Haul bag straps: connect ‘em with a cam strap

Big wall haul bags usually come with a long strap and a short strap. You haul from the long strap, and need to hoist up the short strap to level and close the bag. It's that hoisting up that's the hard part! The traditional way of connecting the two is with a carabiner, which can be incredibly strenuous to open and close if your bag is heavy.

Make this a lot easier - replace the carabiner with a cam strap.

• Take a 3 foot cam strap and clove hitch it it to the hauling carabiner.
• Pass the free end of the cam strap through the short handle of the haul bag, thread the cam strap webbing back through the cam buckle, and then pull downward.
• Voila, you've created a little mechanical advantage and can easily level and secure the bottom haul bag strap.

The beauty of the cam strap is that it's releasable under tension. Just open the buckle, and the shorter haul bag handle falls open, letting you access the bag.

Yes, I know there are some Crafty Rope Tricks you can do with some type of alpine block and tackle tied off with a munter mule or some other releasable knot. I find the cam strap to be much easier. Try both methods and see which one you like better.

Here’s a link to a longer article on my website Alpinesavvy.com that has more details.

If you don’t follow Alpine Savvy on FB and/or get his Newsletter, you’re missing out. Get on it.

Awesome tips.

What do people do for BD haul bags with equal lenght straps? Have tried searching the forum/web, but came up short.

I love the utility of this tip, John! Fresh tips I haven't seen before are fire (nice new logo, btw)! 

My only concern is now you lost redundancy. With a rated carabiner, either strap could be cut and you'd be okay. I don't know if that cam strap will hold a full load (especially shockloaded) but I certainly don't want to find out! Haul bag straps are burly when they're new, but they get dragged over the wall and I feel like they have the potential to get cut if they're worn out. Maybe that's an unfounded concern, but I'm curious what other folks think. Perhaps the solution is just to monitor them and don't haul with a bag if the straps are worn. 

The cam strap certainly is way easier than anything I've done! I remember resorting to a quickdraw instead of a carabiner so we didn't have to lift the bag so much to clip it. 

An easy way to ease my mind would be to add a backup. A rated sling basket hitched through the locker and clipped to the short strap would do it. 

Adam Flemingwrote:

I love the utility of this tip, John! Fresh tips I haven't seen before are fire (nice new logo, btw)! 

My only concern is now you lost redundancy. With a rated carabiner, either strap could be cut and you'd be okay. I don't know if that cam strap will hold a full load (especially shockloaded) but I certainly don't want to find out! Haul bag straps are burly when they're new, but they get dragged over the wall and I feel like they have the potential to get cut if they're worn out. Maybe that's an unfounded concern, but I'm curious what other folks think. Perhaps the solution is just to monitor them and don't haul with a bag if the straps are worn. 

The cam strap certainly is way easier than anything I've done! I remember resorting to a quickdraw instead of a carabiner so we didn't have to lift the bag so much to clip it. 

An easy way to ease my mind would be to add a backup. A rated sling basket hitched through the locker and clipped to the short strap would do it. 

Adam, personally I'm not concerned with a strap failing, but I guess it could conceivably happen. Perhaps a more likely issue is the cam buckle rubbing on a rock or doing something weird and opening or loosening. Your suggestion of a simple back up with a short sling nicely solves that potential problem. Thanks for your kind words and I'm glad you like the website.

John Middendorfwrote:

Awesome tips.

John, thanks for the kind words. That means a lot, especially coming from you.

I prefer to just wrestle the straps open so i get more tired and bail. 

All this can be avoided if you dock your bag off just the long strap… 

Kevin DeWeese wrote:

Incorrect

What am I missing? This is a thread about how to unweight the short strap of a HaulBag so you can get inside it.. if you dock the bag by just the long strap- the short strap isn’t holding any weight.. 

I’ve got no dog in this fight- I’m one of those dumbfucks that makes things hard- I use the Toe-Lift Method to unclip the short strap..

I think You’re missing what I mean when I say dock it to the long strap only.. 

obviously your short strap is clipped to the main biner and your long strap and connected to your haul system- for Hauling.

I’m saying that if your docking cord is only connected to the long strap- (via a different biner- not the master biner) when you dock the bag the short strap just hangs down..

Kevin DeWeese wrote:

Because the short strap is........... short, when the bags are hanging from the longer strap, the shorter strap, because it's short, is tight when it's connected to the biner that the longer strap is connected to and one would need to lift the bags to unclip the biner of the short strap from the longer strap. As you mentioned, you use the toe lift method to unclip the short strap because the short strap is tight because you attached the bags to the anchor by the longer strap. The whole conversation is about how to NOT have to toe lift or lift the bags at all. Not all of us are the kind of beefcake buff dudes that the rest of our girlfriends think about when they're with us. 

and this is what you all get for rolling Metolius haulbags on the walls. Those pigs are sheit. 

Any pigs you'd recommend? Fish aren't making anything atm unfortunately, maybe runout customs? Bought a Metolius El Cap three years ago for reasons I no longer fathom and want a reasonable sized haul bag for the grade V walls I'm planning on this Fall and Winter. Would love to hear your input. 

Also, to get back to the point of this thread, you're saying this shenanigans is less necessary with other haul bags? Why is that? Different strap length or something?

Kevin DeWeese wrote:

Because the short strap is........... short, when the bags are hanging from the longer strap, the shorter strap, because it's short, is tight when it's connected to the biner that the longer strap is connected to and one would need to lift the bags to unclip the biner of the short strap from the longer strap. As you mentioned, you use the toe lift method to unclip the short strap because the short strap is tight because you attached the bags to the anchor by the longer strap. The whole conversation is about how to NOT have to toe lift or lift the bags at all. Not all of us are the kind of beefcake buff dudes that the rest of our girlfriends think about when they're with us. 

and this is what you all get for rolling Metolius haulbags on the walls. Those pigs are sheit. 

I think this is what Quinn is saying

Left photo: If the docking cord is on the long strap, that removes all tension from the master carabiner and the haul rope. That creates slack, allowing you to easily open the short strap.

Right photo, if you instead have your docking cord on the master carabiner, you will always have tension on that carabiner. In that case, having some system to easily clip and unclip the short strap, such as a cam strap as I suggest, it can be pretty helpful. 

Kevin, if I'm missing something here, please let me know. 

LOOKS LIKE A DAMN GOOD IDEA, TO ME. (I have a piece of shit metolius.)

Hey John Godino ...

... where did you ever come up with such an awesome tip?   ;)  

Peter Zabrokwrote:

Hey John Godino ...

... where did you ever come up with such an awesome tip?   ;)  

Hey Pete,

If this cam strap tip is in your Hooking Up book, I don’t remember seeing it there.

If it is, could you give me a page number so I can check it out and probably give you credit in the article? You know my policy is to credit people where it’s reasonable to do so, if I learn a cool tip directly from them.  I’ve done this for you many times already on my website. And I’m glad to do it again. Just let me know, thanks!

PS, Skot is now making a cam strap with a clever sewn loop right at the buckle for this exact purpose. 

https://www.skotswallgear.com/shop/be113s9rnz26j5px1pwoi25yps7mg3

Hey John,

Here's the reference, although I have published it previously online here and there. Possibly even here on MP. Click on the photo to read the captions! 

Peter Zabrokwrote:

Hey John,

Here's the reference, although I have published it previously online here and there. Possibly even here on MP. Click on the photo to read the captions!

Hey Pete,

Thanks for pointing out that page in your book to me. Not sure how I missed it, I've read that sucker about 3 1/2 times, so much goodness in there. 

Sure, I’ll give you credit there for originating the idea. But IMHO, the cam strap is an improvement on the Yates adjustable daisy. 

Cam strap benefits:

• It’s about $7 instead of $35
• It’s the correct length
• It doesn’t require any shortening up or modification of the short strap on the bag

Plus, and you probably know this already, Skot recently started selling a nicely designed cam strap for this very purpose. Hopefully that will help nudge it into more popular usage.

https://www.skotswallgear.com/shop/

(scroll to bottom)

Hovhannes 'Johnny' Karagozianwrote:

Skots cam strap is very streamlined with the sewn biner loop & and the rollercam is way more efficient than a regular ratchet cam/daisy or cord.

Thanks Johnny!!  Glad you like it.