INTRO
Haul bags are used to store all the equipment necessary to complete a climb, and are generally used when the weight of this equipment would be too heavy to be carried by the climbers themselves, necessitating hauling. Due to the abrasive nature of hauling heavy equipment over abrasive rock, haul bags are generally constructed out of super tough vinyl or ballistic material, with all components being very burly. Even so, careful packing is still necessary in order to give the bag a useful lifespan. All bags can either be set up in rucksack mode, with shoulder straps and hip belt, or stripped down for hauling, with all straps tucked inside the bag so as to give it a smooth bullet shape. Bags come in three general sizes, small (50+ Litres), suitable for day routes, or as a secondary gear bag. Medium, suitable for routes of about 6 man days (100 litres +/GRADE VI), or longer if each climber has their own bag, or massive (200 Litres/Grade VII) walls, suitable for about 12 man days (say two person team embarking on a route longer then a week), or for an individual embarking on a route of twice that length.
SUSPENSION
The haul bag hangs from its suspension points when being hauled, and there length and set up make a huge difference to the way the bag is hauled, and the ease of set up.
Haul Bag suspensions come in the following set ups:
DO IT YOUR SELF
This type of suspension comprises of small loops (three or four) sewn around the top of the bag and is common on lightweight bags. The idea is that you set up the haul straps using slings, therefore saving weight and reducing tangles if the bag is worn when seconding.
THREE POINT
This is used on small bags and comprises of one main haul loop and a secondary single strap, creating a three-point suspension point. This is good for small bags, as it’s lighter, simpler and easy to use.
FOUR POINT (PARALEL)
Two haul loops that run up two sides of the bag, often formed from the same length of webbing. The straps are both of equal length. This system is fine of lightweight bags but because the loops are parallel both must be attached to the haul line meaning in order to gain access to the bag (i.e. unclip one loop), you must lift the bag with one hand, not easy when the bag weighs more then you do. One way to get around this is to tie the bag in with a fisherman’s with two bites, with the main tie in point being on a bigger bite, clipping the secondary strap into the shorter bite. This means you can still unclip one strap. If you use the cordelette suspension method you needn’t worry to much about this as once hanging from the cordelette you can gain access to the bag anyway - although they may be times when the bag is hanging from the haul line and you may need to get into it.
FOUR POINT (OFFSET)
This system, with one loop being longer then the other, gets over this problem, with the shorter loop being clipped into the rope via a karabiner, meaning you simple need to unclip to gain access to the bag.
HAUL BAG TETHERS
All haul bags need a tether (or docking leash/cord). This is used to connect them to the belay once they arrive, so the haul line can be removed from the pulley. It goes without saying that this tether must be full strength as it will not only have to take the weight of your bags, but also the weight of you as you often end up standing on the bags on hanging belays. If your tether breaks and your bag falls it may easily kill you, as a huge load falling sixty metres onto a static rope could easily strip any belay! The best way to safeguard against this is to always back up the lanyard by tying in the bags with the haul line as well. The lanyard should be tied or larks footed to one of your haul loops, so that once hanging you can remove the other strap to get into the bag. DO NOT attach it to anything else, no matter how strong it looks!
The following methods are most commonly used
DAISY CHAIN
A popular method, just larks foot the daisy to the loop and clip in via either the pockets or end (don’t Cross clip pockets!). This is fine for light bags, but has several major dangers. If you cross clip two neighboring pockets and the bar tack fails you will loose your bag! Also the bar tacks aren’t all that strong and may rip if put under and extreme loading, meaning you could potentially zipper out your daisy - not nice!
SLINGS
Nice and simple, and although it can’t be adjusted to suit the belay offers a high degree of security. Make sure the sling is up to scratch and avoid super thin Dyneema slings as they may cut through if ropes are pulled across them quickly (eeek!).
The problem with both these systems is if the next pitch is a traverse then getting enough weight of the lanyard to unclip it can be very difficult, often requiring you to set up a mini haul first - which is a pain.
THE DOCKING CORD
This is by far the best method of connecting the bag to the belay and comprises of a long 4-metre strand of 7 or 8mm perlon. This is tied with a figure of eight onto one loop of the suspension, with the knot being tied in the middle of the cord and so creating two 2 metre tails. The bag is connected to the belay with a munter hitch, which is then tied off securely. The beauty of this system is that it’s easy to release, it’s simple and most of all it’s very strong. You can also extend the length of this cord to create a short lower out line (say six metres), and it can be removed to provide abseil anchors on the descent. Another variation is to just tie your haul line in with several metres of tail – and use this instead.
ROPE CONECTION TECHNIQUES
The way you connect your rope to your haul bag is vitally important. Get it right and you can reduce haul line tangles, have more flexibility in your rope system and safeguard your rope. Get it wrong and your haul bag could come adrift and be lost forever!
Generally the haul line will be connected to one loop with the second loop being clipped into the connection point, meaning you can unclip one half of the suspension in order to access the bag on hanging belays. On lighter weight bags both loops will be clipped directly into the haul line.
There is no one system that is perfect, and it is for you to decide which is the most appropriate to you and the bags you are using.
TIE IN
This is by far the safest system, as you simply tie the end of the haul line directly into the haul loop(s), meaning they is no way you can loose the bag. The down side is that if you need to unhitch the line, say to sort out a tangle (having both ends makes this far easier), you’ll have to first untie the knot, not easy if it’s been tightened by a 300lb load! If you are to tie in with a knot the obvious choice is a figure of eight, but although simple it can be almost impossible to untie, and so a better option would be an alpine butterfly, which is one of the easiest knots to untie (although it’s not the easiest knot to tie in this case as you can’t use the idiots way of tying it!). One other option is a truckers hitch, with the tail then tied back into the haul loop, which although easy to untie no matter how heavy the loading, is quite a big not. And remember all knot needs protecting with either gaffer tape or a plastic bottle.
SCREWGATES
For light bags you can simple attach them with a screwgate, or two plain gates back to back. One word of warning about screwgates is that unless they can be locked down really tight will probably come undone, so I’d personally go for a twistlock karabiner. Once the load increases I wouldn’t trust a single karabiner, as there is always the possibility of creating a three way loading, where the rope is pulling across the spine, in which case the gate may fail! Also by far the best karabiner for clipping haul bags is the HMS, due to it’s ability to handle several other carabineers being clipped into it (other haul bags, rope buckets etc). If you do this with a D shaped karabiner all the biners will bunch up and jam up on each other, meaning you won’t be able to easily unclip individual carabineers easily. The problem with the HMS is that it’s by far the weakest design, so they should be used in parallel, plus when choosing the HMS go for the strongest models on the market.
MAILONS
The beauty of using maillons over screwgates is that they are more compact, stronger, cheaper and far more secure. 10mm maillots should be used, ovals, half moons or deltas. Finger tape of gaffer tape should be raped around the locking collar to make it easier to undue with sweaty hands.
SWIVELS
Some people like to use a swivel device on the rope between the bag and the rope, so as to reduce twisting of the rope, and to give the bag more freedom to move. On steep and overhanging ground this isn’t a problem, and is just another comment that can be left out of your system, but on more slabby hauls it may be worth using, although personally I’ve never found my haul line becoming twisted.
LOWERING OUT TECHNQUICES
On many routes you will need to lower out the haul bags, otherwise they will go smashing into the rock, breaking gear and bursting water bottles. This can be done in two ways.
THE LOWER OUT LINE
This comprises of a length of rope or cord, the length and diameter of which is dependant on the steepness and angle of the lower outs. On many overhanging routes the bags fall into space so no lower out is necessary, were as on vertical pitches, especially those with long traverses into corners, you’ll need a full length lower out. AS a general rule you can get away with 20 to thirty metres of 6mm cord, bumping this up to a full length half rope if the route looks like you may need to do a lot of long lower outs. On hard and long routes it’s well worth taking two lead lines, meaning the spare can double up as a lower out line. If you’re climbing as a three then you should have a full length lower out rope if the route has any significant lower outs, otherwise the guy being dropped on the haul bags may end up severely pissed off - or dead!
EXTRA LONG HAUL LINE
BY taking along an extra long haul line (65-70M) you can pull the slack out of the line, reattach it to the haul bag via a bight, then use what’s left to lower the bag out. Because the haul line is plum to the belay 90% of the time you’ll have bags of spare rope, meaning you should generally always have more then enough left over to lower out the bags. If you need a little more, and you have excess lead rope at the belay then you can tie this into the end of the haul line (joining each rope at each end). If this still leaves you short have the leader haul until the bag is level with you, as this should give you some more rope to play with. AS in all things on a big wall the aim of the game is improvisation.
PACKING TECHNQUES
Packing a haul bag isn’t rocket science. But the first rule is never pack it out without first lining it with something - oh yes and remember to take the shoulder straps and belt of as well before you pack it! You can either line the bag with your foam sleeping mats (cut them to the correct length first), cardboard or plastic sheeting. Foam mats are OK but tent to buckle, meaning the bag has lumps and bumps in it that are wear points. Also once you’ve pulled out your mats all the stuff inside piles up on the bottom, making packing in the morning a bigger job then it need be. Lining the bag with cardboard works really well as it creates a solid wall within the bag and greatly extends the bags life, plus keeps it rigid for packing, it’s also cheap! Plastic sheeting can also be used, and works better in alpine or damp climates where cardboard would rot, but is heavier and more expensive.
PACKING ORDER
The first thing that goes in is the waist belt, followed by your water bottles, keeping enough back for the next few days. If you have a stove then you’re spare fuel will go in the bottom as well, being placed in the middle if it’s gas canisters so as to keep it safe. If you want real luxury then you would freeze all your water bottles and place your beer in the center of the bag so you have chilled bear for the first few days! If you’re on a winter wall then you would replace water bottles with stuff sacks full of ice - which unfortunately means that bear will also be out of the question! Food goes on top of this, again keeping something back for the next few days (this is were a second smaller bag is good, used to stow the stuff you’ll need at hand). Next goes your bivy gear (sleeping bag(s), stove, spare clothes etc). The last gear is your storm gear, spare rack, music machine, day food etc. On a long wall you may have three of four haul bags, in which case don’t be tempted to put all your eggs in one basket (water in one bag, bivy gear in another), as the loss of a bag high on a wall may be very traumatic indeed!
RAFTING YOUR BAGS TOGTHER
When hauling several bags (haul bags, portalededge, shit tube, food bucket etc), you need a good system or else everything will get snarled up. Her are a few good systems.
MINIMAL RAFT. If you have say one big bag, one small bag, a shit tube and a portaledge then suspend all the other bags off the bottom of the main bag. These can be clipped into the big loops on the bottom of the bag. If heavy consider using a tether, usually made from 6mm cord, that runs down from the main hauling point and tied or clipped into each bag. A good thing about tethering is that once unclipped the portaledge etc can dangle and be hauled up to the belay with much less risk of dropping them while dangling under the bag. These tethers should be kept fairly snug in length so that they can’t snag. All secondary bags should be attached via a screwgate.
V
ERTICAL TRAIN: If you have several big bags, plus associated junk then you need a way of hauling them up all together. On slabby terrain you need a system that will be resistant to hang ups and this is one way of trying to minimize this problem. What you create is a train of bags, starting with the heaviest and working down in weight, size, with all the smallest bags on the bottom. Each bag is attached to the bottom of the other, each featuring a tether to the tope bag. The problem with this system is that if you want something in the bottom bag you’ll need to abseil down to retrieve it, and at the bivvy someone will need to disengage all the bags (and reengage them in the morning!). Never the less if you are forced to do a lot of slabby hauling then this is the best system if you want to do it in a onere (better really to do a double haul).
CONTIKI: This comprises of a single layer raft of main bags, all of which are at the same level, and can work well with two or three bags when on overhanging or smooth vertical terrain. The bags are either all joined together to the haul line, or attacked to the haul line via a Mating cord. Smaller bags are attached to the bottom of the big bags. The beauty of this system is that you can get at all your bags, making biving or searching for gear far faster and less of a pain. The down side is that unless it’s done correctly you can create a crush of bags that are impossible to get into, so getting your system dialled is crucial. With this system one bag should be designated the day bag, so that the other bags can stay sealed until you reach the nights bivy.
Article written 24/12/05
