Foot ascender rope tending

[woodslinger]

I've read the basic tricks for rope tending with a foot ascender:
Set someting heavy on the rope
Tie something (rope bag) to the rope
Have someone hold it
Has anyone tried clipping to a carabiner on the rope bag and clipping the tail back to your saddle? Just to clarify, the tail from your climbing system would go to a biner on your rope bag, back to your saddle, then dangle/in the bag/in a pile.
Seems to me that this should provide enough line tension for the foot ascender to self tend without requiring an extra person, an extra knot to untie, or a tricky weight setting while you tension the line to start your climb.

Has anyone tried this?
Any thoughts?

 

[DMc]

What rope and foot ascender are you using? I use a CT with Vortex or Tachyon and it starts self tending with just the weight of the rope after about three steps.

 

[woodslinger]

Tachyon with the TreeStuff remake of the old pantin. After about 10 feet or so I can usually kick my foot to feed rope for another 5 or so steps till it truly self feeds. Your comment made me think a bit though, and it might be rope drag from the cuff of my pants just above the ascender. I have to rope ascend at least 2 trees tomorrow to remove limbs, I'll be trying out my idea as well as looking for other rope drag suspects.

 

[Bermy]

I like that idea Chris...I'll give it a try

 

[SouthSoundTree-]

you can tie a throw weight on the rope, then pull it up to advance your line within the tree.

I've tied my rope bag if I'm going to climb with it. If not, I sometimes tie a bulky knot in the the rope, heavy enough, but lighter and smaller.

 

[Raj]

I use CMI foot ascenders on vortex and cherry bomb and after the first 5 or so feet everything smooths out and I can ascend with grace.

 

[SouthSoundTree-]

Short steps and a downwardly pointed toe help. Pant conflict is real.

 

[Climbhigh]

Had a Pantin before the CT. CT tends from the ground, no weight with any of my ropes. Also stays on the rope until you manually disengage it.

 

[woodslinger]

Didn't get to try out me idea due to various setup circumstances, but I did start to hate my pantin. I made sure to tuck my pant leg into the ascender, which helped, but I kicked out so often that I wanted to send it sailing off into the woods. I'll try the down turned toe next time out. The annoying thing is that it kicks out when I don't want it to, but when I WANT it to kick out, I have to reach down and grab the rope. Maybe I just need more practice with it.
I also like the throw weight idea, and I might look into the CT. I did tie my saw to the line on one tree, then pulled it up when I was ready to cut. It made sense for that tree as there was no rigging to do so it seemed redundant to bring a line and pulley up with me just to have someone send my saw up. Plus my groundie was going around the house with the HO trimming off branches with the pole saw.

On a side note, how resilient are black walnut trees to being spurred? I rope ascended all but one tree, which was being cut down and I needed to remove a few limbs to make it fit through to the ground. After removing the limbs hanging over the house and getting ready to remove a side weighted limb, HO decided it straightened up enough to keep it.

 

[Bodean]

The pantin def falls out more easily to the point where when your done ascending...just kick the rope out.

I like the locking ability of the CT.

Have both...and a left footed pantin and a haas....can't have too much gear.

 

[SouthSoundTree-]

Are you on something like 11.7mm or 13mm or ???

 

[Bodean]

Blaze 11mm. I don't know why I never evolved past this line.

Hi vis, light weight, knot ability is sweet.....and you can splice it.

I know it can be small in a bear's hand.

 

[woodslinger]

I'm on Tachyon, 11.5