The latest, greatest 2:1 hauling kit

Message Skot directly, he’ll answer. 

It’s the petzl partner pulley.

Also for those that don't know.  The CMC rescue omni block 1.1 is the same pulley as the Rock Exotica omni block 1.1 pulley.  You will probably find the Rock Exotica at a cheaper price.  Both pulleys are actually made by Rock Exotica.  CMC gets all their pulleys from rock exotica and rebrands them CMC.  The only other difference is that CMC's are sent off for testing at Underwriters' Laboratories so that CMC can certify them for use in the fire and rescue service (all of that gear must comply with NFPA 1983).  Anyway hope that clears up any confusion as to why there are 2 brands that look identical.

In the past I have used a 2:1 built around the trax and pulley sharing with the same connection point and a large locker spanning both. I think this was an old design of Mark's? I now keep the pulley separate with each on a dynema draw. This seems to work a lot better with a noticeable increase in real world efficiency. I was quite surprised how such a small change could make so much difference. 

Dyneema stretches. There is no way you could see an advantage over a hard connection.

Mark Hudon wrote: Dyneema stretches. There is no way you could see an advantage over a hard connection.

Hi Mark, my dyneema draws are short and doubled up, so I guess the stretch must be very small. The improvement I think comes from the pulley and the trax not  fighting each other as they are free to move in slightly different directions, rather than being clipped to each other. For example, when pulling down, one is often pulling slightly out, but each time the haul line is pulled tight through the trax the force is straight down. Its is the same as your photo at the top of this thread, where you have the the pulley and the trax separate, but you have gone one stage further and used a hard connection on the pulley. What I has doing before is similar to your (?)  photo below, but with the trax clipped to the carabiner that is spanning the green pulley; neat but I think not as good as keeping the pulley and the trax separate. 

Yeah, doubled over dyneema wouldn’t stretch more than a hair. You’re talking functional ease, not efficiency improvement, I can see that.

Ultimately, figuring out a way to do something, a way that you are comfortable and happy with, is the way to go. Good thinking! 

Hey hombres...

I have always been curious about this rig. But is it so big and heavy that you feel compelled to tag it? I prefer to use just two chords.

Cheers from Osaka,

japan-john

“Two chords”?

Big, yes, heavy, 1.5 pounds.

At a certain point you just have to accept that the gear needed to aid an El Cap pitch simply needs to weigh what it weighs. Do you want me to talk about how much a rack of 35 pins and 70s technology carabiners weighed?

2:1 system weight 24oz/677g
(Salathé Sack from Tufa, 

Thanks for the info.

By two chords, I meant a lead line and a haul line (sans tag line).

Cheers!

Skot and I used a 5 mil tag line on Aurora last year. It allowed us to not climb with the haul kit and start off the pitch with a much smaller rack. Initially I was against the idea but it turned out to be quite useful. Since we use a gear closet, getting gear up tp the leader mid pitch was quick and easy. At the anchor, the leader would pull up the haul kit, its rope bag and the haul line.

Don’t forget that every systems has its pros and cons. Every system adds another layer of complexity. Adding in the 5 mil tag line is adding in another system. For us, the pros out weighed the cons.

Mark Hudon wrote: Since we use a gear closet, getting gear up tp the leader mid pitch was quick and easy.

For anyone else wondering what a gear closet is, look here:

​The Gear Closet​​​

I really wish someone would pick up building those things. They make that part of wall life so easy. 

Mark Hudon,
Can you elaborate on the blue cord you have attached to the micro traxion and the Petzl SmD. I rigged something similar and I was having a hell of a time with my cord attached to the traxion. At one point I saw the cam not catch as I was hauling.

Petzl states this is a possible downside to adding a cord to the microtraxion. I experienced it and I want to see what you are doing differently than me so I can fix mine.

Have you had any issues where the traxion cam did not catch due to your cord?

Yeah, the cord can be a pain but a Micro is such a valuable tool that I don’t want to take the chance of dropping it. It can cause the cam to stay open and that might happen once or twice per wall but it causes you to only lose a single pull, the haul line is still attached to the lower rope grab so the bags aren’t going to go anywhere, nothing major is going to happen. You’ll sit down, pulling the bags up 8”- 12” and then when you stand up again you’ll (quickly) lower the bags back down those 8-10 inches.
The cam will get tangled in something at some point on a wall regardless of that cord or not.

Thank you for confirming.

Mark, forget about all of that hauling stuff.  You're going to fire the Freerider in a day!

 

Ha! Thanks.
We are planning to stock the route beforehand and plan on hauling only from the Alcove to Block. 

Love this thread.

I put together a new 2:1 via inspiration from here. Please critique.
Just a test at home and so far it feels great.

The cable draw is crazy overkill; I know. But it was on clearance for a song and seems to do the trick. Z-cord is burly dyneema (blue water titan). It was the most suitable thing I could find local.

Question: Where are you securing the Microtrax/PCP with the cord from the petzl sm'd biner? I wasn't able to discern from the photos.