Chapter
VII of the Complete Book of Big Wall Climbing
Absolutely
the most comprehensive description of how to build a big wall belay station and
how to haul a load from such a station, using the most advanced techniques ever
developed. This is the only book
dedicated exclusively to big wall hauling.
To be able to climb big walls, you MUST be able to haul; and haul over
or around any obstacle encountered. If
you genuinely want to become a big wall climber and be able to haul the kind of
loads that it really takes to do so (especially if you ever wish to solo big
walls), this book can replace years of perilous risk and uncertain speculation
about how to do it best. The methods
are tested, and now commonly applied to big wall climbing around the
world. Save yourself some time, get
straight to the climbing, make the hauling easy, learn it from a book and from
the pros who know.
(Unlike The Complete Book of
Big Wall Climbing, this is a field manual.
It can be taken to the rock (and up the rock) for “in-action” reference
guide, where taking the four-and-a-half pound Ground Manual might be
rather impractical.
“The belay station anchors
EVERYTHING. It is the connection that
cannot and (at least in theory) will not fail.
Once constructed, the belay station is one of those rare things, such as
the integrity of the lead line, that must be taken for granted in a world where
as few things as possible should be taken for granted. The station must bear the weight of
everything, and do so as more force is added by the energy of climbers jumping
up and down on anchors as they ascend rope and haul. The belay station must be very strong indeed. It must be very strong, because it is your
sole and only hold onto life itself.
Should it ever fail, you, and anyone with you or under you, will very
probably die.”
i. Preface . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i
VII.
LAYING ANCHOR, RAISING CARGO [STATIONS, HAULING] . . . . . . . . . . . .
177
Belay Stations . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Prebuilding the Belay Stations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Power Point. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . 191
Cordelette. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . 193
Stations With Two Anchors Only. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Stations With More than Three Anchors . . . . . . . . . 196
Load Release Knot. . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Carabiner Clutch With Load Release Knot. . . . . . . . 201
Prusik Combined With Load Release Knot. . . . . . . . 202
Haul Load Suspension Point .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Simple Load Suspension Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Docking the Haul Load. . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Load Suspension Point With a Swivel’ . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Adjustable Load Suspension Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Far End Hauler. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Releasing the Haul Load . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Operating Lower-Out of Haul Load.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Lower-Out Line is Not Recovered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Recovering the Lower-Out Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Docking and Lower-Out With Daisy Chains . . . . . . . 226
The Hauling System. . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Pulleys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . 229
Simple One-to-One (1:1)
Hauling . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Partial Hauling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . 231
Counterbalanced Hauling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Consecutive and Concurrent Hauling. . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Compound Pulleys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
233
Low Gear [Two-to-One (2:1)]
Hauling Ratchet. . 235
High
Gear [One-to-One (1:1)] Pedal Hauling . . . 255
© 2006 C. Tucker (Chongo)
All rights reserved.