30+ tips for more efficient aid climbing
Nearing the top of Moonlight buttress in a day, Zion national park Utah. Photo by me
“Speed climbing” on a big wall route gets a lot of press. But in reality, most of us plodders would do better to focus not on speed, but rather efficiency. Efficiency can mean not running out of water when your three day climb turns into four, avoiding strangling your partner (or vice versa), not taking 30+ minutes for a belay changeover, not climbing by headlamp when you could be kicking back in your portaledge . . . you get the idea.
Below is a somewhat random assortment of climbing tips to help you climb with greater efficiency, and thus speed. Why do I mention these particular tips? Because I ignored pretty much every single one of them on my first couple of walls and sometimes went pretty darn slow as a result. Sure wish I knew all these beforehand!
If you’ve been at the big wall game for a while, you probably know most of these already. If you're fairly new to aid climbing, these tips may be more helpful. These are merely my opinion/experience, and are by no means a complete list. In no order of importance, here we go.
Don’t rush
Speed does not mean fast. Speed means smooth, controlled, well-planned, and properly executed. The Navy SEALS have a saying: ”Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.” Do the task you have in front of you at a proper pace, and do it right the first time. “Smooth” comes from practice and having your systems dialed before you get up on a real climb.
What you're really striving for is efficiency, not speed. If you achieve efficiency, you can actually slow down in your movements, be more relaxed, and enjoy your experience more. Another way to think about it: you increase your speed by minimizing the downtime when no one is making upward progress.
Wall ace Mark Hudon: “Most wall climbers today would gain far, far more time by simply understanding and doing the basic big wall tasks faster.” So, what are the basic tasks? Leading, cleaning, hauling, anchor building, belay changeovers, rope / belay management, staying fed/watered and comfy during the day.
Think of everything physical as a “movement sandwich” (rest, move, rest)
Unlike most other aspects of rock climbing, you can rest pretty much whenever you want to on a big wall. Use this to your advantage. From big wall expert Andy Kirkpatrick’s excellent aid climbing book, “Higher Education”:
“You should never find aid climbing hard. If you do, it means you're doing it wrong. If your arms are tired when leading, you're not resting on your fifi hook. If you get pumped ascending a rope, that means your lanyards are not set right or you’re standing in the wrong step of your aider. The same goes for hauling, if you're busting a gut then switch it up to a 2:1 or maybe space hauling. Almost everything physical should be a ‘movement sandwich’, movement placed between two slices of rest. Rest-move-rest. Rest-move-rest.”
Time yourself when practicing
Yes, we’re talking stopwatch. During your training, time yourself and your partner doing different tasks. How long did it take you to do EACH of these tasks - Lead the pitch, build the anchor, fix the rope, set up the haul, do the haul, clean the pitch, re-rack the gear, and have your partner start leading the next pitch? Repeat all these on the same training route different times maybe over different days, and notice your times hopefully start to dramatically improve. Have fun, and make training a little competitive. Time each segment, loser buys beverages.
Don’t “learn” to aid on a real route
People stuck behind you who have the skills to climb it for real will NOT be happy. EVERYTHING you do on a wall should be practiced BEFORE you get to the actual climb. To put it another way, on your actual route, you should never be trying something for the first time.
Do repeat laps on obscure 5.11 cracks until you get your movement and systems dialed. Time yourself.
Haul a 100 pound bag 1:1.
Experience “riding the pig” by rappelling with your fully loaded haul bag. ( Tip - don’t hang it from your belay loop!)
Set up your ledge on a real cliff and spend a night in it, not just in a backyard tree.
Poop in a bag, on your ledge
Do “aid bouldering” close to the ground, placing all manner of tiny stoppers, marginal hooks and micro cams until you really know how far you can push them before failure.
Practice passing a knot, both going up with ascenders and going down (rappelling).
Put in your training. Practice the core skills. You, your partner, and everyone behind you on the route will have a much better time. (People who go try Monkey Face at Smith Rock Oregon who have never aid climbed before and take 2 hours to lead and clean a short bolt ladder, I’m looking at YOU!)
You can practice just about every big wall skill on a short route
When practicing, make the best use of what you have. This could be a route in a cooperative climbing gym, or a one pitch obscure crack at your local crag. Don't start the pitch standing on the ground. Climb up just a few meters, make a hanging belay, and start from there. Make a few moves, build another belay, haul and bring your partner up and repeat. This gives you extra practice at anchor building, hauling, and transitions, which can be a giant time suck for beginners.
Have all the skills needed for your route
Study the topo, photos and trip reports. Is there a pendulum and a lower out? How far is it? Do you need to hook? Is there a burly off width? Do you know how to clean a traverse? What’s the hardest mandatory free climbing, and can I/we do it?
Do you know how to lead AND clean a roof? The classic “Kor Roof” pitch on the South Face of Washington Column in Yosemite has shut down many an ambitious first time big wall team. Roof climbing is admittedly hard to practice, but read the topo and do your best to train before you go. Try the underside of an outdoor staircase, playground swing set, rope between 2 trees, or roof route in a helpful climbing gym. If you’re in Yosemite, be sure to put in a practice lap or two on the LeConte Boulder.
There’s a bounty of route beta for just about every beginner route you would ever want to try. Study up, know what skills you need to have, and master them before you go.
Talk over each pitch before the climb
Before you leave the ground, go over every pitch in detail with your partner. Talk over who’s going to do what, when will it happen, and how you’re going to handle any anticipated difficulties. Do we have all the gear needed for the route? What’s the farthest we need to lower out the bags, and do we need a separate lower out line? Does a pitch go around a corner so we maybe can’t hear or see each other? (Better have a clear communication plan.) Are we leading in blocks or swapping leads? Who gets what pitches? What’s our anticipated timeline, and what do we do if we’re faster or slower than we planned?
Having an action plan means you don’t need to create one on the fly and make important decisions when you’re tired and stressed. Sure, you can change your plan, but it’s a starting blueprint that guides your actions, instead of pretty much winging it on every pitch.
Route topos
Make several copies of the route topo. One for each person on the team and one extra. I like to laminate mine at the office store, and put in a grommet, and then tie some cord through the grommet as a clip in point.
Save a photo or PDF of the topo (and other relevant beta, like the descent route) onto your phone, which is free and weighs 0.0 grams. This goes for your partner as well.
Always ask yourself when you have downtime: “What could I be doing right now to make this climb faster or safer?”
Especially for beginners, there’s almost always something. Be on a constant lookout for small potential problems, and deal with them before they become larger real problems. “Hmm, looks like that haul rope is hung up on something. I better deal with that right now before the leader starts to pull it up . . . ”
Andy Kirkpatrick: Remember the number one sentence that needs to be avoided on a wall: “Hang on a minute!”
Strive for well-organized anchors
This is probably the single biggest time suck and cluster-generator for newer climbers. Something as simple as which side of the anchor to dock the haul bag can create either an effortless release or an incredible tangle. Decide where the bag is going to go, use rope bags, have multiple full strength clipping points, keep the lead rope and haul rope separated and tangle free and you'll be well on your way.
Maintaining the psyche
Big wall expert Mark Hudon has some self-talk he uses when things get spicy: “I may be scared, but I’m at LEAST as good as the WORST climber who has ever done this route! If they got past this point, dammit, so can I!” Remind yourself of this, and maybe even laugh a little when you’re faced with a tough spot.
Be patient with your partner and do not “blame”, no matter whose fault something might be. Mistakes will happen. Work together to overcome the problem.
Use a day bag
Don’t be diving into the haul bags at each belay to get snacks, water, sunscreen, windbreaker, etc. It's big time suck, waste of energy, and greatly increases the chance of dropping something. In the morning, put all the stuff you need for the day in a smaller “day bag” (aka “piglet”) or wall bucket, tied outside your haul bag (probably on a gear tether) for easy access. (Remind your partner to get their day gear all ready at the morning bivy.) Check out the “RTFN bag” and Wall Bucket at Skot’s Wall Gear.
Second leaves the belay fast
Try to minimize time when both climbers are at a belay and not moving. Especially, strive for fast belay changeovers. Slow belay changeovers can be a huge time suck for beginners.
The leader should call down when they are getting close to the anchor (the 25 foot rule) so the second can start tidying things up. One good thing for the belayer to do at this point is to be sure the haul bags are properly packed away, unencumbered, the haul rope is running freely, and the bags and rope are ready for lift off, because the very first task for the leader is to pull the bags a little bit off of the anchor, so the second can clean everything.
The leader should never be “ready to haul” and have to then wait for the second to sort things out!fdecide
When the leader calls “rope is fixed” the second can clip their ascenders to the lead rope and fully weight it. This frees up most of the anchor, the second can get to work breaking it down, and get ready to release the bags.
Releasing the bags should be pretty much effortless if you use a docking cord, which is a tether that’s releasable under load. Forget the old school method of using a daisy chain or some other static sling to connect your bags to the anchor; this can often require brute force to get your bags moving, especially if the pitch above traverses.
If the next pitch traverses to one side (say the right), you probably want the bags docked on the right side of the anchor, so they don't swing across you and smack you when you release them.
There's really no need to haul the bags up snug with the anchor on every pitch, unless you’re spending the night there. Hanging the bags a bit below the anchor can make your belay less clustered.
Generally, the bags should never be undocked by the second until they have fully lifted off from the anchor, and the second can check that nothing is hung up, carabiner is being weighted correctly, etc.
Clean the gear in semi-tidiness
You don’t need to be super type A and organize every piece of gear immaculately when cleaning, but you also don’t want to clip it any which way.
A cleaning system that works well: have two single length / 60 cm runners, one over each shoulder. Use wider nylon slings rather then skinny Dyneema - wider is more comfortable under a load of gear.
Clip free carabiners and slings onto one runner, and gear onto the other. Generally order the gear by size, but don’t be too fussy about it at the expense of upward progress. Avoid racking gear on your waist loops, unless you like the feeling of 30+ pounds of hardware causing your harness to slowly creep down towards your ankles.
When the cleaner gets to the top anchor, these two gear slings get clipped somewhere safe, and quickly added back onto the lead rack by whoever is leading the next pitch.
Doing this allows you to quickly hand off the gear at the next belay, rather than unclipping things one by one from your gear loops. This is much faster, and there’s less chance to drop things.
Lead gear should be easy to place and easy to clean
From big wall ace Kevin DeWeese: “Free climbing is faster than placing gear. Cam hooks are often faster then micro cams in the proper crack. Cams are usually preferable to stoppers.”
If you’re going to place a nut, see if you can place a cam to stand in, and then set a nut next to it with a gentle tug, without loading it with your bodyweight. This makes the nut much easier to clean. (Note: on soft desert sandstone, it can be better practice to use nuts rather than cams. Many popular routes are optimized for nut placements, and doing so helps preserve the rock.)
Don't get carried away with your bounce testing
Classic beginner mistake with bounce testing: they slam their whole body weight on every single piece, even when it's an obviously solid. Doing this wastes time, potentially damages your smaller gear, and can make cleaning gear (especially stoppers) much harder for your partner.
The purpose of bounce testing is to give you confidence that the gear will hold your weight when you fully transfer onto it. The purpose is (usually) not to know if it's going to hold a big fall. (With a moderate bounce, you can apply about double your body weight onto the protection.) So, if you place a good piece, don't bother bounce testing. If you place a marginal piece, ease onto it slowly, give it a small bounce to be sure it's going to hold, and then climb those ladder steps quickly and with confidence.
Build anchors fast
Anchors in many climbing situations rarely see any significant weight at all. Anchors on a big wall see large loads all the time.
You and your partner should agree on a standardized anchor system that you can use at most anchors, and try to stick to it. It should probably be based around two or three roughly horizontal bolts, because that’s probably what you’re going to find. But always read the topo and know what to expect.
Strive for clean, simple, easy-to-understand anchor systems. A spaghetti pile of rope and webbing is confusing and dangerous, because you don’t readily know what can be safely unclipped and what cannot.
Have two different identical “anchor kits”, a pre-packaged collection of whatever carabiners and slings you and your partner agree on to quickly build an anchor. (Avoid the common beginner mistake of building an anchor with whatever bits of slings and scavenged carabiners you have left after a long pitch.) At the bare minimum, your anchor kit should have three large carabiners. Once you are skilled at big wall anchor building, the leader should be hauling in not much more than 10 minutes after reaching the anchor on a trade route.
Here’s one of many approaches to anchor building:
Leader clips three large locking HMS carabiners (or maybe a Grivel Vlad, a combination carabiner and 3 hole rigging plate) from the anchor kit onto each bolt.
Leader cloves themselves to the middle bolt and adds a backside butterfly knot on an outside bolt closest to where the second will arrive (call it the right) at the anchor. BOOM, leader is connected to two bolts, and the lead rope is fixed to two bolts for the second. This should take about two minutes max. Note that the leader and the second are not “equalized” in the standard definition, but each of their connections is on two bolts.
Leader clips a pre-tied mini quad anchor, or maybe a long PAS, or two single runners onto the left and center bolt. Leader starts hauling from this equalized masterpoint. Bag(s) are docked to the loops on the PAS or the top loops of the quad. (The PAS gives you lots of convenient spots to clip stuff to, which as a beginner you will certainly appreciate.)
Regarding hauling from a single bolt: Yes, it’s probably okay to haul off of one bolt, provided you have COMPLETE confidence in it, but if you feel happier distributing that big load onto two pieces of gear, go for it. Do you KNOW that bolt was placed correctly? Common trade route in Yosemite granite (maybe with an ASCA - “American Safe Climbing Association” - hanger), probably yes. More obscure route in most other parts of the world, maybe no. (Don’t go by what’s stamped on the hanger. Could be a lame 5 Kn bolt with a 20 Kn hanger.) The consequences of a single bolt hauling anchor failing may be catastrophic. Think it through and use the system you are comfortable with, even if it takes a bit more gear and another minute to set up.
Complex rigging is generally not needed on trade routes
Equalizing three modern bolts with a cordelette (or even two!) is probably not needed. Many people will want to haul from an anchor that distributes the load to more than one bolt. A pre-equalized system, such as a permanently-tied quad, 2 single length runners or a long PAS can work great. Both of these systems also do not require you to untie any welded knots when you break down the anchor, which is a big plus.
Leader gets safe, fixes the lead rope, and starts to haul before doing anything else
After finishing the pitch, the main task of the leader is to get the haul bags just a meter or so off the lower anchor so the second can start breaking down the anchor and cleaning. The second can’t really do anything until that happens. So the leader has to 1) fix the lead rope, 2) rig the haul system, and 3) start the haul ASAP. The leader can take a break, have a snack/water, take pictures, etc. ONLY after they do these 3 tasks and lift the bags a bit off the lower anchor.
Note: the leader should ALWAYS 1) fix the lead rope, and then 2) set up the hauling system, in this order. This is an important safety consideration that both climbers should follow, especially if you don't have good voice communication. When the second sees the haul bag start to move, they 100% know that the lead rope is fixed, even without any voice communication. (If the leader was still climbing the pitch, it would not be possible for them to haul.)
Also, another safety consideration for the leader when setting up the haul: engage the cam of your progress capture pulley BEFORE you start pulling up the slack rope. Reason: if your second releases the bags prematurely, they will be caught by the engaged cam. If you don't have the cam engaged, the bags will drop, big problem.
Avoid hauling over edges/ledges
If your haul rope runs over any sort of a ledge or rock edge, it's going to add significant friction and require a LOT more effort to raise the pigs. Do whatever you can to minimize this by either raising the master point or extending the master point over the edge. Then, just manhandle the bags up onto it when they arrive if that’s your bivy. If you're not spending the night there, it's probably OK for the bags to hang out below the ledge, usually no real need to bring them up tight to the anchors. If you are hauling over a ledge, might be a good time to haul directly from the single highest bolt, rather than making a master point that will be lower.
Leader preps for the next pitch at the belay
After the leader has hauled, they should be scoping the next pitch, reading the topo, readying needed gear, noting gear that’s not needed, and helping the follower (if swinging leads) to blast off ASAP and properly equipped in any way possible.
The leader can place the first piece of gear for the next pitch for their second. This lets the second move past the actual anchor and clip to this gear. This can spread out the climbers and generally decluster things, especially if the belay is something other than wide and horizontal.
The leader can break down the hauling kit and clip it to the first piece of gear for the next pitch, so the second can easily grab it and not forget it.
Keep your ropes tidy
Not staying on top of your ropes can significantly cluster your anchor, leading to the all too common beginner big wall mistake of somehow having part of your lead rope pinned underneath / around the haul line/bag, or some other random bit of rope weirdiosity that needs your time, mental energy and often brute force to sort out.
It's good practice to not allow rope ends to flap around in the breeze. All unused ropes are in bags or tied up, and all rope ends should be clipped to something.
Probably the simplest way to wrangle your rope: butterfly coil the rope through a single length / 60 cm runner.
Rope bags are very helpful. Using them pretty much guarantees that your rope is not going to get snarled or blow sideways and cause a problem. Skots Wall Gear makes a nice double bag; one side for the lead rope and one side for the hall rope. The frugal climber can try stout, reuseable grocery bags. Trader Joes makes some nice ones. Tip: double bag it: put one bag inside the other and Gorilla tape the handles and the tops together.
An option for the lead rope is for the second to tie back up loops on a large carabiner when cleaning, and then clip this carabiner onto the anchor. If you do it right the rope is in a series of overhand knots with short loops between them.
Use butterfly knots
Just about anytime you’re thinking of tying a figure 8 on a bight, you're probably better off tying a butterfly knot instead. The butterfly serves pretty much the same function, and it's easier to untie after it's been loaded.
Take advantage of favorable temperatures
If it's hot, make a point to climb in the cool of the morning and perhaps at night if it all possible. This might mean a midday siesta in the portaledge, which might not of been part of the original plan. If it’s hot, a spray mister bottle and an umbrella can make life a LOT more pleasant.
Lead with confidence
You’re on a C1 or C2 route, and you’ve got a boatload of modern gear. This is the aid version of climbing a 5.9 sport route with huge jugs!
Don’t test that bomber cam with three bounces. Set it, maybe give it one good bounce, and go. Don’t tiptoe up in your aiders, tentatively pausing at every step. Step up high and quickly. Your goal is to get into your third or even second steps ASAP, so take the “stairs” fast. If that piece does blow, you have another bomber placement at your feet, right? So get on up there! Watch a good aid climber on C1. They are pretty much always in upward motion. This is your goal as well.
Remember to eat
Adrenaline has many strange effects on the human body. One of them is a shutdown, in varying degrees, of the digestive system. When you're pumped and a bit scared all day long, it's likely you won't feel much hunger, but it's imperative you force yourself to eat. Otherwise you could get to a state of what in the bike racing world is known as “bonking” - low blood sugar and a dramatic drop off in performance. Have something to eat, at least after every hour or so, whether you want to go or not. Remember to keep your snacks handy in a day bag or wall bucket, not buried in the main haul bag.
Try the “T-Step” when leading
The “T-Step“ (similar to “Teeing Off, a similar technique generally credited to Utah big wall pioneer Ron Olevsky) is a lesser known but highly effective way to stand tall in your aid ladders, on steep terrain, without using a fifi hook. It works with either foot, here's an example using the right. Stand with your right foot in your aider. Turn your left foot counterclockwise 90 degrees to the left. Then put the arch of your left foot over the toes of your right foot (making a letter “T”, get it?), with the aid ladder between each leg. Sounds weird, but try it. You'll be able to stand in your second or even top step in complete comfort, with no fifi, even if the terrain is up to vertical. Learn more and see a video demo here.
Fifi and daisies
If you’re using a fifi hook, try step up tall and clip it into your designated aider carabiner, not anything lower. One way to remember this is think “metal to metal” - clip the fifi only to something metal, not your ladder step or loop on your daisy.
If you’re climbing with adjustable tethers, avoid the habit of pulling them in tight on every single move. Yes, it may feel secure, but then extending them after each move really adds time. You really only need to inch your way up on them if it’s overhanging. On anything less than vertical, there’s rarely a need to snug up your tether at all. This is why you need a fifi AND your adjustable tether - use the fifi on those less than vertical sections.
Consider getting an Alfifi, which is an adjustable daisy with a stiff fifi hook welded on the end. Sounds weird, works great, and is considered mandatory gear in Yosemite these days.
And, to streamline things even further, consider not using tethers at all on easier routes. When leading, their main purpose is to keep you from dropping your aiders. So, YO, be careful and don't drop ‘em! (Yes, it's OK to bring a spare aid ladder in case you do.) If you learned to aid climb using daisies, this might seem like a drastic step, but try to be objective and do this little test: time yourself leading a pitch both with and without daisies. You’ll probably be faster without them.
A lead rack is heavy. Don't make it heavier than you have to. By using a small diameter (5-6mm) tagline, you can send up both gear that you might need while leading, and gear that you need after you finish the pitch.
The leader doesn’t need to carry every piece of gear they might need for the entire pitch. Send it up as needed on the tagline. (Give the belayer a heads up as to the needed gear, so they can can get it ready. Such as: “I’m going to need that #4 Camalot in five minutes.”) It's best to keep extra hardware not buried in the haul bag, but in an easily accessible “gear closet.”
Have the second tie a bight loop about 1 meter across in the tagline, and clip the gear into this loop. When the leader pulls this up, they can put the loop over their shoulder or neck to more conveniently unclip the gear.
When lowering the tagline back down, feed it carefully hand over hand so it doesn't get tangled, don't just toss it.
If you’re more than half the distance of your tagline, your belayer can use the haul rope to extend the tagline, send you the gear you need, and then retrieve the tag line back to the belay.
The leader can also use the tagline for everything they're going to need once they arrive at the anchor - haul rope, anchor kit (HMS carabiners, mini quad or PAS), hauling kit (progress capturing pulley, 2-1 hauling kit, if using) and maybe water, snacks and a windbreaker. This can save the leader a LOT of weight, like 20+ pounds!
The leader needs to be extremely careful to not fumble and drop the tagline when they arrive at the anchor. Pull up some slack, tie it off somewhere, and THEN unclip the tagline from your harness.
Cam jugging
Are you climbing a crack that’s consistently 1 inch wide? Keep a 1 inch cam on each of your ladders, and start “cam jugging” by moving them up several moves in a row without clipping the rope. I prefer to not “leapfrog” or move one ladder past the other, but instead keep the top ladder on the top.
Stop every 10 feet or so and put in gear. If the crack varies a bit in width, you could have an Omega Pacific Link Cam (the red and gold are often the most useful sizes) on each aider, which covers a wider size range. Either way, you’re not fiddling with gear on your rack; it’s right there on your aider ready to plug in.
This of course also makes it faster for your second, because there’s less cleaning, and any stoppers you place will usually not have been bounce test loaded with the leader’s full weight, making cleaning easier.
For that matter, you could take the next step of adding a small locking carabiner on the end of your aiders, and clipping in a few of the most commonly used small cams. Maybe add a cam hook, a Talon hook, and a rivet hanger, depending on the gear needs of the pitch.
Trust and use cam hooks
They can be a huge timesavers in small cracks. Use them whenever you can (but not on softer sandstone, as they can damage the rock). It's usually much faster to use a cam hook then it is to fiddle around with a tiny stopper or micro cam. If the tiny crack is consistent, make several cam hook moves in a row, and then place some real protection for peace of mind.
They come in a range of sizes; most folks find the medium to get the most use. You can attach a cam hook directly to your aider (girth hitch or quicklink) if you think you’ll be using them a lot.
A beak style piton, such as the Moses Tomahawk or Black Diamond Pecker, can be very handy to have even on a hammerless “clean” rated route (like C1, C2, etc). Rather than hammering in traditional piton style, a beak can often be gently hand-placed in a very thin crack, eliminating the need to fiddle around with micro stoppers. Another placement option is to loop the beak over the top of a copperhead placement where the wire has torn off, a common scenario on many routes which can be quite a challenge if you don't have a way to get past it.
Use designated carabiners for your ladder and tether
“Designated” means just that. These carabiners stay permanently attached to the top of your ladders and tethers, and you never pirate ‘em for anything else. Ideally, these are a matched pair, and a distinct model and color from any other carabiners you have. If you do this, setting up for cleaning or leading can be done in a few seconds, using the same setup every time, with no searching around for a spare carabiner.
Bring a hammer
Even on routes rated “C” for “clean” (aka hammerless) where are you don't plan on whacking any pitons, a hammer can still be helpful. Typically this stays with second. Use it to clean stoppers, booty gear (left behind by others who probably didn't have a hammer) and for tapping on knots, which can encourage them to loosen up. You don't need a big burly $$$ wall hammer for light duty use; a small cheapo one works fine. If it's a standard claw hammer, you might want to use an angle grinder to grind off the claw part so it doesn't gouge you. Drill a hole in the handle and add a short keeper cord. If the leader needs a hammer to place a beak, as mentioned above, the second can put it on the tagline and send it up.
Everyone has a Grigri
Treat it as personal gear that you always have on you. Being able to release a rope that is under tension is what the Grigri is all about, and that makes it an all-purpose big wall problem solver. Have one with you all the time, even the leader. (The leader can use it to adjust their position at the belay, and also to return to their high point if they take a fall, among other things.)
If you can find one, consider using Grigri version 1, the larger gray one. It handles the larger diameter ropes typically used in aid climbing better than the newer style Grigris.
Cheat when you’re free climbing
You're not going for an ethical red point here, so do whatever you can to maintain upward progress. Try some “French free” climbing by pulling on your gear. If you have a consistent crack, place a cam in it and move it up above you every time you make a free move. Place some gear and rest on it when you like. You get the idea. There aren't any rules here.
Lead in blocks
Having one person lead several pitches in a row, known as block leading, can help establish a rhythm and mental focus for each climber, as well as offering appropriate resting times. This is not so common in normal multi pitch climbing, but give it a try when you’re training for a big wall and see if you like it.
Practice traverses and lower outs
Especially for the second, this can be a big problem area for beginners. As mentioned above, include these in your training until it's second nature, and don't try these skills for the first time on a real route. Consider using a designated lower out cord if the ones you have are fairly short.
Short fixing
A next, and more advanced, step in speed is short fixing. Here, when the leader reaches the belay, they pull up the slack, fix the lead rope, add a clove hitch or Grigri self belay, and continue on the next pitch while the second ascends and cleans. Describing this technique adequately is beyond the scope of this beginner-oriented post, but there are plenty of web resources to learn how to do this. (Note that if you’re hauling big loads on a multi day route, this is not normally used; short fixing is mostly used for speed ascents with minimal hauling.)
This is an advanced technique you will probably not use on your first few walls, but it can be the next big step in speed and efficiency.