Bolting on Lead - Tagging Drill

Hello all,

I've read lots about people tagging their drill to make bolting on lead a little easier and safer, hooking the drill set-up to the last bolt. What I can't seem to find is any detail on exact set-ups. Curious what people's set-ups are. I have a small 20L BD creek (mini haul bag) that I've used to haul a drill up to the top of pitches for building anchors. The one time I put in a bolt on lead, I went in direct on a piece and passed a loop down to my partner. 

I'm trying to think of what the ideal set-up is, when people say 'hook' to the last bolt too I'm not entirely sure how they're doing this. With a FiFi hook? a skyhook? Into the hanger? top biner of the draw? Other considerations like length of tag line cache? Presumably, it should be a bit more than twice the distance to your next stance, so you don't pull it if you fall?

My thought on the process is:

- tagging 6mm line, feed out rope (more than you need) and clip bight into bag with drill, hammer, and bolts OR clip bag into end of rope and create a cache loop with a microtrax, making it easier to adjust the length if the next stance isn't where I thought it would be.

- Climb to next placement, hook or weight gear with aider.

- Pull up bag, clip into hook or gear, leave drill tethered to the bag so that if I whip I don't take it with me.

- Put in next bolt, hook bag into hanger (?), repeat.

Any other insight would be appreciated!

It seems like you understand the process pretty well. A FiFi hook with a top sling hole is what you want. The Black Diamond FiFi has a tiny hole that fits some cord. Tagline goes to top of FiFi with the drill bag weight on the bottom of the FiFi. That way when you pull up the tag line the drill bag just exits as oriented and doesn’t get tangled. I like to dock the drill bag FiFi to the top carabiner of the quickdraw on the bolt i just drilled so the drill bag lays on top of the lead line, this prevents the bag from going under the lead line and getting tangled. Since the top cord on the FiFi is small you can also clip the lower tail of the tagline to the carabiner holding the drill bag so that if the cord breaks you don’t lose the whole kit. It all works pretty smooth once you get used to it. On traverses, it takes more force to free the FiFi and the bag goes swinging at you which sucks but its always released in this setup. Good luck out there!

I have done a ton of this hooking on patina. You're pretty spot on. 

A fifi hook is the way, most have a small hole on the top, thread a small piece of cord though it and use that as the point to clip your tag line to. I always also clip the tag line directly to the drill etc below that as I don't trust the little cord if something gets dropped, just make sure there is enough slack between so when you haul the top one gets pulled or the fifi will just rotate and never come off. 

I have never used a cache loop like you describe, could work well but we just always put a loop that seemed long enough. As you say 2x is probably good in case of a fall.

I think putting the fifi on the top draw beiner can work a touch than the bolt since the hanger already has a beiner in it, just space wise.

We generally didn't put the drill in the bag, just one less step while your sitting on a hook. We had a small bag for bolts, blow tube wrench etc.

Here's a diagram 

I've hooked my drill/bag on a bolt hanger a few times.  Someone (Verm?) used to make a pretty slick fifi hook with a hole top and bottom that would take a full sized carabiner which solo aid climbers liked for being able to haul their pigs off an anchor.  Small cords rigged through that tiny hold on a standard fifi hook always made me nervous.

I see Petzl sells a fifi that accommodates a 6mm rapide.  That'd work.

I think most folks just lead with the newer super light drills on their person.

I'll add one more potential (one-off) setup: use case is leader one-handed drilling from a tenuous stance (no hooks) - tagline the drill to last piece with fifi, as per above discussion. But instead of attaching the tag line to leaders harness, the tag line runs through capture device on back of harness (microtrax, etc.) and then back down to belayer.

When leader is at a drilling spot, calls for drill (and hangs two-handed) while belayer pulls the drill cord to pull the dill through the pulley up to the leader. By using a capture device the belayer can one-hand both the lead-belay lock off AND pull the driill up one yard at a time. If the drill gets stuck, well the leader is phuked, what can I say? And pulling up the drill this way is atleast 2x the drill weight on the back of leader's harness. But leader gets the drill without having to pull it up, with all the related shenanigans. 

We only used this a few times where it was important (to us) to climb, drill and send ground-up without weighting any gear. Plenty of cavets apply.

Pretty good advice given already, I will add this.

A fifi hook won’t pull from the side- the further to the side the less likely it will pull ez.

My friends and I came up with a “S” shaped hook ( sort of elongated) that would pull much better than a Fifi made out of 1/8 inch stainless steel rod (hardened). Using this will let you traverse and pull the drill off. 

Brian in SLC wrote:

I see Petzl sells a fifi that accommodates a 6mm rapide.  That'd work.

I have a pretzl one, but just use the small hole still. Never had the cord fail. 

One thing to keep in mind is that if the leader falls with the quick link setup and you don't have a big enough loop the fifi will get loaded downward and stay hooked. Hower if you use the top hole it should pop off. Obviously both situations are bad but I think I'd prefer the drill coming unhooked than a static whip on the tag on my haul loop.

Guy Keesee wrote:

Pretty good advice given already, I will add this.

A fifi hook won’t pull from the side- the further to the side the less likely it will pull ez.

My friends and I came up with a “S” shaped hook ( sort of elongated) that would pull much better than a Fifi made out of 1/8 inch stainless steel rod (hardened). Using this will let you traverse and pull the drill off. 

For what it's worth I've never had any issues pulling a fifi off from the side with the top hole with it hooked to the top draw beiner

Too many fantastic replies here to respond to you all, but thank you everyone for your insight! I'll be using it to help dial in my system in prep for a big expedition this July. Much appreciated!

I personally prefer to climb with a 12v Milwaukee on my side for most ground up/lead stuff.  This is especially true if the climbing yields strenuous stances common on steep slab.  If you're on overhung and using hooks, etc.. (aid) you might as well have it on your side.  If the climbing seems reasonable to free at the same time as you ground up, then definitely have it on your side so you don't have to waste energy.  There's something really rewarding about establishing and freeing a route ground up all in one go, especially as it gets harder (I know difficulty is relative to the climber..).  There's really only two scenarios where I'll tag a drill.  One scenario is when it appears from the ground that I can likely go a good distance, if not all the way, on natural gear.  The other is if there's an obvious good stance above a very thin, difficult, etc.. section.  But I admit, I am a coward and much prefer having a drill on me for when I'm scared and runout.  I have got the drill snagged a couple times in precarious situations and did not enjoy the feeling!  Otherwise, your system seems pretty spot on so long as you are aware of the possible issues you may encounter with the fifi as mentioned above.

Pinche Gringo wrote:

I personally prefer to climb with a 12v Milwaukee on my side for most ground up stuff.  This is especially true if the climbing yields strenuous stances common on steep slab.  If you're on overhung and using hooks, etc.. (aid) you might as well have it on your side.  If the climbing seems reasonable to free at the same time as you ground up, then definitely have it on your side so you don't have to waste energy.  There's something really rewarding about establishing and freeing a route ground up all in one go, especially as it gets harder (I know difficulty is relative to the climber..).  There's really only two scenarios where I'll tag a drill.  One scenario is when it appears from the ground that I can likely go a good distance, if not all the way, on natural gear.  The other is if there's an obvious good stance above a very thin, difficult, etc.. section.  But I admit, I am a coward and much prefer having a drill on me for when I'm scared and runout.  I have got the drill snagged a couple times in precarious situations and did not enjoy the feeling!  Otherwise, your system seems pretty spot on so long as you are aware of the possible issues you may encounter with the fifi as mentioned above.

I do have the M12 as well, I plan on doing some practice with just having everything on my person for an easy slab climb at a local crag I've been filling in the last couple seasons. But when it comes to harder climbing, the one thing I'm concerned about is falling with a drill on me and all the extra weight. So definitely good to have practice with both systems. 

Any pro-tips for bolting on lead with the drill on your harness?

Get some proper ladder aiders (Yates, Skots, etc.). If you're forced to bolt your way up on lead, you'll want to be able space them out as far as possible and a good ladder aider will get you the highest step. I recently bought an aider from sportbolting.com that has aluminum inserted in the webbing steps, designed for bolting on lead. Psyched to try it for ground up bolting. 

John, I've not done a ton compared to others and in my late 30's so I lack the experience of some of the older guys.  But, I tend to keep the drill on my back right gear loop along with my Petzl Bongo.  Each is also slung to my shoulder so I can't drop them on my belayer.  I'll keep a chalk bag full of bolts on my left.  If I'm drilling from a horrible stance, I'll remove the drill sling from my shoulder so I don't hang myself if I slip.  I'll let my belayer know if I do this.  

As far as falling with a drill, I have only done one good whip while actively drilling and I threw the drill away from me to make sure it was hanging below me when I fell.  I came out fine, but it was a thought out thing to do if I fell.  I have fallen many times with the drill on my side.  I'm conscious about it and try to fall as controlled as possible.  However, one time I was about 20 ft up from my last piece on slightly overhung terrain and was yarding my left hand on a huge blocky side pull.  As I reached down to grab the drill with my right hand, the microwave sized block I was yarding on ripped off the wall sending me flying out of control.  By the time I stopped, I was inches above the ledge my belayer was on and the drill bit got me good in my right calf.  Luckily it didn't puncture but it was bruised for about a month.  A drill condom, as Tod Anderson calls it, may have helped but it would have likely still hurt.  So, I guess the best advice I could give about climbing with a drill on your harness is to be very conscious of it and climb as deliberate and as controlled as possible as don't layback on suspect holds.  Also, if you can locate any old 3/8" RB (assuming you're using 3/8") they are amazing for using when the stance is horrible or using for when you think there's a chance the bolt may need to be moved.  Just make sure to place them with the slider oriented sideways and not up or down to minimize the chance of them getting stuck.

Blake M wrote:

I have a pretzl one, but just use the small hole still. Never had the cord fail. 

One thing to keep in mind is that if the leader falls with the quick link setup and you don't have a big enough loop the fifi will get loaded downward and stay hooked. Hower if you use the top hole it should pop off. Obviously both situations are bad but I think I'd prefer the drill coming unhooked than a static whip on the tag on my haul loop.

For what it's worth I've never had any issues pulling a fifi off from the side with the top hole with it hooked to the top draw beiner

Me neither. Just did a 100' slab traverse along a dike (almost entirely horizontal) and it pulled clean every time. I think i hung it 6 times or so. I was rope-soloing several hundred feet up, so the only (good) option was to to use this method. I think I was using a BD fifi.Fifield.

Edit to add: In this case I was using the fifi to hang the bolt bag with (lots of) extra bolts and not the drill. Same principle, but I didn't wanna beat the drill up on the wild swings. 

Didn't read all the replies, but I run a 20' cord and a bat hook.  I've had the drill on the fifi hook get stuck on the hanger if you try to pull at an angle.  Doesn't work everywhere, but at the areas I climb at most there's plenty of face features to hook on.  (Adopted this from a mentor and it's been the ticket for harder free climbing).