Carabiner

[wiley_p]

NOLA ? Must have been climber clearences ? didnt bust your ass to bad did I ?.....lol

You may have worked with Blink, Greg. He got sucked into JC's line of bullshit as well believe.

 

[pantheraba]

Pantheraba, what the heck was your name again ?....and you pic is good to just what I want...Thankyou

Hey, Greg,

I am Gary...the one that came up into the Coombs tree to help setup on Friday at the GTG.

Strikermike...that is a knut.

 

[Blinky]

NOLA ? Must have been climber clearences ? didnt bust your ass to bad did I ?.....lol

Nope, you said that was how the test was supposed to go. It was one of the last ones you did before you left. You almost rejected my lifeline, it had a spot or two in it.


You busted my ass later for no specs on a site... but you were cool about it.

J.C. didn't get me but he tried to hire five of us. I worked on Mark Taylor's crew, routine shit except it was almost all close prox to high voltage. We got what the other crews rejected. Had the scare of my life over on Power Blvd.

 

[klimbinfool]

Thanks Gary. I recognized you, I had just forgotten your name.By the way, thank you for your help in the Coombs Tree. Fun watching those big limbs blow off the tree..eh ?

Blinky, Yeah I think I do remember you now. went through so many people it was hard to remember who was who. A few of you fellas came in there together as a group if I recall? Man what a fiasco that operation was... your lucky wiley P wasn't there, he would have shut you down and sent you packing he's not as forgiving as me...

 

[Blinky]

It was me and Justin, a young guy from the Buzz that showed up together. Hell we deserved to be shut down most days, running saws and climbing after dark... sometimes waaay after dark. Busted MADs almost every day. I learned a ton about working around lines from the Tamarack guys though.

 

[klimbinfool]

Naughty Naughty. That was the third time I was down there I believe under QRI doing all the Clearences at the Baseball field. Did you end up making any money?

 

[Burnham]

Here's my current setup, Greg. It changes with some frequency as I attempt to keep abreast of the wide variety people are using. That's more from the perspective of an instructor than as a working climber. I haven't been using the Hitchclimber very long...before that I had both biner's attached to a mini-paw and tended slack with a standard micro-pulley mounted between the tied eyes of the hitch cord.

Not really sure what you are focusing on...here's a few pics I snapped, hope one of them works for you.

 

[SkwerI]

The biggest issue I can see with the hitchclimber pulley is that it puts the carabiner and rope end splice/knot right up against your friction hitch. I'm much happier with both carabiners attached to the saddle so that there is less interference with my hitch.

I'd post a picture but my 'puter crashed a couple months ago and it's off getting fixed right now. Hobby Climber posted a picture of his VT hitch a week or two ago that is identical to mine, with the identical lifeline, cord and carabiners as mine. Maybe he will repost it here.

 

[brendonv]

Here's my rig.

 

[Burnham]

The biggest issue I can see with the hitchclimber pulley is that it puts the carabiner and rope end splice/knot right up against your friction hitch. I'm much happier with both carabiners attached to the saddle so that there is less interference with my hitch.

I'd post a picture but my 'puter crashed a couple months ago and it's off getting fixed right now. Hobby Climber posted a picture of his VT hitch a week or two ago that is identical to mine, with the identical lifeline, cord and carabiners as mine. Maybe he will repost it here.

That's totally an issue, to the point of excluding use of the Hitchclimber, if you're using a knot to terminate your climb line. With an eye splice, it doesn't bump the hitch, so far as I can try to make it do so anyway.

You wouldn't believe how smooth that setup advances the hitch...I'd have bet money it would not make a bit of difference over your standard micro-pulley...but it truley does.

 

[Blinky]

Naughty Naughty. That was the third time I was down there I believe under QRI doing all the Clearences at the Baseball field. Did you end up making any money?

Yep, it was sweet, $500 a day + room (shared) and a car, hard to beat. Mark was a straight up guy but we worked our asses off. I don't think he did so well though. By the end we were getting 2 to 4 ROEs per property cuz they were such wacked out jobs. I was one of the last guys out.


Say, let's see your rig.

 

[Greenhorn]

Brendon, I like that set up, simple and it seems like the knots keep everything apart well enough. One leg in the actual pulley too, interesting.

Trying out the hitch climber system, not totally sold on it, might go back to something simpler.

 

[brendonv]

I stole that idea from Tophopper. Been running it every since. I had the micky mouse pulley...for a day. Sucked, like the hitchclimber...it puts everything too close. The single biner like mine has a nice gap to it. Simple, no frill, and less jingle.

 

[Blinky]

Here's my current setup, Greg. [...]

Better watch it Burn, with all that shiny new stuff Frans is gonna think your a newbie.

 

[Burnham]

Just fell off the turnip truck, I did!

 

[Greenhorn]

I stole that idea from Tophopper. Been running it every since. I had the micky mouse pulley...for a day. Sucked, like the hitchclimber...it puts everything too close. The single biner like mine has a nice gap to it. Simple, no frill, and less jingle.

Do you think actual knots and that style pulley with one leg in it are key to that set up working nicely?

 

[brendonv]

Not particuarly.

It'd be nice with a splice on a climb line, but I just never really cared for the splice after I got one stuck in a crotch a couple times.

I'll give it a try this week setup differently on a small piece of spliced rope I have with a different pulley for comparison.

 

[klimbinfool]

Burnham, thats perfect thanks. I'm just looking for the different configurations everyone is using with the different styles of biners.

I use a very simple set up and the only two reason I stuck with it was for competition back in the day. Easy on and off the belt. I watched to many guys loose time trying to disconnect from thier belt. So I stuck with this set up. It does a little jingle jangle once in a while, but the other reason is my knot is out of the way and it;s the perfect length for my reach. Not to close not to far away.

Thanks for thses pics guys, it's very helpful

 

[Fiddler]

wow, I feel really behind the times. Can't even find the turnip truck.

Is what you all are using really that much better than just using a simple splittail? Does it make you that much more efficient/quicker in the tree?

Can you "tear down and set up" in another tree in a minute or two?

I am intrigued by these advanced climbing systems but not sure they would save me any time, and I am cutting production daily.

 

[SkwerI]

You would be amazed, Dave. The biggest advantage for me was being able to use both hands for climbing and/or working instead of having to keep one hand on my hitch all the time. There is no such thing as 'setting your hitch' before letting go and grabbing your saw. I thought the same as you until I finally forced myself to try it for a couple days, and within a week or two I was noticing my production and confidence increasing. And I wasn't a rookie climber when I switched, either. I already had over 15 years on a tautline hitch before I ever tried an advanced hitch (or even one of those newfangled carabiner thingies).

 

[cory]

Here's my rig.

Brendon, that looks nice and simple and no clanging. What do you do if you want to throw the end of your climb line, what do you use for wieght on it?

 

[cory]

It's real cool to see all these different set ups.

Blink, I thought you used a steel biner for wieght on your climb line, those biners both look aluminium.

 

[NickfromWI]

Burnham- try clipping the spliced eye to the middle hole. I think it holds the carabiners a 1/4" apart rather than right on top of eachother.

That's the way I hook it up, anyways...

love
nick

 

[MasterBlaster]

Just fell off the turnip truck, I did!

Throw me a couple! I'll toss em in my salad!

 

[klimbinfool]

Cory, thankyou... do you ever have problems with your sytem pushing to one side when you anchore is offset?


Dave, I feel proficiency is within the climber and always will be. Show a guy a new technique or a new gizmo to make him more proficient and does it always? no. Until he or she understands the concept and effects of why, it's pretty much usless to them.

Theres nothing wrong with a split tail system and I'm sure I'm speaking for most, it was the cats meow before the VT, Swabish, Distle, Knut, Etc.came along. ( may be some wrong spelling there) But it's the suttle things with the newer systems that add up and shorten the climbing day along with the ease on your body.

One of the biggest advantages as Brian mentioned is the ease of movement of the newer hitches vs split tail. A split tail, no matter what you have to farelead it because theres always enough friction from the hitch the it wont let your rope drop through. Thats a lot of rope tending during a eight hour day. Vt if tied properly and length is right, it will self tend after about 30 to forty feet and through out the tree for the most part.Thats a huge time saver as far as I'm concerned.

Do you think that guy who won 7 gold medals in smimming was just that much better then the rest, or do you think that new fanagled swim wear he was sporting helped? They actually wanted to ban it, but they didn't because it vertually had no friction in the water or very little.I think it made a big difference myself. So you see, just one small change can make a big difference wether one thinks so or not.

I'll get off my soap box now....