Big Walling in the Peak

26th June: Big Wall Training

After a morning of frigging around at Yarncliffe and aiding a couple of cracks. We sat back, had a think, picked up some gear and got the wisdom from Scott. We then went to Millstone (first bay) with our newly bought cord to set up our jumar systems and play with the fifi!

Playing 'Pull the Pig'

Welcome any advice here! So the jumar setup for cleaning aid pitches. Two jumars, right and left handed. One piece of 5metre 7mm cord. Right hand longer than left, one foot on lower left jumar Right jumar at arms length. Central hub connected with a larks foot to belay loop.

Byron opts to go for the higher left hand. Pretty quick and efficient. Must remember to tie rope off every 5-10m - I am sure I will be remembering to do that! Bought these locksafe carabiners for this. Counter intuitive to open so that's a relief.

Any ideas???

Originally we played with 1 fifi hook to get higher on a piece of gear and enable a more stable position when high on gear. However, played with this technique today.... Need to experiment more.

2 etriers, 2 daisy chains, 3 fifi hooks. larksfooted to harness. Ends joined with a carabiner and a fifi hook on each end. A fif hook also attached close to belay loop.

When high on the first runner... reach as high as possible and:

1) clip gear with a quickdraw and clip in rope
2) hook fifi/etrier/daisy on gear
3) test and weight gear by moving bodyweight onto etrier
4) hook harness fifi onto daisy chain for stability as move up etrier.
5) get as high on etrier as possible and place a high piece of gear
6) clip gear with a quickdraw and clip in rope
7) pull daisy chain up therefore pulling first fifi off the first piece of gear
8) Repeat. Found this pretty easy to place gear 1.5-2m away from your previous piece making progress efficient.

Out comes the pro traxion. Simple, attach pig to traxion. attach self to power point with sling (dynamic rope from lead line will be better here if you leave enough slack). Jumar attached to belay loop. Jump off wall ... repeat.