Watch This Before Building Your Next Haul System

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I do a lot of videos that are about risk mitigations or ifficiency improvements that are at the margins. I mean, sure, I also do big how-to videos on fundamental procedures that are important safety techniques, but I also do these things like “here’s how to match one of these three techniques to your situation” even though any one of the three would be safe; it’s just that the efficiency is worse for one than the others given the specifics of the circumstance.

I think it’s completely fair for a climber to look at that and decide, “I’m not going to bother with all of that. I’m going to learn one of these systems really well, live with the lack of efficiency that can come from slightly (but not unsafely) misapplying that system to a just-less-than-ideal circumsntace. The upside I gain is that I will have this system down. I won’t mess it up.” That’s a legitimate perspective.

But I did a whole video on the flipside of that argument - that lots of little inefficiencies can add up to real risk. That’s not to say that I’m right and the other person is wrong. It’s to say that either way we are choosing risk. And further, there are ramifications of that choice. If you’re going to be like me and want to be able to apply multiple systems, then you better have some time to (and derive joy from) practice.

This video, I think, falls into that bucket of looking to optimize, or at least optimize within the equipment and its weight that we are willing to bring with us on a climb. For example, I like to climb with my DMM Pivot the most because I am often belaying my two boys off of two ropes while others like to climb with their Grigri in almost every circumstance. You aren’t likely to bring the other option of equipment along just for the off chance of making a haul system, but you might not realize that just having a particular carabiner (which we’d be bringing along anyway) could easily outperform either for certain types of haul systems.

That little bit of knowledge might make us faster, or save our pumped forearms, or… any of which might matter on a big alpine route when we are racing the weather or something.

So, does knowing which of nine ratchet (progress capture) types are most efficient when we make a haul system make us safer? In circumstances other than what I just described, probably not. I that circumstance, maybe a little.

But does one little efficiency matter?

Well, now add up a bunch of little efficiencies. Now does it matter? Is it material enough, in aggregate to keep us safer?

… but better have time to practice.