RyanP
Member
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2015
- Messages
- 675
A common tip for backpacking in rough terrain (particularly in canyon country) is to bring a length of rope/cord to raise or lower your pack so that you can tackle the trickier scrambles unencumbered by the heavy pack. I've done this a number of times and it does indeed help a lot. However, I have a few questions for others who have experience doing this:
- What kind of rope/cord/webbing do you use?
- I have mostly just used a stretch of parachute cord, but I find that this gets tangled easily and it also can be rough on my hands when I lower the pack. Thinner cord would burn/cut the hands even more.
- Do you have any tricks to keep your rope/cord from getting all tangled up? Mine has inevitably turned into a tangled/knotted nightmare.
- Do you use any tricks to protect your pack from abrasion as you lift/lower it (as it slides against rocks, etc.)? I have usually done nothing in this regards, although on one trip where I knew I would be doing a lot of lifting/lowering, I bought one of these, which was just barely large enough for my ULA Ohm and it worked quite well: https://www.ikea.com/ca/en/p/frakta-storage-bag-blue-90149148/. For those of you who don't take any such measures (which I believe is most people), have you torn up your packs doing this?
- When you haul it up (less common than lowering it I know), has anyone tried rigging up a pulley of some sort to make it easier? (I haven't but I've wondered if there are tricks like that to make it easier, 'cause hauling it up can be a real pain!)