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In this article:
Rappel with a Grigri on your belay loop, not an extension
Backup a friction hitch or rope grab in your hauling system
Hiking in your harness? Push legs loops to the side
Use a docking cord (not a sling) to attach your haul bags to the anchor
Hauling with a Tibloc - rig it right
1 - Rappel with a Grigri on your belay loop, not an extension
For rappeling, it's best practice to clip that Grigri straight to your belay loop. Why? Because you have to pull the handle to rappel, you don't want to be reaching up over your head to do that. It's tiring, and not very ergonomic. The longer your extension, the more uncomfortable this is. It's not a catastrophic mistake, but it's also not best practice.
Also, there's no need for a third hand backup when you wrap with a Grigri. The assisted braking basically is the backup, so no third hand / autoblock is needed.
2 - Backup a friction hitch or rope grab in your hauling system
You don't want to fully rely on any sort of rope grab, friction hitch or progress capture pulley in a hauling system. Say you pulled up your load a good distance, possibly generating a lot of slack rope. If your progress capture device were to fail or slip for any reason, your load could fall a long way, and potentially put a giant shock load on the anchor, not good!
Best practice: Every few pulls, tie a clove hitch or a bight knot in the hauling strand of the rope, and clip it to the anchor. Feed slack through the clove hitch or tie additional bight knots so your system is always backed up.
3 - Hiking in your harness? Push legs loops to the side
If you have a long approach to a climb, and you want to carry a really small pack maybe up and over the route, you may want to wear your harness when you're walking.
If you do this, it can be a lot more comfortable to loosely put on your waist belt and push the leg loops off to one side. Doing this eliminates any chafing or rubbing on the inside of your legs, and gives you full range of motion.
What are the problems with using a sling to clip a heavy bag to an anchor?
How do you correctly rig a Tibloc for hauling?
