How do arrange your haul bags? In series or parallel?

Everything I've read suggests hanging the portaledge and Porta-Can below the main bags. Makes sense. But what about the main bags? Is it better to have them side by side, or in a vertical 'train'? What happens in each case? Are there conditions in which one arrangement is so much better than another that you'd change the arrangement? My imagination says side-by-side catches every roof edge and flake during the haul, while the vertical arrangement is a pain at the belay. What's your experience?

side by side, don't solo routes that aren't steep and if you do have to haul on lower angle terrain either have your partner free the bags or have a far end hauler rigged up. 99% of the time a spot that will cause 2 bags to hang up will also stop a single bag.

Having to rap down to unload the bags at every bivi would be a nightmare, and you're climbing with 2 haul bags in order to be comfortable.

Thanks, exactly the information needed.

caribouman1052 wrote:Everything I've read suggests hanging the portaledge and Porta-Can below the main bags. Makes sense. But what about the main bags? Is it better to have them side by side, or in a vertical 'train'? What happens in each case? Are there conditions in which one arrangement is so much better than another that you'd change the arrangement? My imagination says side-by-side catches every roof edge and flake during the haul, while the vertical arrangement is a pain at the belay. What's your experience?

I have always put one on top the other, but I dont really care either way. Side-by-side can be better in some cases. For example, if you place them top and bottom, and you start removing stuff from the top bag, the weight of the bottom bag will collapse the top bag making it hard to get stuff out of and into the bag. If you stuff the top bag full, there is zero chance you are going to be able to repack it as compact as you did on the ground if you have a second bag hanging from it.

Hang your ledge and everything else not in a haul bag from tether cords that are hung from the main haul bag biner.

The usual set up.

The Haul bags are hung side by side for easy packing and unpacking. Underneath them, hanging from tether cords are the ledge, gear bag, garbage bag and waste case.
The Yellow bag on top is a rope bag which right then probably has the other rope bag and a 1/2 gallon of water in it. The small blue bags are our "day bags" with food and something to put on if the weather gets cool. I never have to get into my haul bags during the day.

I wouldn't haul this setup up the Salathe, Nose or Lurking Fear, Triple Direct, et al, though. Those routes are too low angle. I'd clean it up a bit.

My .02.....

I think that if the bags will hit the wall, like on the nose, salethe, or other low angle wall, then putting them verticle is best, because when they arn't verticle they can't spin as easy, which makes them wear holes much easier! But when the bags are not touching the wall like on, tangerine trip, south seas, or the shield, wearing them out is no issue, and they are more convienent side by side.

Both way works! Try to only take 1 pig?

What Mark said for 2 bags, catch lines for sure.

Hmm... a lot to digest.
Sounds like catch lines are the way to go, per Mucci & Mark. 20kn provided the reason why; the collapsing haul. One bag would be great, but I don't see how, given a reasonably tall solo wall. Luckily, the route in question is mostly past vertical,which fits Keenan's point, so I can stick with the side-by-side rig. And as always, answers generate more questions...

"The Yellow bag on top is a rope bag which right then probably has the other rope bag and a 1/2 gallon of water in it." Is the half gallon of water there to keep weight in the bottom of the rope bag, so that it feeds out more easily?

No, it was jus somewhere to put it while the bags were hauled. You can usually stuff it between the haul bag straps also but that's where we were stuffing our 'day bags".

On the catch line for the gear bag, I have butterfly knots tied every 2 feet. They provide a handle to grab the rope.

Also, there is stuff that you NEVER want to drop, i.e, your ledge. I have the ledge bag tied directly into it's catch line and the ledge clipped to that, in case the bag should ever for some reason fail. I don't ever want to drop the gear bag either. The Waste Cases and garbage bag are clipped in with locking biners since they are moved around a lot. Use locking biner there so that a stray rope, the lead rope, the haul line, other tether lines, won't accidentally clip themselves into that biner, creating a real cluster.

For the Nose and those types of routes where the bags will be drug up onto ledges, I would minimize my tether cords and go with as much of a "clean" set up as I could.