to be sure you get the right one for you. Double or single? There are arguments for both approaches, but consider:
Double portaledge benefits
a double weighs a lot less then two singles - maybe not a big deal when you are hauling, but you'll definitely notice it on the hike out. (Metolius Bomb Shelter example: about 11 lbs. for a single compared to about 13 lbs. for a double)
a double is less $$$ than two singles
a double usually is faster to set up then two singles
a double can be easier to set up at a cramped bivy; while two singles often requires some crafty placement, with one of them sometimes in a Less Than Ideal (LTI) position or off of a marginal anchor, or both
Even for the solo climber, a double offers you more room inside to put your gear, lounge on, and hunker down in in the event of a storm.
(Downside in a storm: the doubles can become a larger sail, potentially tossing you around.)
Why might you choose a single portaledge?
If you are fairly small, a single is easier to set up, or you're fairly tall, giving you room to sleep diagonally.
Singles typically get more “square footage of bed space” per person
If you know you have stinky feet or snore a lot or have some, show we say, intestinal issues, having a little distance and privacy and your partner might be a good thing. Ergo, single.
Recommended double portaledge: Metolius Bomb Shelter or John Middendorf's D4 ledge, available at bigwallgear.com
image: www.metoliusclimbing.com
image: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1188459201/the-d4-portaledge
Mini carabiners for your big wall bivy
You're gonna need a lot of carabiners when it's time to set up camp. Get the smallest, least expensive, fully rated and ideally color-coded carabiners you can find.
To make an organized camp on a big wall, you’ll need probably at least a dozen spare carabiners to clip things securely onto your ledge.
Try to avoid scavenging carabiners from your lead rack to clip stuff to your bivy. (Ask me how I know this.) This will definitely slow you down in the morning when you break down your camp and then restore the carabiners to the proper spot.
So plan head, don't be a cheapskate, and bring the extra “camping-only” carabiners that you need to make a proper camp. (Considering you're wall rack is probably more than $3,000, dropping another $50 to get some low cost carabiners is not that big a deal.)
It's important that these carabiners be properly rated for actual climbing, and not the El Cheapo little “keychain” carabiners that you might get at the hardware store check out. You might remember that the little pink carabiner is not load rated, but what if your partner doesn't know that? What if it's dark and you accidentally grabbed the wrong one?
Get all of them the same unique color. That way you know they’re for camping-only, and you don't get them mixed up with your lead rack.
Lots of manufacturers make tiny wiregate carabiners. A good choice is the CAMP Nano.
Lots of cool colors
Fully load rated at 21 kN
low cost, about $7
Hopefully everything you bring on a big wall has its own stuff sack or clip in point. If you need to add clip points onto pretty much anything, some wonderful cord to use is bank line. It's inexpensive, super strong, and holds knots very well.
If you’re not big wall climbing, mini carabiners also work great for hanging a lantern or headlamp from your tent, attaching light items to the outside of your backpack or hanging your food to keep it away from critters.
Big wall haul rope options: length, diameter, static or dynamic?
Big wall climbers have to choose between three variables when choosing a haul rope. Here is one great option.
This tip is from big wall expert Mark Hudon. See more great tips and El Cap route photos at his website, hudonpanos.com
There are lots of different flavors of rope to choose from, but here’s one that should suit just about everybody:
10 mm
60-70 meters
static rope
10 mm minimum because you want burley; haul ropes take a LOT of abuse!
60-70 meters long, because you can use the tail of the rope as a lower out line, and 70 meters is long enough for any pitch. A 60 meter rope should work fine for most routes as well.
Static, because hauling on a dynamic rope is not so fun; you have to pull all of the stretch out of the road before you even start to move your haul bag. However, some big wallers like using a dynamic rope for hauling, reasoning that if the lead rope were to be damaged, you could continue on with the haul rope. Like with most things in climbing, this can come down to subjective preferences, so give each one a try on a practice wall and see which method you like.
Petzl "club" 70 m static rope. image from gotyourgear.
Portaledge set up - Top Tips
Setting up your portaledge and getting it dialed to the perfect height can be an acrobatic and frustrating challenge. Here are some wall-tested tips to make it a lot easier.
See related post - Assorted "vertical camping" tips
Here's another excellent page with some diagrams for setting up your ledge. One of several examples is below.
image, used with permission : https://www.vdiffclimbing.com/big-wall-camping/
Give yourself enough room to set up your ledge, but stay secure. You need to move around a lot when you're setting up your ledge. To give yourself enough slack to do this, take a large bight of lead rope, tie it to the same anchor bolt as your ledge, and attach yourself to this rope with a GriGri.
Between using aid ladders and this extra rope, you should have enough room to swing around and set up your ledge. Because you are clipped into a closed loop, there's no way you can slide off the end.
It's pretty much a one person job. Setting up the ledge is generally best done by one person. While you're setting up the ledge, your partner can be unpacking the haul bags, sorting the rack for the next day, and stacking the ropes in rope bags.
Keep suspension straps long. The suspension straps are not really for setting the height of your ledge. They’re more for fine-tuning and balancing. For the most part, they should be kept long and extended. If you shorten them up, they merely reduce the living space in your ledge.
Pay attention to the door on your rain fly, and make sure it faces your haul bags. For example, if your rain fly door opens to the left, you want to hang your ledge on the right side of the anchor, and have your haul bags docked on the left side of the anchor. This offers easier access to the bags once you're zipped inside your rain fly.
When tightening the floor tensioner straps, clip a carabiner to the straps, and pull on the carabiner to tighten up the floor. The carabiner gives you an ergonomic handle to really crank down on the tension straps, which is much easier on your tired wall hands. Tension the outside corners first, then the inside straps.
photo: Mark Hudon
Hang from a fifi hook or adjustable daisy when leveling the ledge. The last step is to adjust the long straps that hang from the anchor point to make the ledge hang level. Fine-tuning this can be tricky to do when you’re actually standing or sitting on the ledge, as your body weight is constantly shifting the natural "angle of the dangle" of your ledge. Try this simple trick: First, loosen all leveling straps to their full length. Then, hang by your fifi hook or adjustable daisy from the anchor point of the ledge, putting no body weight on the ledge itself, while you adjust the length to make it (more or less) level. This lets the ledge hang in its natural position, but with you close enough to the corners so you can reach all the straps.
Yates adjustable daisy
Attach a Yates adjustable daisy to the top clip in point of your portaledge. This gives you an easy way to adjust the exact height. Generally, this ideal position is about 2/3 of the way up the side of your haul bag. (Of course, this varies depending on the belay and bolt configuration.) This allows you to stand up in your ledge and easily rummage around in your bag. Adjustable daisies should be retired from lead climbing once they start to get fuzzy and worn out, and a “retired” daisy works fine for this ledge connection.
This Yates adjustable daisy is not the only connection of the portaledge to the anchor. Do you really want to be sleeping hanging off only some flat webbing in a cam buckle? I didn't think so. Mark’s pro tip: permanently tie 10 feet or so of 8 mm cord to the top of your ledge, and then have that go off to another bolt to back up the adjustable daisy.
Once the ledge is set up, transfer everything you need for the night to stay comfy from the haul bags. Ideally, you do this once, because getting in and out of the bags multiple times is a hassle.
Have your gear in color-coded stuff sacks. Mark likes different color coded bags: kitchen, food, clothing, personal care, and technology. This makes pulling out exactly what you need from the bottom of the haul bag a lot easier. You can get some sweet big wall stuff sacks from High Mountain Gear.
Consider hanging an aid ladder close to your end of the ledge. You can use the steps to clip in most all of your personal gear, and not have it dangle in your face when you're sleeping.
Having some sewn tie in points points added onto your ledge makes it much easier to keep your stuff safe and secure. Learn how to use a Speedy Stitcher awl to make your own, or make friends with your local shoe repair shop, who probably has a sewing machine that's older than you are that's sturdy enough to sew through heavy duty webbing.
Consider getting a dozen or so small “bivy carabiners” that are only used for clipping stuff bags, shoes, water bottle, etc. onto your ledge. It's helpful if these carabiners are all one model and color, so can tell at a glance they’re for camping, not climbing. In case you ever mix them up, be sure and buy proper rated climbing carabiners and not the cheapo keychain carabiners from the hardware store.
When you have it all dialed, you’ll be a happy vertical camper, like this guy!
image from Morning in the Portaledge - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnxpesLE1Q0
Big wall - what's the leader’s first tasks at the anchor?
Yes, you just had a hair-raising lead, and all you want to do at the anchors is catch your breath and maybe pop a Valium. Sorry, you've got a few tasks first.
This tip is from big wall expert Mark Hudon. See more great tips and El Cap route photos at his website, hudonpanos.com
Once the leader arrives at the anchor after a big wall lead, they have one main task: Get your second off of the anchor below you as quickly as possible, and THEN get comfortable. But the second can't do much until the leader does 3 things:
Leader's main tasks:
Build a simple strong anchor as quickly as possible
Fix the lead rope for your second
Set up your haul system and pull a few strokes to get the haul bags off the anchor
Do these in order. (If communication is difficult because of wind, a long pitch, or the route going out of sight, when the second sees the haul bags start to move, they automatically know that the lead rope is already fixed for them.)
Only after all this happens can the second start breaking down THEIR anchor and start cleaning.
After these 3 tasks are done, only THEN can the leader take a break!
When you're big wall leading, resist the temptation to kick back, take pictures, relax, etc. right when you get to the anchor; you still have work to do.
Side note: On a shorter pitch, it can be good practice for the leader to pull up the lead rope until it comes tight on the second before fixing. Doing this means the second does not have to carry the entire weight of the rope hanging below them as they are cleaning, which can save them quite a bit of energy. (Of course, if there are any lower outs or other sneaky maneuvers is the second needs to do that require extra rope, be sure to leave them enough slack to make that move.)