'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Mar 27, 2013 - 05:48pm PT
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It's pretty easy, really.
"Do my hooks get tangled up with other stuff all the time?"
If yes, use a Fish Beef Bag.
If no, find a way to rack them where they don't tangle so much. A few ways to keep them from tangling is to:
 avoid having hooks near nylon and cams that they love to hook
keep hooks racked near pins, heads, wires, and other metallic "tanglies"
keep your "tanglies" on a separate sub-rack away from things like nylon and cams
when you wear hooks on your rack while leading or cleaning, keep them up high and front where you can keep half an eye on them
only put things next to hooks that won't tangle, such wires and free crabs
WHEN to use the bag is also important. For instance, when you're actually on lead, do you really want the hook bag or not?
What do you do with your hooks when they're not on you? In my racking system, everything gets stuck onto a sub-rack, and chucked into the piglet to be hauled first by the leader, along with the tops of the haul lines and the anchor kit. You can bloody well bet that when my hooks go on a sub-rack inside of a piglet, they are contained in bags.
Chongo put me onto hook bags, and I really like them. To me, a bunch small or medium Fish Beef Bags is really a great way to reduce tangling and clusterf*#kage in your racking system.
Incidentally, Russ - I really wish you made those Beef Bags in more colours than just blue. Or at least blue is the only colour that I have. [HINT]
Beef bags are great for containing Peckers, too. Although if you put racking/cleaning loops through their top, and rack them all pointing in the same direction away from you, they won't tangle as much. But I use Fish Beef bags for Peckers, too. All the time. Hell, yeah.
Russ' Fish bags are superb for big wall camping. I particularly like that they come in so many different sizes and colours. I have some on my rack that have done over 40 El Cap routes. Those would be the ones held together by endless patches, sewing and of course Plasti-Dip!
Finally, you should never get angry at a little hook that is tangling up in stuff on your rack. Remember, he is only doing his job.
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