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Polar Sun
Trad climber
Joshua Tree
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Topic Author's Original Post - Sep 11, 2006 - 06:28pm PT
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I'm about to do my first VI and have been playing with different ways to rack using the standard Yates rig. I've watched all sorts of heavies rack up, and all do it differently. Ammon and Ivo put a biner on each piece. Dave Turner clips 3-4 pieces to a single biner. Some people cluster pieces according to size, and others mix it up so that a fumble finger episode doesn't lose every piece of a given size.
I've also seen people put all their hooks into a little stuff sack that they don't get "hooked" by a lot of sharpies.
I'd be stoked to get some input from all the Big Brains out there.
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Ammon
Big Wall climber
El Cap
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Sep 11, 2006 - 07:08pm PT
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Hey Gene,
The reason we rack up every single piece with a biner is to save extra moves while clipping.
Also, you have to be very careful that you don't lose gear if you do stack a bunch on one biner. As your removing the biner the gear can slide right off "the hook" if you're not careful.
If I'm on a typical nailing route, I like to rack all my iron, hooks, nuts, etc. on my left and cams on right. Extra biners and draws on my harness.
There is a lot of good ways to do it. Find yours, learn it well and have fun up there.
Cheers, Ammon
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Holdplease2
Big Wall climber
Yosemite area
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Sep 11, 2006 - 07:17pm PT
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Hey Gene~! Looking forward to carrying some loads for you, I'll be home in a few days to pick up "the package." Will you be in the valley on Wed?
As for racking: I do one piece for biner, though I've tried about everything. Its faster, and when i un-rack or clean/rerack a piece, it is less likely to end up clustered in the wrong place or in a giant cluster of gear on one biner.
I also keep a set of small cams, a cam hook, and a rivit hanger on each aider at all times. When I started this it shaved 30 minutes off of each pitch easily. (Granted I was starting with a big number. ;) )
Any way will work, this is just what I like for now.
Goink for ze schendink!! Ya!
-Kate.
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Lambone
Ice climber
Ashland, Or
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Sep 11, 2006 - 07:21pm PT
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Keep in mind Ammon climbs the Cap with a half a rack of Camalots, 4 nuts and 3 pins! (see prior trip reports)
...and others mix it up so that a fumble finger episode doesn't lose every piece of a given size.
That is me, personally I don't like having 400 biners clipped on the rack, the fewer biners the better, imho. It also puts more weight on your shoulders to have every piece with its own biner. I clip three cam sizes to one biner, and stager the sizes so the same size are not all on one biner. Sometimes I match brands like all Aliens on a biner, all BD, etc.
I rack free biners and draws sperately on my harness. As Ammon said it may be a bit slower and involve one extra move clipping, but i'm not out to break speed records.
I like that method. I also try to keep all my racking biners for nuts and cams on the gear sling at all times. i remove each cam or nut individually rather then the whole biner and risk the chance of fumbeling the whole set. I learned this the hard way on my first wall when I dropped the biner with all our small nuts.
It takes some practice pulling off one piece at a time, and you have to know your sizes well (and the color coding of each brand).
One good thing is to try to have the same system as your partner so you don't have to completely re-rack at each belay. This takes some flexability and willingness to change if you have a stubborn partner.
Another tip is to highlight the pro sizes you need on the topo. If you are swaping leads and just led and are hauling, check the topo and have the sizes that your partner will need ready.
Utalize the tag line, and keep extra gear in an easily accesable bag or on top of the main haulbag.
Good luck!
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Polar Sun
Trad climber
Joshua Tree
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 11, 2006 - 07:44pm PT
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At present I am putting all the gear, including slings, on the Yates harness itself. I have cams on one side, nuts, pins, free biners on the other side. Each cam has its own biner, but they are hung in a "tree" of three, so that there is only one biner occupying space on the gear sling. It does lead to gear hanging awfully low on the body. I fit as many pins of the same general shape on those huge Omega "Five-O" biners. The hooks are misery, and look like they could really savage you in a fall--hence my idea about putting them in a bag.
Also, Ivo has said that he runs the rope through the rap ring on the front of the Yates harness. This creates a dynamiuc chest harness via a redirect. When I do this, and then yank the GriGri upward as would happen in a self belayed fall, the GriGri is just two inches from the rap ring. Does this still create a chest harness effect?
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Ammon
Big Wall climber
El Cap
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Sep 11, 2006 - 07:53pm PT
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Gene, I don't agree with the method Ivo uses. It puts the rope right in your face which could cause rope burns, or even worse.... the rope wrapping around your neck.
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Dragger
Mountain climber
Bay Area, CA
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Sep 11, 2006 - 08:36pm PT
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I'm new to walls but I think the most important thing is that you know where everything is and are comfortable with the system. That way you can get what you want, when you want it, without fumbling too much. I like to rack similar things together -- i.e.: cams on one side, pins on another, biners on one, etc. If you use the same system every time, you'll know right where to reach when you want something. Obviously don't rack in a way that makes things easy to drop. HOpe this helps.
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elcapfool
Big Wall climber
hiding in plain sight
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Sep 11, 2006 - 08:37pm PT
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First off, thank you for your Baffin article back in 94 or so, it had a profound effect on my life.
Hooks in a stuff sak- Absolutly.
As Kate said, a cam hook lives on each aider, saves HUGE time, and if it's your first choice you WILL climb faster.
Cams on their own biners is convienent, but chokes the sling pretty quick. Bring two sets and zip up anything else you may need.
Ditch what you obviously won't need (#4's for an LA sized pitch.)
Cams on the right, pins and trinkets on the left.
I used to run a Yates Shield harness with the big loop on the back, and that where the hooks lived, well out of the way, tethered and in a stuff sak.
No matter how dialed you think you are on the ground, you will come up with refinements as you work with it on the wall.
Don't forget your "lead water bottle"
And Have a blast, cuz if your not having fun, you're not doing it right.
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yo
climber
The Eye of the Snail
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Sep 11, 2006 - 09:15pm PT
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So ... Mr. Ninov takes the rope through the ring and then ties in? WTF? Why not just tie into the back of the chest harness so you come down like a flying squirrel?
If you put a whole shebang of, say, offset aliens on one biner, you will drop the thing. I have done this and I said whoopsie-daisy and then my partner rapped down to get them since they were his. I swear by each cam on a biner. A trick to reduce clustering is to clip same sized cams on each other instead of the harness. If that makes sense. Got a red camalot clipped on there, clip another red to that biner, and clip third red to second's biner. Yes-yes.
I got an A5 so cams on both lower loops, little to big, with pins inside on the ribs so the beaks can poke you all day. Biners on harness--yes. This is how it must be done!
haha, such an anal thread.
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