What do you need more of when increasing the mechanical advantage (MA)?

Increasing mechanical advantage (MA) in a rope rescue system generally requires the addition of rope to create more segments that distribute the load. When employing a system that uses pulleys, the more rope you use, the greater the number of pulley systems you can implement, allowing you to lift the load more efficiently with less input force.

In a typical MA setup, each additional pulley effectively reduces the force required to lift the load, allowing rescuers to handle heavier loads with less effort. Therefore, increasing the length of the rope often means creating more hauls or configurations that enhance lifting capability.

While additional anchor points or personnel can be helpful in certain scenarios, they do not directly increase the mechanical advantage in the same way that additional rope does. More pulleys can also increase MA, but they would still require more rope to be utilized effectively to set up those pulleys. Thus, the key element needed to efficiently increase MA in a rope rescue system is more rope, as it directly supports the build of additional segments in the mechanical advantage setup.