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Big wall climbing is a type of rock climbing in which a long multi-pitch route, so sustained that an ascent normally requires more than a single day, is climbed.[1] Big wall routes require the climbing team to live on the route often using portaledges and hauling equipment.[2] It is practiced on 1500-feet tall or more vertical faces with few ledges and small cracks.
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In the early 20th century, climbers were scaling big rock faces in the Dolomites and the European Alps employing free- and aid- climbing tactics to create bold ascents. Yet, the sheer walls were waiting to be climbed by future generation with better tools and methods.
In the late 1950s big wall climbing finally started. In Yosemite, the northwest face of Half Dome was climbed in 1957 and the southeast buttress of El Capitan in 1958. With the invention of hard iron pitons, jumars and hammocks, wall climbing exploded in the 1960s and 1970s.
Following those pioneering achievements, parties began routinely setting off prepared for days and days of un-interrupted climbing on very long, hard, steep routes. The food, water, hardware and shelter necessary for such a climb could easily weigh well into the hundreds of pounds. Hauling systems were developed for managing these large loads.
In the last few decades, techniques for big wall climbing have evolved, due to greater employment of free-climbing and advances in speed climbing. The routes that used to routinely take days can be climbed in under 24 hours. Nevertheless, many parties still do make multi-day ascents of classic "trade routes" which have recently gone mostly free and very fast. Only a small handful of elite and exceptionally well-prepared climbers are capable of feats such as free-climbing the entirety of most classic Grade VI routes, or of speed-climbing such routes in a matter of hours.
In order to haul portaledges and other gear such as ropes, food, and water up a rock face, the gear is put in a bag ("haul bag" or "pig bag") and pulled up to the next belay station. There are many different mechanically advantageous systems that are utilized to make pulling up the "haul bag" easier than simply dragging it up the face. [3] There are several available methods but most tend to employ a counterweight system or a hauling system.</ref>
Gear is usually spread over many haul bags (usually packed so that they weight between 30 to 40 kilograms) in order to maximize efficiency and prevent loss of equipment if a bag is lost.[4] The hauling system usually consists of a self-locking pulley in order to capture the motion and prevent the bag from descending once hauling stops. Next an ascender clamped to the haul rope is used to pull the haul line through the pulley.