Anyone have any tips/suggestions/methods they can help me out with on pulling up the extra rope after the end of a pitch?

Pulling up the slack before putting my second on belay pitch after pitch after pitch after pitch etc... I just get worked. My shoulder is REALLY sore now. I still feel relatively new to longer climbs and I am not a mutant, so I need to save what little strength I have for the descent and the next day's climb!

Should I have my second tie in short? Use a pulley system (?multiple ropes)? Good shoulder stretches/workouts to do before hand?

Or maybe I just need to suck it up and grunt through it- maybe im just getting old... Doing shorter climbs is not an option.

How long is your rope? If it's way longer than you need you could go with a shorter one.

Are you pulling the rope up "hand over hand"?

If so, run the rope through a biner at your anchor and pull down on the rope. That will make it much easier on your shoulders.

Using 60 meter half ropes or 60 meter 10.1mm

Yes pulling hand over hand...

Do longer pitches, or get a shorter rope. Redirecting so that you can pull down might use different muscles or atleast give you variety so that you're not wearing one set of muscle groups out. Otherwise, I'd think of it as endurance training :)

are you trying to pull it through the belay device?
wait till the rope is tight on your partner, then thread it through your ATC.

Definitely not through the belay device. Hand over hand,then when tight through belay device. Im not quite that dense.

This is only really bad when the pitch is wandering- especailly if its further up the route- like pitch 7 for example.

Maybe I need to avoid leading these pitches and let my partner lead them.

Work on minimizing rope drag when placing pro. That will alleviate 99% of the load. If you still find it difficult, work on your shoulder strength because it really shouldn't be that hard without rope drag.

I destroyed my shoulder by playing rugby for years, and it helps me to throw a biner above me and pull down. Sometimes different muscles just mean different pain, so keep your mind open. Good luck.

Work out more. Get stronger.

If you've minimized rope drag on the way up, and it's not a super short pitch, it shouldn't be that difficult. You could redirect like Marty suggested. Or if it's that big of a deal, like you're leading every single pitch and pulling slack, you could slap a mini trax on your anchor- then you'd have a pulley (which should make it a little easier) with progress capture so you can just let go when your shoulders get exhausted, plus you're still redirected for a downward pull. That seems like a bit of overkill to me, but I'm not in your shoes.

Also, find a partner, at least once in a while, that can swing leads with you so you're not leading and pulling up slack on every single pitch. That's all I got.

I agree with others who suggest you are doing something wrong in terms of rope drag if you are hurting your shoulder pulling up slack. You shouldn't be hurting and you shouldn't be getting "worked."

It is also possible that your shoulder problems are or were caused by something else and pulling up rope is an activity that now alerts you to the injury.

Although running the rope through an overhead biner might help in terms of changing the pulling biomechanics, it also adds an additional substantial friction point, making the pulling part that much harder.

The simplest way to relieve some of the stress is to pull two hands at a time rather than hand-over-hand.

But I think you should get that shoulder looked at.

another option, if you know you are kind of hosed with rope drag and you are going to have to pull up a 100' of it, have your partner just tie in where they are at (ie in the middle) and trail the remaining half.

Redirecting will help.Everyone has bigger lats and triceps than rear delts, so it will be easier to pull in rope that way. If you decide to make that part of your routine, a little pulley or a pulley-biner will nearly eliminate the extra friction.

A 10.1 is now considered a burly rope. Try a 9.6.

You should rarely need to pull in 100 feet of slack. If you have that much left, try to combine pitches.

can you set up a 5:1 pulley system?

Maybe a redirect with a DMM Revolver?
dmmclimbing.com/products/revolver/

disagree heavily with the revolver idea. i'm assuming you mean to redirect and belay the 2nd. if the 2nd comes off at the near the top of the pitch (where there isn't much rope drag), the lack of friction at the revolver is going to make it hard to control the belayer from getting pulled into the redirect.

ok, just wanted to clarify that. from your original post, it didn't really say to use it to pull the rope up, and then remove it. every once in a while a thread will pop up about toprope belaying and someone will recommend using a revolver at the anchor.

I use a small pulley to do exactly what several suggested when I am solo aiding and stacking my rope in a rope bucket. Works like a charm. Sometimes I do the redirect off of my chest harnes. No 5:1 required.